wheel slack

[infurno]

Hey,

How much slack, if any, should front wheels have?

I lifted my car this morning and tugged on the wheels. With about 40lb of pressure, the wheel turns about 1 degree, and there is a 'dut' noise. I'm feeling vibrations through the wheel while driving.

Both left and right side do the same thing.

The following have been replaced:

thrust arms
control arms
tie rods
idler arm


Does it just sound like I need to go through and make sure all the nuts and bolts are tight?

[Rus]

Did you unlock your steering column? The noise can be the steering wheel being locked and hitting the locked limits. Can't offer any useful info regarding the slack.

[Dave M]

You've replaced almost all of the usual suspects. I don't imagine the sway bar links would cause this, but you haven't mentioned the
# 10 - pitman arm (http://www.realoem.com/bmw/showparts.do?model=HD53&mospid=47404&btnr=32_0336&hg=32&fg=25)

Also, how about strut mounts?

Dave

[e34.535i.sport]

When I had some slack on mine (it was a bit more than yours) it was the control arm balljoint that had bit the dust. Get someone elso to tug on the wheel and have a look behind it when they do, see if there's any unusual movement. I could see the balljoint moving around.

[Tiger]

Pitman arm never need replacement.

[Tiger]

Drag link... the middle control arm... Did you change this? If you did the idler arm, you should have changed the drag link too. If yes, then I'd suspect loose steering box.

There should be zero slack in steering and no dut... the only dut is possibly the steering hitting the steering lock.

[infurno]

Thanks a lot everyone.

I think the Drag Link is the suspect. I did not change this part...

Not sure about the Strut Mounts... Lets see if the Drag Link takes care of it, if not I will look there next.

Ordering one right now.