Squirelly .....

Outside of passenger front wheel was showing signs of early wear while drivers side is perfect.

Means, too much toe in on passenger side.... (right?)

Adjusted the tie rod to toe out a smidgen....

When for a test on a safe road.....seemed perfect...then at about 50MPH the steering would shake wildly....in my hands....brakes stopped it....

Came back readjusted with less toe....went for a drive....same thing..

Looked at steering dampener, removed the link of the dampener on the inner tie-rod end....tested the piston with my hands. Seemed perfect.

Changed the eccentric on the new ball joint on passenger side (this could be the culprit)

Put everything back together and went for a small drive.....forget it!

The steering is WAY too light....

If I can't figure this, it's off to alignment shop up the street on Monday.

Can't figure it out! Does the eccentric change caster........? Possible the mechanic pressed the ball joint not aligned with the groove? Although I did drive it since it was done and it was OK.

Now the steering want to go wherever.....WTF

possibly adjust steering box, maybe too much slop, can ajust with srewdriver and wrench?

Mike - the issue you are talking about is camber.

Lift up the front end and see what the good side is set at and mimic it on the other side.

or you can get a front alignment for ~$40. i spent a lot on a 4 wheel alignment (about 7 hours to get perfect) before and after were absolutely amazing. i can drive on the highway @65mph with one finger on the wheel.

I used to be like that, don't know what the fek happened. Yes I meant camber...but wrote caster.

I took off the upper torsion arm where the new ball joint was pressed. I am starting to think the guy who pressed it in didn't align the notches.

The steering is really jumpy now, too much toe in?? I've been driving this thing for years can't understand.

My beam is not adjustable although I do have top and bottom bolts in the middle, 2 on each. I back them off and re-tightened the grub (thinking this may help), it didn't.

I need to play with that eccentric in the meantime to see if the camber is the problem, which I think it is.

The torsion is good on the arm so can rule that out. Although I did disconnect the dampener to see (check the spring), no oil it is entirely possible my dampener went south.

I'll tinker later today, first off to the beach with the Ghia since it's going to be amazing today....with the colors of the trees. If that doesn't do it, I will have the guy press it back out and recheck...and align, Monday.

Also, I am constantly using the drivers side tie-rod to make adjustments since the longer one (passenger side) I can seem to get the lock nut to back off (that lock nut is on the drivers side). Measured the discs in relation to the body and they are both the same, so I guess that's OK.

You've had a lot of problems lately with your front suspension.

Just on a whim, try looking at the bushings that align the torsion arms, they could be worn to such a point that they are causing you problems.

see: http://www2.cip1.com/ProductDetails.asp?ProductCode=C12%2D6524%2D11

Also, remove the effected tie rod completely by removing the tie rod ends from the linkage. Loosen the lock nuts so the alignment company can properly set the toe in. This would be a great time to replace the tie rod ends as they can cause havoc but appear to be in good working order.

Remember: 1/8" toe in 1/16" per side 1/2 degree to 1 degree of Negative camber and 4-6 degree's of caster.

As mentioned, if the back half of the car is not aligned correctly, it will steer the front half in a negative manner.

had a similar sounding issue on an old pathfinder and after rebuilding the whole front end a piece at a time and much headscratching I found that the trailing arm bushings were spent(rear end)
at speed in a curve if i let up on the gas it would jump to one side, if i touched the gas again it would jump back the other way. Very scary at 60 or 70!
Try putting a big ol' bar on every wheel. Up down in out fore aft. Use a fulcrum and get right on it! The trailing arms have bushings as well as the torsion bars,outers are easy-4 bolts. check motor mounts if you have swing axle (could effect camber on rear) make sure ALL suspension and brake parts are good-shocks,bearings, sway bar, joints, steering box, bushings, More likely somethins busted/worn out than just out of adjustment!
i'm just sayin'

Yeah will check and report the finding, thanks! Front end geometry is a pain in the arse. Still can't figure how this happened! But thanks for the heads up! As usual!

one more thing- check toe-in on rear tires. Easy- just measure front and back as high as you can get. adjustable with slots where torsion arms bolt to trailing arm. I flipped my trailing arms(IRS) and then reflipped shock mounts rewelded, I did this to maintain camber when i lowered 'er. Found proper toe-in and drilled out the third hole, Worked slick and easy with the body off. Two hour project!(except for trip to the guy with the big impact gun, his gun put the big nuts on and his will get em off!)