Bear with me, please, for my sad tale of woe...

Early in calendar year 2015 my 2010 4wd Ranger XLT suffered two "severe whacks" to the front suspension. It is now having reoccurring alignment issues.

Episode 1: The first mishap was in March 2015 and during a torrential, frog-strangling rain storm. The rain was such that with wipers full bore I couldn't see anything except the lines in the road and maybe 10 yards ahead.

A possible tornado was on the way so I was making a run for home and took a road that has six (6) big-honking speed tables installed due to being the access road for a middle school.

The first table is about a half mile from the intersection and I knew I was approaching it, but as I passed the warning sign a big truck met me with lights on bright and I failed to see the sign.

Then when I saw a sign it was for the table, NOT the warning. About the time I let me foot off the gas to slow down I hit the table. Had I not been seat-belted in I'm sure my head would have smacked the roof of the cab.

At any rate, I could tell I knocked it out of alignment so the next day I took it to the local dealership and they realigned the front end.

Episode 2: The second instance was maybe three weeks later while going to the local ER to check on a friend. Access to our local hospital calls for either winding one’s way through a congested college campus (think “slow”), or taking a six lane thoroughfare (3 lanes on each side of a divider). The highway at one point goes under a railroad overpass and the trestle columns and road shoulders are wrapped in guard rails.

Traveling in the center lane, as I approached the railroad underpass a WOMAN ON A CELL PHONE began to move over on me and I laid on the horn and gave ground to the right. She kept coming and about the same moment she realized she was pushing me I hit the curb hard on the right side. I was just before moving back into a collision with her to avoid scraping down the guard rail on the right side. The impact seemed to bottom the suspension, and the impact to the right front wheel was hard enough that I later had to replace that tire. Of course she hung up the phone and sped off...

The next day - yet again, I took my truck to have it checked and sure enough, it was out of alignment. I've been doing business at this dealership for nearly 30 years and know many of the techs. The guy who aligned it came out to see me and said "Mr. Rick - you really need to lay off that right front for a while." No kidding…

What I've done: Since then I have had to have the alignment redone a half-dozen times after rolling over what should have been a routine, “no sweat” bump in the road or some other small hole. I never had this issue with this truck before the two mishaps; since then it has been frequent and the issue is always the toe-in of the alignment.

A momentary side-track: Retirement is less than five years out for me so last year my wife and I moved to a nearby smaller town. There is no Ford dealer in the new locale so I began hunting independent technicians. I soon found a semi-retired front end guy who runs a small shop near his home. He has a state of the art Hunter alignment machine in his shop and does a low-key but steady business in between time with grand-kids and deer hunting, fishing, and other hunting and fishing, and training his hunting dogs… You catch my drift.

He looked at it and recommended a camber kit and I can bear true witness; that kit made a huge difference in the way the vehicle drives. Why in the world Ford didn’t send the Rangers out of the factory with adjustable camber is a mystery to me.

Anyway – and the kit notwithstanding, the alignment is still weak. Since having the camber kit installed I’ve knocked it out another three times.

The next step I took was to replace the front shocks (Bilstein 4600’s, btw). When the old shocks were removed the upper grommets were badly battered.

So my first thought is that rubber bits and metal sleeves in the suspension are damaged from the high-impact stress. The truck has 94,000 miles on it but may have the "wear" of one with twice that milege, so to speak.

Next, it could be that some metal part is damaged, but the Ford techs and my independent tech have looked and do not see any damage to metal parts.

Finally, when I roll over a dip in the road that suddenly unloads/reloads the suspension I sometimes, but not always, get a “clank” in the front end. Something, as we say in the south, “just ain’t right.”

My questions are three:

1. Will replacement of all the rubber bits (bushings and any supporting sleeves) cure the loosey-goosiness" in the front end and thereby the “won’t stay aligned” issues?

2. What other mechanical sources might be the cause of these issues?

3. And finally, what exactly should I state for a repair order: a full disassembly and rebuild, or to address some specific component that would be a direct contributor to the problem?

I am a wordsmith by trade and not an auto technician, so your feedback will be appreciated!

Thanks in advance,
Rick

PS: the truck is stock – no lift or other changes to the suspension

 

weak or cracked coil spring,,,,,,,,,,,

 

Thanks, and my apologies - I should have posted a bit more info.

The truck is on torsion bars and does not have coils.

 

since then it has been frequent and the issue is always the toe-in of the alignment.

I would be looking at two, no three things. The control arm bushings and the 'frame' where the control arms are attached. Third thing, the rack & pinion, inner & outer tire rods.
If the camber was changing, I'd look very closely at the frame 'tower' where the control arm shaft attaches, and at the inner control arm bushings.
If it is totally toe-in/toe-out, then the effective 'length' or distance between the tie rod ends is changing. To add more fish to the soup, the toe will change if the control arms are allowed to move. For example, if the lower control arm front bushing were to be bad, or the metal that the bushing rides in were torn or split, the bushing can 'flex' in its position, the arm then move 'forward and backward' at the outer end, where the ball joint is bolted, and when it moves, can change the toe. Imagine the passenger side control arm rotating at the outer end, backwards towards the firewall. As it moves, the bottom end of the steering knuckle is moving, changing the caster, and also affecting the toe. I expect, trying to do a mental picture, that as the arm moved, the tires would toe-in a bit more.
You can do a basic check of the tie rods and the rack & pinion(I think it has that) by setting the tires on 'turntables' so they can be turned readily, or setting the truck on jack stands such that the tires can move. Grab onto the tires at 3:00 and 9:00, try to move them back and forth as if steering L & R. If you can get motion, then some parts are likely loose. There should be VERY little movement before the rack gears try to stop you. If you have a helper, you can watch the parts as they try to shake the tires.
The outer, the inner and the rack all 'fix' the toe. If they are NOT damaged, then the change in toe is caused by the control arms changing position. I suppose it could be a ball joint that has 'almost come out of its socket', so a good look at the ball joints is not out of order.
Most of this can be done by visual inspection. If there's a lot of road dirt, pasture cow pies or other on the suspension, I'd take it to a spray carwash and try to clean off all the parts so you can see 'bare' metal for inspection.
tom

 

Tom, thanks.

I've got a window of time of the next few weeks when I can get it to a shop as needed. It's not particularly dirty but I'll take your advice on the spray wash and clean up in order to get a good look.

It may be a while but I'll come back and post an update with what is found.

 

Based upon the pounding that the front end has taken, the bushings I'd be most concerned about are those where the control arms bolt up to frame mounts. That's an area that should be carefully inspected.

In order to replace the bushings, you will need to remove the control arms, which is not an easy task when it comes to the lower arms (due to the torsion bar setup).

Most people just replace the entire arms with new ones that come with new bushings and ball joints already pressed in.

 

Thanks. I'm good with that (getting the upper and lower control are kits with ball joints already installed).

The actual work is above my paygrade in terms of knowledge and experience. Besides that, I don't have a suitable place or the right tools.

I know a young man employed by a frame and body shop who is an excellent tech and who will do this for me reasonably at his home garage (into building Jeeps, etc.).

Do any of you have a parts list, or a suggestion for an online search, to help me make sure I order the correct parts?

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-> Update via edit: I found an online supplier and have ordered parts. I'll post an update after I have the chores completed.

Thanks again to all for the feedback!

 

Okay. Here’s the skinny in the repair.

Moog seems to be the high bar for upgrades so I opted for Moog replacement parts to include the complete upper and lower control arm units with bushings and serviceable ball joints already installed.

I could have saved quite a bit by replacing just the bushings and ball joints and using my old control arms. Another route that would have saved a few dollars would have been to go with complete set-ups in the NAPA premium parts.

After that the larger question for me became “how to get it done so I could trust it?” Truth told I could have done the work but I lack a suitable place, and I did not want to get it torn down in my driveway and run into something that needed a more skilled tech or some type of specialized tools.

The truck had been taken to the local dealership several times for alignment. They realigned it each time but did not have a recommendation on a more substantial fix. When I asked about having one of their techs go through it thoroughly they said it would be weeks before they could get to it, and would need to keep it several days. I was not confident in the outcome.

Next, the independent front-end guy that I know would have done it if I demanded it, but he was skeptical that it needed a rebuild at just over 95,000 miles. My gut says they were all thinking “he’s just a terrible driver and fixates on hazards instead of avoiding them.”

So the answer to the “who to do the chore” question was found in a young man I know locally who is a natural born mechanic – not a wannabe hacker, and not a zombie parts changer, but a truly gifted mechanic. I enlisted him to do the heavy work at his Dad’s home shop while I watched, handed him tools, and made beverage runs to the fridge at their nearby home.

Including a break for lunch and several interruptions by passersby and visiting out of town family we did it in about five hours on a Saturday. The most difficult part was breaking loose the lower control arms at the ball-joint. A few whacks with a 2 lb hammer did the trick and the ball joint stud popped out of the steering knuckles.

I drove it home and could tell it was improved even without a proper alignment. Then on Monday I took it to the body shop where he works to have it aligned on their machine. It tracks true and the tires are wearing evenly. And I’m not getting any odd or random noises.

Except for two short stretches of 4-lane my daily commute is 13.2 miles x 2 on two-lane country roads. For months on the daily drive I have rolled through familiar dips that routinely produced a clank when the suspension was loaded/unloaded. I have since run over those same places and no more clanking.

Metal wise the parts we removed looked okay to the naked eye but the rubber bits were dried and cracked and pretty beat up. My thought is that the hard lick at the speed table overstressed the rubber bits and accelerated their deterioration. As a result almost any bump would knock the alignment out by a degree or two. At least one person I talked to said “you’ve got to be hitting some bodacious holes.” No, I was not. My wife has run over these same spots in her Taurus, Her tracking and tire wear are perfect and the car has never been touched by a front-end tech.

With all that said about my driving, over the months of dealing with this I’ve mentally mapped every big crack, ordinary pothole, manhole cover, and water department valve access lid on my regular routes. Since I’ve trained myself to drive that maze each day like it’s an obstacle course for a tire commercial, I’ll just keep up the routine and avoid the hazards as if driving a fine sports car instead of a 4wd truck.

Thanks again to the several who offered suggestions and feedback. This particular forum is the only place I’ve asked where any helpful support was forthcoming.

 

Sorry if I missed this, but.....did you get the Moog premium Problem-solver parts or their economy "R" line? The Problem-Solver parts will be fine. Their economy line is just rebranded parts that are probably made in China and I wouldn't put on an everyday beater.

 

Yes, thanks. I did go with the premium line.

 

It sounds like you're in good shape, thanks for the follow-up.

And that aspiring young mechanic also sounds like a keeper.

 

Okay, we're going to call this a 90 day update. The news is good.

As noted above, post-rebuild I had the alignment done and I have since just driven the truck while maintaining my "dodge the holes when I can" driving pattern. Along the way I rolled over a few rough spots but nothing that I thought might tweak the alignment.

Then last week I got caught by surprise on a familiar stretch of road when the local utilities department cut a trench at 90* angles across a daily commuter route. They did the cut between the time I arrived at work in the morning and the time I got back from lunch that same day.

I drove in that morning on an undisturbed road surface, went out by another way for lunch as to run an errand, and then came back on my usual route only to hit the newly cut trench - at speed, of course. Truth told it should not have caught me by surprise as a construction project is in progress on a nearby hill. The real problem here is that I was 1/4 watching the road and 3/4's watching a bulldozer at work...

I'll not post my thoughts of the moment as it might get me suspended...

Anyway, the mind-games immediately ensued around "does it feel right, etc." It seemed to be okay, but I couldn't shake the nagging doubt.

So yesterday I ran by the local shop and had the guy check it. The specs are still spot on, the $30 was well spent on peace of mind, I'm going to call it cured.

Thanks again to all for the input.