Okay, so a co-worker has a problem with her GP.

She was complaining about front end noise on the passenger side tire area.

She said that someone looked at it for her and said the bearing needed to be replaced. Naturally, I told her to get more opinions on it since I'm a firm believer in not just throwing parts at the car and hope you find the problem.

I took a look at it today. I jacked the car up on the passenger side and grabbed the wheel at 9 and 3 o'clock. There was a lot of play there. I took my flashlight and looked to see that the tie rod bushing was totally gone.

I went to look on the driver side but here is what really confuses me: the car would jack up but the tire itself would not elevate.

What does that mean?

I've never had to replace tie rods on my own cars before but I do believe that if you get play at 9 and 3, it's a tie rod and if you get play at 12 and 6, it's a bearing.

Is that correct?

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Edmond
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9 & 3 = tie-rod
12 & 6 = ball joint
everywhere = hub

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That's odd that you couldn't get the driver's tire off the ground.

What I usually do to inspect steering components is the following:
1. get vehicle up on jackstands so I can get under it
2. crawl underneith so i can see all components (light is needed)
3. attempt to turn wheel (as if car is turning), watching for movement at the tie rod ends (shows if a tie rod needs replaced)
4. attempt to move wheel up and down vertically, looking for movement at ball joint (shows if a ball joint needs replaced)
5. push in and out on bottom of wheel, looking for movement of the halfshaft in relation to the steering knuckle. (shows if a hub needs replaced)
6. replace any bad parts.

While the 9 and 3 thing works for tie rods (generally), the 12 and 6 is not so accurate about ball joints on a FWD vehicle, especially those with hubs. the movement could be the hub as easily as it could be the ball joint. Remember that we don't have a dual-a-arm setup, we have mcpherson struts, which moves the pivot points and geometry of the suspension.

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1968 Firebird 400: Lookin for 11s
1998 GTP: parting out - click here >> viewtopic.php?f=24&t=8093&p=129200" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
1995 GMC 3/4 ton: Beasty to haul the toys
1999 GMC Jimmy: her daily driver
1999 Firebird: Tinker w/that later