Planning to drive my 71 Challenger 300miles this weekend. When I inspected the front suspension, I noticed a lot of play in the front suspension, where the idler arm attaches to the center link. There is about 1/3" movement between the joint. Is it safe to drive?

See pic where the blue tape is.....thanks Glenn

safe? most likely NO.

BUT, I have drove with a lot worse tie rods/center link/BJ all at the same time for way more miles than that.

I have also had a tie rod fall apart at 30 mph, saved and parked in the ditch.

I have had a upper BJ let go at 60 mph. new dent with that one.

all when I was in my 20s now at 52 I would not even think of driving it and cuss the whole time I was hammering them out for replacement.

do you feel LUCKY?

I can`t imagine anyone telling you it would be ok to drive like that.

I would suggest that you will always have that quiezy feeling while you are on the drive. You won't be able to enjoy the road dwelling on the possibility of failure. Just my $.02

Run what ya brung?? or

I wouldn't be afraid to do it but is there a possibility that you could pickle fork it apart & change it out real quick (easy to do/no realignment needed) & what kind of shape is the rest of the system in?

It's a part a regular parts store like NAPA should be able to get in a day or less.

Looks like you have a home lift, so replacing it should take an hour or less. Most likely less. Only two bolts and it's in and out.

I don't imagine that would cause any problems during the trip, but if you're worried, that would be a relatively quick and easy repair. Even if you took the car to a shop for them to change it would be a quick job while you wait.

Probably, but why????? It's an inexpensive and easily replaced part.
If anything did happen you'd have only yourself to blame. If you were my relative I'd tell you to change it out Pronto!
R.

I'll go against the grain and say you're fine, I'd drive it
Your biggest problem is you know it's there now.

Pick up a new one and replace it,driving with faulty suspensionparts is not a good option considering that every time something fails its always at the worst time. and either way it will be on your mind screwing up the drive mentaly anyway.

Thanks for all the good feedback! Glenn

Which is exactly why i stopped looking under my car!

If you wipe out due to the steering failing, and someone gets hurt or killed, that would be a horrible tragedy! Add to it, you will be legally screwed. Especially because you knew about!

...furthermore, if you killed me, I would be pissed!!!

All this legalism is just bandwagon BS, and the truth is, it's not like this is a tie rod end. Also it's not highly stressed. If it fails, you are still going to have some control over the car, although you may suddenly lurch in one direction or the other...

There are two real reasons why you should have changed this out before your weekend trip, which I believe was last weekend so this whole thing is moot anyway, but here goes...

1. It is THE RIGHT THING TO DO. Contrary to popular thinking, there IS Right and Wrong. It's not how you feel at the time. Driving with a known bad suspension or steering piece is Wrong. So you take care of it because it's the right thing to do. Sounds simple? It really is.

2. It is an easy fix. If one truly believes point #1, then this point is invalid. But the decision is made easier by the fact that this is an easy swap and doesn't cost too much. It won't require a realignment (no suspension shop that I know would do an alignment with such a worn piece, therefore, the current alignment must have been done much earlier and replacing the idler arm will bring it back to where it was originally). Also it'll help with tire wear.

End of story.

R.

Tell THAT to the dead guy! Accidents with serious injury and or death get thoroughly investigated. It's not my law, and it's not worth the risk!

Believe what you will, if it makes you feel better.

R.

That's what you are doing. I have seen it play out in real life with a neighbor of mine. So... you think that the authorities are not interested in finding out why a person lost control of their vehicle when someone was seriously injured or killed? Have it your way, I'm not interested in arguing the plain truth with you. The prosecution rests.

I hope we are still cyber friends though!

Hmmm... (The sound of crickets chirping in the background) I hope Dogdays didn't lose control of his vehicle! Maybe it's just dinner time. Speaking of which, I'm outta here!

There are several different possibilitys why you have movement, one is the idler arm rod end is not seated in the drag link cross bar Remove the cotter key and see if you can tighten the nut up so it eliminates the slop on the rod end up and down If it is tight the other posisible cause of the slop is the idler arm is worn out, you can test that by having someone turn the steering wheel right and then left, if the idler arm moves up and down before moving right or left you need a new idler arm I've seen them(cheap new ones ) go bad with very little driving, if you need to replace it buy a really good one IHTHs