Is My Diagnosis Correct?

8Mud said:

Put it on a jack stand with the tire four inches off the ground. I use a three foot piece of 2X4, put it under the tire and lift a few times, kind of bounce it. Watch the ball joints, you'll see the movement. Either two jack stands under the axle or one under the frame, with the opposite tire still on the ground works best.

Mine never squeaked or binded, but they would click when I turned into a driveway. Something about hitting a bump with the wheel turned, clack clack.

Rotate your tires front to rear, some wear on the outside edge not matter what you do. I found Goodyear Wranglers to wear fast on the outside edges.

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CherBear said:

I have done a bit of searching about this, but before I start this project, I would like a second opinion.

Symptoms:

1. Squeaking noises at low speeds

2. Drivers side front tire has heavy wear on the inside edge.

3. Passenger side has even wear.

4. Light binding at low speeds combined with sharp turns.

IIRC, bad toe angle can cause the edges of a tire to wear incorrectly, but since this only affect one tire, I disregarded that. I also noted that bad caster angle can affect the camber angle, but since I have no lift, I also disregarded that. My only remaining option was that I had bad negative camber on that single tire. Apparently the camber is not adjustable on an axle of this type, Which narrowed it down to either a bad ball joint, or a bent axle housing.

Since I havn't done anything that would bend the housing at least 1*, I would have to guess it is the ball joint. This doesn't seem to explain why it squeaks and binds. So I am thinking of replacing the U joint and possibly the hub bearing.

Does this seem reasonable?

Specs: Stock D30, no lift, no locker. 4.0,aw4, 231.

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