[Billy Frye Jr.]

I have always done any and all mechanical work on the cars and trucks I’ve had over the years. My dad taught me everything about working on vehicles and I never ran into any problems I couldn’t solve on my own when it came to a car or truck. I just got this 300 Honda about 7 or 8 months ago. When I got it I was told that the only thing that needs to be done to it was adjust the brakes and get new tires for it. I learned the hard way how far that was from being true the 1st time I took it in the hills up my holler. It quickly became obvious that the front wheel bearings were wore slap out. When I got new bearings for both front wheels, I went ahead and got new ball joints and tie rod ends for both wheels too. Anyways, after replacing the bearings, ball joints and tie rod ends, the front wheels feel very strange and they feel like they are wobbling around. Also, every time I shift up to the next gear the front wheels jerk the steering far to the left or right. I am basically just hoping that someone in this forum can give me any information about what I can look at to possibly fix the problem. In advance, I greatly appreciate any help whatsoever. Thank ya.

 

[fishfiles]

Welcome to the forum, hope it helps you out and you stick around and share your 300 experiences ---- one thing it could be , I have found that the 300s will wallow out the bore in the knuckle where the bearing sits , so even after installing a new bearing there is still some wobble , in other words the bearings fit loose , when this happens a new knuckle is the best way to fix it , I have packed some JBWeld around the race while sticking the bearing in , there is a product called bearing retainer that works well for that problem

jack the front wheels off the ground and move the tire around to check for play

 

[Billy Frye Jr.]

Thank you very much. I’ll definitely take your advice and look into that. I have another question that you may be able to help me with if ya don’t mind. How much am I supposed to tighten the nuts for the tie rod ends? I tightened the nuts for the inner tie rods to where the cotter pins aren’t even touching the castle nuts and there is still some play in them. As far as that goes, how can I be sure I tightened the castle nut for the axles, ball joints, tie rod ends? Lol.

 

[retro]

Are those new parts OEM Honda or aftermarket china knockoffs? There should be no play in the tie rod ends if the shafts fit in the factory holes. Sounds like yours might be china...?

 

[fishfiles]

Billy , I am not going to lie , I don't use the cotter keys on the tie rod ends , I'll break or wear out the tie rod end long before it ever unscrews on it's own , and I have had to change a few in the woods before and don't want to deal with the key , I seem to remember that the cotter key is a ways above the nut on the tie rods and the nut is not a castle nut anyways , so it is tighten the nut till it touches the steering arm and then some more , I don't worry on torque specs or either the tie rods or the ball joints , the ball joints I do install the keys and have never had a problem yet where the nut got tight and the key hole was too far above the castle nut slots --------- like Retro said , you might have the wrong ball joints ????

 

[Billy Frye Jr.]

I ordered the ball joints and tie rod ends from either eBay or Amazon. I can't remember which of those sites they came from. But I don't believe they were OEM parts because they were the only ones I could afford for now. I have the front end apart as we speak and I found out one of my major problems. The brake hub that bolts onto the knuckle on the front left wheel is bent bad and I think it wasn't letting the axle nut from going as far as it should have. I'll let y'all know if I fix it or I need to do more fixing to it when I get finished later tonight lol. Thank you guys for everything. It's greatly appreciated. Trust me.

 

[SamUK]

If you have any worn parts that don't fit as they should you could try Loctite 638 (or other brands). Here in the UK it's commonly known as 'bearing & bush retainer'. It works very well and saves a lot of money if you have numerous applications for it.

Here's a link..

https://rover.ebay.com/rover/0/0/0?mpre=https://www.ebay.co.uk/ulk/itm/251619085817

Edit: avoid all Amazon and eBay parts, nine times out of ten you'll find most are Chinese knock off and will cause you more issues and give a very misleading outcome to a potentially simple fix.

 

[Billy Frye Jr.]

Hey guys. I found out what was causing the problems I was having with my 4 wheeler. I completely tore down the front end again and check out everything while I put it all back together. It didn’t take me long to find the problem. I felt so embarrassed for myself and even called myself a stupid mother-effer when I realized I forgot to tighten the nuts that lock the tie rod ends in place. It explains how the front end gradually went from feeling good the first time I rode it after I got done working on it the first time. Then after almost 4 days of riding around on it in the hills and on the road, it felt like the front end had a mind of its own and if I was going fast enough to shift it past 3rd gear, it was almost impossible to keep it going in a straight line. Anyways, after I made sure I had everything tightened very good and I realigned the front end, I double checked the tie rod ends to make sure that I had them locked in place lol. Now it’s riding like it’s supposed to. It doesn’t jerk violently to either side when I shift up going at a decent speed. It doesn’t feel like it’s road walking anymore. Now, the only thing I could feel in the handling while riding it is being caused by the rear tires because the treads on both of them are almost gone. And I noticed that the right side of the front end is sitting lower than the other side. Maybe that’s got a little to do with it. I’m actually outside trying to see if I can adjust the shocks to level out the front end. I’m hoping that is all it is and I don’t have to buy new shocks for it. I just wanted to let you guys know how grateful I am and say thank you for the help.

 

[shadetree]

you can not adjust the front shocks.