Here's my newest dilemma, 89 240, I was driving home yesterday, keep in mind this is an intermittent problem......so while driving home i get on the freeway and it felt like the tire was tire was going to fall off the car once i hit about 40mph, got worse with braking. got off the freeway and home no problems. steering does feel a bit spongy. Drove to work this morning no problems, avoided the freeway. Pulled into my parking spot and while turning the wheel i got an vibration/oscillation and could see the wheel shaking. pulled in, put wheels straight and smoothly but quickly started turning the wheels back and forth. oscillation in both directions. i know i need new ball joints, and struts were going in next month. i looked at the tie rods and there really isn't any play in them even with their age. The steering still seems to work okay for its age also. i had hit a bump on the right passenger side pretty hard the other day and that seems to have been when the problems started. And since i bought it there has been a slight vibration at highway speeds but not as bad as yesterday and that i am pretty sure was due to bad ball joint and struts.
Which ball joint on these cars bears the most load, the upper or lower??? i would assume the lower. I found a reman steering rack for 155 just don't want to jump the gun if that's not the problem.

thanks for any info

 

I would reinspect the front end.
There is no Upper Balljoint on these cars.
I would reinspect everything in the front end. When you hit the bump something might have bent as well.

 

i was kind of thinking these did'nt have upper ball joints. if the ball joint cracked could it cause this? I've located a couple steering racks. One at hirsch foreign, btw if any of you have dealt with them be cautious after the nightmare i had with the transmission they supposedly "inspected" i don't know if i want to get it from there. I'll get it up on jackstands tomorrow. It's just irritating that this is an intemittent problem. thanks tech

 

I boubt it cracked but you will know better once you inspect it.
If the rack steers good and isn't leaking then I wouldn't worry about a rack yet.

 

definitely no leaks from the steering rack, so i'm hoping outer tie rod which if that's the case b.joints at the same time getting replaced

 

Let me know what you find when you inspect it.