'99 Rodeo LS V6 3.2L M/T, 154K miles -

I'm getting some slight shimmying during breaking, sometimes medium heavy, sometimes lighter.

I removed the front tires and can see grease coming out of the lower ball-joint boots on both sides.

That's likely the problem, right?

How tough are they to change?

Is a special puller required or will most any puller do?

Thanks everyone,

Mark

Shimmy under braking would be warped brake rotor. You can have them turned so they are straight again. Had to do it 2-3 times a year on my mitsubishi because they were prone to warping. So far no trouble on my rodeo after 3 yrs.

Wipe the grease off the ball joints and see if the boots are torn. It could just be old grease that was pushed out. Upper ball joints arent too bad to do but lower ones sucks. Had to use a torch and strong pickle fork to do my lowers. Upper ones just popped out after smaking the knuckle with a hammer a few times.

Thanks Gizmo42.

My first inclination was the rotors as well, but I figured I'd be able to see something.

I spun them around to see if I could hear them hitting the pads unevenly when I had the wheels off, but I couldn't detect anything.

I couldn't see anything visually either.

Even a warpage so slight as to be undetected visually could cause it? It doesn't take much I guess?

Perhaps the lower ball-joints both have the same amount of grease on them because the car sat up on a lift for a while with the suspension fully extended?

I did think it was strange that they both had the same amount of grease on them.

And I'd have more problems than just a shimmy while braking, right? I'd have shimmy while driving etc...

I need to determine whether it's really coming from the front brakes vs. the rear. The steering wheel doesn't shake.

I'm going to do some stops with just the parking brake in order to determine which brakes are causing it.

If you dont feel it in the steering wheel its usually the rear brakes. Testing with the ebrake wont work on these since the ebrake and rear brake are actually seperate. The rear rotors have a small drum brake in the center for the ebrake and calipers for the normal rear brake.

I pulled all my rotors and had them turned when I bought my rodeo. They werent in very good shape. If you can pull them yourself you can have them done for about $20 each, front ones can be a pain to pull though.

Not sure about the ball joints. If they are aftermarket with grease zerks then its probably just old grease pushed out after being greased. If they dont have zerks it could be the boots are split. Upper ball joints will clunk when they are bad. Lowers can be hard to tell unless all the grease has been gone for a while, then they might squeak when turning.

Went for a ride just now and did a lot of braking and now there's no shimmy.

I'm going to pull the rear drums and give them a look just to be safe.

I checked them in the not too distant past and they were OK.

I'm not really satisfied with it going away like that. I'll pull them just to make sure.

I'm not so sure what you mean about the parking brake not being able to exhibit the problem unless you're saying that it doesn't apply the brake fully like the brake pedal does?

I've done the rear brakes a few times and there's a parking brake lever in the brake mechanism just like I've seen on most other cars, and it self adjusts just with a ratcheting mechanism as they all have.

The e-brake uses the same brake shoes as the pedal.

The rear brakes on mine are drum, not disc. Are yours disc?

Yours must be 2wd. I thought they got away from rear drums on the 2nd gens even with 2wd. Mine is 4w disk and the e-brake is a small drum brake built into the rotor of the rear disk. So it operates seperate from the calipers the brake pedal uses on the rear.

Its possible you might have gotten some oil or something on the rotors causing the brake to slip then grab and you managed to burn it off during testing. Have had that happen to a motorcycle before.

Yeah, 2WD, full drum in the rear.

You must be right. Something must have burned off. I'll be sensitive to it for a while anyway, so if it returns it won't go unnoticed.

I pulled both drums and the shoes look fine. They only have 12K on them.

Now I just need to determine if I need to change the front-end lower ball joints right away. They don't have zerks so it's not old grease pushed out by new grease.

Maybe having it up on a lift with the suspension hanging fully suspended pushed some out somehow. It's uncanny how it's the same amount of grease showing on each side.

The dealer wants $105.00 each. I'm not sure I'd want to go aftermarket on them since they need to be heavy-duty.

What do you think? Do they need to be replaced ASAP? Would you go aftermarket?

Thanks,
Mark

At 154k miles they are probably shot. How soon they need to be done I dont know. I bought mine from drivewire.com (http://catalog.drivewire.com/drivewire/baseline/quote-new.jsp?partner=drivewire&year=1999&product=L2020-39372&application=000385704). The ones listed as 'japan' for brand are 555 brand which are really good (napa and moog use 555 for alot of their parts). And they have grease zerks. I have no reservations about using them, they even have the OEM part number on the box label. Should do upper and lower at the same time since the lower ones are really a pain unless you pop the upper ones loose too.

I had a local mechanic I trust use his gauges to check the play on them this afternoon for no charge.

There's no play in them at all, but I'll still replace them relatively soon.

Thanks for the tip about the ones on drivewire.com. Understood about NAPA etc... using them, and if they have zerks, even better.

I have the official shop manuals (3 huge manuals from the pre CD edition era).

In there they show that separate pullers are needed for the top and bottom joints in order to remove the actual ball joint from the bracket/flange it's mounted in which is bolted to the suspension arm.

But, as shown in the picture on drivewire, it looks as though the ball joint and that bracket come as one assembly that gets bolted to the suspension arm.

Is that not the case? It sure seems like it would be a lot easier to just replace that whole bolt-on assembly vs. pulling the old joint out of it and pressing the new one into it.

Did the ones from drivewire come complete as pictured, only requiring removal of the 4 bolts and not the separation of the ball joint itself from the assembly?

I really appreciate you pointing me to drivewire. I added it to my bookmarks.

Any info you can share on the assembly and how it comes would be greatly appreciated.

Mark

The pullers are for seperating the ball joint from the steering knuckle. Its a tapered force fit so they can be tight. Upper ones usually come apart fairly easy. I put a hammer on one side of the knuckle and smack the other side really hard with another hammer. After a few hits they usually come loose. Lower ones are usually alot harder. I've always had to heat the knuckle with a torch to make it expand slightly (the boots and grease WILL catch on fire) then use a good quality 'pickle fork' to seperate it. Once they are loose from the knuckle then they can be unbolted from the control arms.

One other problem with the lower ones on 2nd gen rodeos, the snap ring for the cv shaft has to be removed and axle slid back. Thats the only way to get the bolts out of the lower control arm. The cv end is in the way of sliding them out otherwise.

OK, got it.

I'll see it even more clearly when I do the job.

The prices on drivewire are definitely better than the dealer prices so I'll definitely do all 4 at the same time.

It just makes sense and as you pointed out, it makes the job easier when you do the upper ones.

I can save $150.00 on parts right off the top, and I can order them now and then plan the best time to install them.

I really appreciate all of your help Gizmo42. You've really shed a lot of light on this.

That's the great thing about the forum. We all get to help each other. I like writing procedures for people to follow and I've spent time on the phone walking people through repairs as well.

Thanks. I'll be sure to post again when I change them out.

Mark
Huntington Beach, California