Hi Ross,

Found the post below but not a resolution to my problems.

My situation is mostly the same but my Fairlane is standard with no lowering. Much work has been done on the vehicle with suspension joints, bushes and all ball joints (tie-rods and lower joints) replaced over the past 7 years all done at good garages.

The car has new front struts (King springs) steering rack (2nd) and pump (2nd), hubs (3rd set) and wheel bearings (2nd set) all done at a good garages but the vibrations continued.

Various tyres have been on the car, Bridgstone (when first purchased), Yokohama, Goodyear Assurance, Kumo, Bob Jane All rounder, GT Radial and now Toyo over the past 230k but the vibration was and is still the same.

The only front end components original on the car are the wishbones, stub axle uprights and wheel rims. The wheel rims were checked at Dupalu on the Gold Coast and passed, and rotation of the wheels/tires over the life of the tyres on the car has not resolved the vibration issue.

The most recent work was a visual inspection of the subframe, stub axle uprights, replacement of the lower ball joints, now 3rd set, on car machining of disks, fitment of new Toyo tyres (205/65/15) and a tightening of all front suspension bolts and joints with adjustment of wheel bearings. As mentioned above the vibrations are reduced bit still there although now a bit elevated at 105-112kmh, I guess due to the larger radius of the new tyre.

As mentioned in the post below the vibrations are quite violent, 1-2cm (at worst) on the steering wheel, and appear to be lateral, not radial as in an out of balance tyre situation.

We are currently going to have an on-car wheel balance done this week but I am at a loss as to a solution. Any constructive suggestions would be appreciated.

Regards, KH, Riverview, QLD


Vibrations @ 100kmh: post1327170.html?hilit=fairlane front wheel vibrations#p1327170

"At between 100-110kmh on the fwy, the steering wheel seems to vibrate a fair bit. It is only small side to side vibrations, not the larger wheel alignment type vibrations...if that makes any sense.
Anyways, I just replaced the steering rack, tie rods and ball joints in my NF Fairlane, and got the wheel alignment at the time. But still seems to vibrate at those speeds."

If the wheel nuts have been over tightened, it will distort the brake rotor....and no amount of machining the rotor will fix it.
All I got is....wheel balance not good enough, warped brake rotors, and worn Rack ends/tie rod ends.

A quick way of checking the stub axles is by using a light ( car is on a pit or 4 post hoist so it is at ride height ) and by using the light to shine from near the bottom of the tyre and checking that the shadow of the tyre at the top is halfway on the top ball joint....if you can understand what I mean.....this only works with standard rims and tyres.......this is for checking if the upper part of the stub axle is bent or not.
How are the inner lower control arm bushes, and the upper inner bushes ????

Hi cjh

Thanks for your response.

The tie-rod ends and lower ball joints were replaced before our trip up here to Rainbow Beach.

I agree that uneven or over tightning of the wheel nuts are an issue with the car as the NL rims have a larger offset than the Falcon/Fairmont of that year. I have posted under Lumpy20 at other Ford forums on this in the past.

I have been trying to find the genuine Ford Manual defined wheel nut tension, preferably from the Genuine Ford Workshop Manual. The garage used 80ft/lb this time but I have used 60ft/lb found in the past found in a Gregory's manual in our local Library and an online manual.

Do you have access to a genuine Ford Nl Fairlane manual?

I am going to the local tyre and suspension garage tomorrow and he suggested checking the rack ends as well as the balance.

The front end feels tight and there is no noise at the moment indicating worn joints?

Regards, Kh