[ecruz]

I have a 2005 Grand Caravan with 45,000 miles. I just replaced the sway-bar links with a pair of Moog links, HUGE difference. While I was replacing them, I noticed there's some play in the front-end. Meaning, if I grab the rotor I can wiggle it back & forth. At first I thought it was the wheel bearings, but on closer inspection, the play is not at the rotor/spindle area. It appears that the whole wheel/strut assembly is moving. I thought maybe the links would fix it, but they didn't.

The result is front-end vibration. This is not the noise/vibration under acceleration that's typical when CV joints go bad. I mostly notice it under braking and it feels a lot like a warped rotor.

Any ideas on what else it could be?

Thanks,
E-

 

[acton mike]

the rotors are held tight by the wheel rim and lug nuts - i believe they call it a top hat design

if the lug nuts are off and the wheel is off the car, the rotors will be quite loose and will wiggle about

with the rim off, if you put the lug nuts back on and tighten them hand tight, you will see that there is no play in the rotor

 

[ecruz]

No, there's still play with the wheel on. And actually, the rotors on my van are held on by a big nut on the spindle.

 

[acton mike]

it appears that I mis-read the original post; I overlooked the bit about the whole strut assembly moving.

Is the lower control arm moving as well?

If not, I suspect the lower ball joints may be going south

 

[acton mike]

the large castellated nut in the centre of the hub secures the outer end of the drive shaft. The disc fits over the wheel studs and the rim and lug nut combination secures the brake rotor(disk) to the hub assembly.