Here is the problem - there is a rattle in the steering, particularly when
the car is on a bumpy road. On a smooth paved road, all is well - no rattle
and the car handles fine.
To make the matter more complicated - the car is a 92 Ford Explorer. And it
started happening after the car did four miles of what I would call "mild"
four wheeling.
Why do I ask the MG list? Because oddly enough, my 67 BGT has the same
problem. Except the rattling is much less severe and only occurs on the
dirt road to my house, which is only a couple of city blocks from the end
of the pavement. So I never gave it much thought until it suddenly happened
to the Explorer but in a more serious way.
Its even more serious because these new American cars require specialists
for most everything. On the 67BGT, I just received new tie rod ends and
rubber rack seals. I was planning on doing some inexpensive and fairly
routine maintenance on it and maybe get rid of its rattle this weekend.
Mainly I was replacing the cracking rack seals though, rather than getting
rid of the rattle.
So any ideas on what can cause this steering rattle? Can it be the tie rod
ends? Or is that too easy of a fix? But I guess easy is "relative" - I got
the pair of tie rod ends for the BGT for $24. I'd be lucky to get one Ford
tie rod end for that.
David
67 BGT
71 BGT
74 FJ40 Landcruiser (no rattle and lots of real 4 wheeling)
92 Ford Explorer (mechanic's dream)
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