G Man

I was thinking of putting the front wheels up on ramps and having someone move the steering wheel side to side a little while watching the potential wear areas for excessive play. Would this work OK or would it be better to have the wheels hanging and the suspension unloaded?

soontobered84

Seems to me that if the wheels are unloaded, you could wiggle the tires from left to right to check tie rods and steering rack play as well as steering rack bushings and then wiggle the tires from top to bottom to measure wheel bearing play and/or ball joint wear.

I vote for unloaded.

SharkSkin

You can check it both ways if you want to be thorough. With the suspension loaded, all parts will be in the position where maximum wear has occurred. What you suggest, plus pulling the rack boots back and wiggling the shaft up/down and fore/aft will tell you some about it's condition. Use a pry bar to nudge things around and see if any of the ball joints have excessive play, making sure not to pinch any boots or ding any precision surfaces while you're doing it. Having the wheels on the ground will make it easier to check the u-joint as well.

With the suspension unloaded you can check wheel bearings and once again wiggle all moving parts.

I vote for both, some problems may be more apparent with one approach or the other.