2004 Intrepid serious wobble while driving?

Posted By: cudabitten

2004 Intrepid serious wobble while driving? - 08/15/14 02:53 AM

Hi, I have a 2004 Intrepid that runs excellently, it has 102,000 miles. Wife drives it and noticed yesterday that something was not right. I forgot about it and today she came home again and reminded me. Well I got in the car for a test drive and was fine when we pulled out of the driveway and down the road a bit, then she accellerated a little to about 35 and the whole car started to wobble. Felt like side to side. She says the steering wheel is jumping up and down like going over speed bumps, not side to side. I did a quick check of the lugs and tire surfaces and stabilizer and tie rods, cv joints,...just a visual before it got dark here. Nothing looked suspicious. Any ideas? It does not do it at idle and is only intermittent while driving, it is not related to the brakes.

Posted By: Abodysforever

Re: 2004 Intrepid serious wobble while driving? - 08/15/14 03:00 AM

Inner tie rod bushings? Those are common.

Posted By: Ron_M

Re: 2004 Intrepid serious wobble while driving? - 08/15/14 03:01 AM

SWAG (wild guess) Ball Joints or belt shift (tire). I'm not an expert though. Someone smarter than me will be along...

good luck

Posted By: feets

Re: 2004 Intrepid serious wobble while driving? - 08/15/14 03:24 AM

Quote:

Inner tie rod bushings? Those are common.

Winner!

The inner tie rod bushings are probably dead. This is a repair you can do without an alignment rack.
Pop the hood and look on the firewall behind the engine. You can see where they come together.
I managed to knock mine out in 45 minutes. laying hands on them is tricky with a 3.5 but might be easier with a different engine.

Posted By: therocks

Re: 2004 Intrepid serious wobble while driving? - 08/15/14 02:41 PM

IIRC the K frame bushings go bad also.Had a few at work and there wasnt any bushings left.Just the large washers and the bolt.Rocky

Posted By: rt66jim

Re: 2004 Intrepid serious wobble while driving? - 08/15/14 09:24 PM

Well my WAG would be CV joint. Inner tie rods will make a rattle sound when hitting a bump or small pot hole. You can also feel it in the strg whl. Ball joints would be about the same except you won't fell it in the wheel.
front cross member mounts will thump when hitting pot holes. But won't cause the car to wobble side to side.

I would look a the tires very closely first. Then check CV joints. If that is all good. Look at the rack & pinion mounts.

Posted By: cudabitten

Re: 2004 Intrepid serious wobble while driving? - 08/16/14 04:42 AM

Quote:

Quote:

Inner tie rod bushings? Those are common.

Winner!

The inner tie rod bushings are probably dead. This is a repair you can do without an alignment rack.
Pop the hood and look on the firewall behind the engine. You can see where they come together.
I managed to knock mine out in 45 minutes. laying hands on them is tricky with a 3.5 but might be easier with a different engine.

I think it may be the tie rods. I did notice that there are shinny new wear marks on the black rubber that surround the tie rods where they pass through the wheel well area from the engine, in fact they're torn on both sides. My engine is a 2.7, I did see the where they come together. Can you just replace the bushings? Seems easy enough, even if its not the cause.

Posted By: feets

Re: 2004 Intrepid serious wobble while driving? - 08/16/14 04:43 PM

You can pop the tie rods out as assemblies. Dig out what's left of the old bushings, shove in new one, and slap 'em back on.
Getting them lined up again can be a real trick. The boot on the rack will slide down and cover the holes.

Be sure you get the retaining tabs bent over the heads of the bolts. It would suck to have the bolts back out and let the tie rods fall off.

Everything you need to know can be found here: http://www.dodgeintrepid.net/showthread.php?p=1861497

Posted By: therocks

Re: 2004 Intrepid serious wobble while driving? - 08/16/14 05:04 PM

They are easy to do in the car.No need to remove the outers.Just bend the tabs and unscrew one side at a time.If nothing moves they will pretty much line back up.I did a bunch at work.They come with a new lock for the bolts.I red locktite them.Never had any back out.The first set I did are still on my 96.Rocky

Posted By: feets

Re: 2004 Intrepid serious wobble while driving? - 08/16/14 10:32 PM

I tried that approach with my 02 Concorde. It didn't turn out so well. I ended up having to pull the assemblies out.

Posted By: therocks

Re: 2004 Intrepid serious wobble while driving? - 08/17/14 12:15 AM

Probally because you didnt change them a lot.Rocky

Posted By: feets

Re: 2004 Intrepid serious wobble while driving? - 08/17/14 04:08 AM

Quote:

Probally because you didnt change them a lot.Rocky

I changed them once. Does that count?

Posted By: therocks

Re: 2004 Intrepid serious wobble while driving? - 08/17/14 12:06 PM

Yeah it counts.But after say 10 or 20 they get easy.Rocky

Posted By: cudabitten

Re: 2004 Intrepid serious wobble while driving? - 08/17/14 07:06 PM

Ok, I screwed up. I finally got everything together, but the driver side did not line up. The bolt that goes through the tie rod end was off just enough so I could not push it through to the steering assembly. I took the other side off and still could not get it through. So I turned the steering wheel just a bit and now nothing lines up. It seems there is a metal spacer piece just inside the plastic boot that slides around freely. I cannot get either bolt through that piece and into the steering assembly.

Any Help? I have been working on this for three hours today.

Ok got it!

I guess I was starting to give up a bit. Both sides on now, just need to torgue things down.

Thanks again guys, saved some money today.

Posted By: feets

Re: 2004 Intrepid serious wobble while driving? - 08/18/14 03:48 PM

Good to hear you got it.

If you didn't put Loctite on the bolts you need to be sure the locking tabs are bent down over flats on the bolt heads.

It would suck to have them back out.

Posted By: Magnum

Re: 2004 Intrepid serious wobble while driving? - 08/21/14 05:48 AM

I've also seen the outers not clocked to a neutral position. This must be neutral or the inner will prematurely wear.

Posted By: therocks

Re: 2004 Intrepid serious wobble while driving? - 08/21/14 02:03 PM

They even have a tool for the outers when you do an alingnment.It keeps them in an even plane.We had it at work.Rocky

Posted By: cudabitten

Re: 2004 Intrepid serious wobble while driving? - 08/22/14 12:29 AM

Thanks FEETS,ROCKY, and everyone else. Wife drove the Dodge to jersey and back yesterday, no issues. I did bend those tabs down, I also drew a reference mark on the nut and the plate with white-out, its a habit that I have. Whenever I open the hood I can quickly keep an eye on things.I forgot to use loctite. I have the red stuff right in the garage too!