[1992safari]

I've been planning on replacing the front end on my van for a while, but today i decided to clean all the crud off the control arms, tie rods and ball joints just to be able to see what condition they are in. I've never done any front end work so this is new to me.

The front end has felt "loose" for a whike and shakes a little over 60mph, but it has no hard pulls either way or anything. But after taking a look at everything down there I'm sketched out...

I am in the middle of a bathroom remodel 45 min away and cannot tear it apart until im done with that. Which is a week or two out.

Based off these pictures, and the videos i'm going to try to post, does this look like a stop driving it now situation, or should i be fine for another two weeks?

Nothing is broken from what i can tell but the tie rods and control arms have a bit of play. I tried the jacking under lower control arm and wiggling the tire vertically to check the ball joints. It had some play but nothing like the horizontle movement.

Most of the rubber is in bad shape from the looks of it. I think my power steering pump has been leaking down onto the steering parts so i dont know how much of that is from that but there was a bit of actual grease grease around the ball joints...

Passenger upper ball joint:

Passenger lower ball joint:

Passenger control arm and tie rod:

Driver side tie rod:

Not sure what this is but its a vertical on either side. The rubber on those are cracked... :

Driver side upper ball joint:

Driver side lower ball joint:

Driver side control arm:

All the crud i scraped off these parts. It was 1/2" thick in some spots.

 

[opelbits]

Need to look at your control arm bushings, upper and lower. The uppers take a beating on GM's. I've seen them where the rubber is just gone and the shells/sleeves are riding on the shafts (not good). As the rubber in the uppers fail, the arm can start changing position. This alters your front end alignment which in turn can affect your toe-in and camber. So, everything can still be tight, but the upper control arm is where the majority of adjustment is (you'll see the adjustment shims at the shaft mounting bolts). If it moves, your steering changes.
The vertical things are the swaybar end links. Doesn't really affect steering, but it might wallow a little more when turning. check the ends of the swaybar for cracks. It is a hollow bar with flattened ends and they crack with fatigue.
Vibration around 60mph is usually tire/wheel related.
Look at the tread wear on your tires. If the inside or outside is worn more, that's alignment problems. If the center is worn more, overinflation. If both inside and outside is worn more than the center, but mostly evenly, underinflation.

Lastly, subframe bushings decay and rot away. This allows movement of the subframe. this also makes the steering feel weird.

 

[1992safari]

You mean the two bushings that hold each control arm to the subframe?

And i did see some of the subframe mount rubber is cracked but it didnt look horrible.

Here are the videos of the play in the front end. Couldnt figure out how to embed the video

Passenger side:
Youtube Video

Driver side:
Youtube link

Tire wear has been even on both sides.
In 60,000 miles i havent seen any uneven wear surprisingly. But ive also gotten quite a few flats that required replacement from driving on heavy gravel roads so i havent worn any tiresbald yet.

 

[opelbits]

Yikes!
Wheel bearings on both sides for sure. The drivers side pitman arm moves a lot, but I can't tell if its the arm or the steering box or just loose on there. Idler arm should be checked on gthe passenger side, it's just out of the video. If you can afford to do it, wheel bearings (discs and hubs/bearings may be easier than trying to do just the bearings and races), idler arm, pitman arm, center link and tie rods. Replace it all and then you don't have to worry about the part you didn't replace next month.

Biggest concern is the pitman arm to steering box. If the splined steering box shaft is worn, it gets more complicated.

And, yeah, I wouldn't drive it like that. If the pitman arm to steering box connection fails, you will have NO steering.

The control arm bushings are between the upper control arm and the control arm shaft. The shaft is then bolted solid to the subframe.
Look at pics of all these parts on Rockauto and you'll have a better idea.

The first thing to do is investigate the pitman arm before doing anything.

 

[1992safari]

The first thing to do is investigate the pitman arm before doing anything.

Okay ill go check the pitman arm. Thanks!

This is my daily driver, and im not sure what im going to do if i cant drive it because im in the middle of a project where i need to haul some lumber.

I replaced the rotors and wheel bearings in 2020... i think that was only 20k miles ago but it may have been more...
Its possible I did not tighten the axle nut enough, i was worried about tightening them too much and read that you want a "little" play in it.

 

[opelbits]

I hate to say it, but it might be worth dropping it off for a professional to check it out. Let them give you the list, but do the work yourself.
A UHaul van is pretty cheap for a day or two.

 

[AstroWill]

Definitely don't drive it like that, Pitman arm and wheel bearings look loose.

 

[1992safari]

I hate to say it, but it might be worth dropping it off for a professional to check it out. Let them give you the list, but do the work yourself.
A UHaul van is pretty cheap for a day or two.

Theres a tire shop that does alignments and front end work down the street from where I live. I'll have them check it out.

I'm considering just replacing everything. Seems like people used to say do all MOOG parts, but after reading on here for a bit there are conflicting ideas as to if moog is the best anymore?

I just want to be ready to order everything as soon as I know what I need to get.

I'm going to try to swap my other car with my brother and use his truck until I get this figured out.

 

[opelbits]

Good luck! I use Moog and AC Delco for the most part. Wagner, Raybestos, and Standard I think are okay. You have a better chance than with Centric, Mevotech and the Chinese brands. Although, sometimes they are the only option.

 

[1992safari]

Okay, I've pretty much decided just to do the whole thing myself and replace everything.

Once I'm done with this bathroom remodel I was planning on taking a few days off work before starting my next project, so this will be a good time to get this done. I'll just start on it and keep going til it's done. I'm guessing it will be a a 3-4 day project in all.

ball joints
control arm bushings
tie rods
idler arms
control rod
shock absorbers

and while i have the control arms off may as well replace the spark plugs and wires while those wheel wells are open
then wheel bearings and brake pads to finish it off.

Here's everything I'm ordering from rock auto. Mostly MOOG and AC DELCO parts. I'm guessing the parts alone will be 1/3 of what a shop would charge me and I'll know that the parts going into it are good parts.

Rock Auto RWD 1992 GMC Safari front end rebuild

 

[opelbits]

I would replace the upper control arm as an assembly, arm/balljoint/shaft/bushings.
It will save a bunch of time, unless you are determined to use AC Delco/Moog parts.
I was going to replace mine last year, but I couldn't get the arm to frame mounting bolts loose.

I had two bad lower control arms a couple years ago. The spring seat was rusting thru. Lower control arms are not available for the early Astros/Safaris, so I had to rebuild a spare set.

I have a couple of threads on that stuff.

 

[1992safari]

on rockauto they have moog and AC Delco lower control arms for the '92 safari. And only Mevotech for the uppers (that is for a RWD).

I know it's a ton of more work, but I figured I'd give it a shot just doing the bushings and ball joints. If I can't get it to work I'll order the control arm assembly, but from the looks of it the arms themself are good. I don't particularly want to replace an original part with re-manufactured unless I need to.

Open to any suggestions though so i appreciate the input!

I'm at least a week out on this bathroom project so I won't be touching the van until then and when I do I'll be working on it full time til I'm done. I'm a handyman so I can postpone my next few projects and focus on the van.

 

[opelbits]

91 might have been the cutoff year for the lowers, then.

The ballpoint are relatively easy to replace, but getting the control bushings out and in if you don't have a press and spacers (you have to have a spacer to fit inside the control arm on each side so the arm sides don't collapse when pressing). It can be done, but it will take some time.

 

[AstroWill]

I think it's a good idea to inspect everything first. A lot of the replacement parts aren't as good as the originals, so if it's not a high wear item and doesn't need to be replaced... might leave it there.

 

[1992safari]

91 might have been the cutoff year for the lowers, then.

The ballpoint are relatively easy to replace, but getting the control bushings out and in if you don't have a press and spacers (you have to have a spacer to fit inside the control arm on each side so the arm sides don't collapse when pressing). It can be done, but it will take some time.

Do you have a link to the exact model of press and spacers i'll need for that? I dont mind spending a couple hundred bucks on a tool for this job. To me its worth it and i can use it on my next van someday or sell it afterward.

I have about 1/2 the parts i need from rockauto to start this project. And will have the time to do it in a week or so.

 

[opelbits]

Actually, I used 1/2" threaded rod, nuts, washers and exhaust tubing. I cut the exhaust tubing down to fit in and around the bushings before doing anything else. The tubing has to be a C shape because you can't get it in/out if it's a full circle.
You have to remove the center sleeve and the rubber of the bushing, then cut the outer sleeve and crush it to get it out of the control arm. If you try to brute force it you might distort the arm.
Then you use the parts mentioned above to reinstall the new bushings.
It can be done, but like I said, it can take a while. Especially the first time.
An alternative is to find a local shop you cam take the arms to and have them remove/install the bushings. Probably faster and a lot foul language.

There are many videos of people doing this in different ways on various GM control arms.

There are several versions of the tools from home made to Ridetech or Harbor Freight. The trick is to get one with the right size spacer for your control arm. Although, in one video a guy used a bolt as a spacer. I thought that was pretty smart. But it all comes down to how stuck your bushings are in the arms.

 

[1992safari]

Cool, i will look around for the tool. I saw a video on youtube where a guy was doing it, ill try to find it and see if he said what he was using. I think he said what it was.

And Yeah if i cant figure it out i can take them into a shop. Good point!

 

[opelbits]

I don't know if you've done front end work of this type before. You will need an alignment afterwards. The two tricky parts are getting the toe-in close enough and getting the steering wheel centered again. The adjusters on the tie-rods should be evenly threaded.

 

[1992safari]

I don't know if you've done front end work of this type before. You will need an alignment afterwards. The two tricky parts are getting the toe-in close enough and getting the steering wheel centered again. The adjusters on the tie-rods should be evenly threaded.

Nope i have not. My plan was to get it as close as possible then bring it down to the tire shop 1/2 mile away and have them do the alignment.

 

[Astro-Seed]

I'm considering just replacing everything. Seems like people used to say do all MOOG parts, but after reading on here for a bit there are conflicting ideas as to if moog is the best anymore?

2022-1992=Thirty Years
And YIKES is right! You've definitely got troubles in river city.
You can buy a complete set of parts off Amazon or eBay for about $300 delivered. As for MOOG, Bilstein, etc. Remember, GM never installed either the factory!
If you have a list of the parts in hand and know the prices when you ask at your local shop, they may offer to do you 'a better deal' to get the work as they likely get those same parts for even less than you can get them off the eBay/Amazon. Worth a try! And, maybe you can do the work yourself - it can be done w/o a lift and a couple of floor jacks.