incredible shifting Accord---help!

[soth222]

OK, I've had this car for some time and it's been pretty good to me up to this point. Hopefully one of you guys might have some insight into this:

I've got an '86 Accord DX, about 200K miles, rebuilt auto. tranny around 40K miles ago. About a month ago I hit this enormous pot hole while going close to 40 mi/hr. It ultimately screwed the axles all to hell, and I wound up getting both of them replaced a couple of weeks ago. Here's the issue: when I'm driving slowly, say less than 10 miles per hour, it feels like the front of the car is shifting horizontally right to left (shifts more to the right than to the left). This doesn't feel like an alignment issue; it seems like the frame itself moves while the tire still faces straight. As I accelerate, the speed at which it is shifting increases as well until I don't feel it anymore...until I get about 60 mi/hr. Once I hit that speed, I feel a slight shift to the right every few seconds. Here's what I've checked:

-loose bolts on the steering arm/ all other parts connected to the steering knuckle; everything APPEARS tight.
-rubber seals on ball joints and on axels; nothing appears to be torn or leaking grease.
-Excessive play with the axels; again, everything looks to be in order.

Now, it was doing this before I had the axels replaced, so I'm wondering if it could be any of the following:

-bent steering/suspension arms (I've looked and they seeem to be ok, but I can't be completely sure- would a bent arm cause this kind of motion?)
-something going on where the axel connects to the transmission (though I would hope my mechanic would've said something about that when he replaced the axels)
-bad rotors (the rotors do need to be replaced, but this is probably more wishful thinking since it's the least expensive of my three guesses)

Has anyone else had this kind of issue before? And more importantly, is it still safe to drive? I won't be able to get the car in anywhere until Saturday... Thanks in advance for the help, and sorry about the long post.

['89AccordLX(Rus)]

Check your radius rods. They are attached using rubber bushings to the front crossmember and will affect the wheel caster if the bushings are loose. Take a look at the lower arm inner and outer bushings (body mount and damper fork mount). With the front of the car off of the ground, use a large screwdriver between the lower arm and the steering knuckle. If the joint moves when you apply pressure, it needs replacement. Joints can wear out without the boots failing. Upper balljoints need to be checked as well, as in physically attempt to move them around. Try to move the entire upper control arm around as well. If the upper control arm bushings are worn, they will cause suspension play as well in the form of caster and camber changes. Even if it doesn't feel like an alignment issue, you may want to have it checked anyway (that is if you find absolutely no other issues). Hope this helps.

[FyreDaug]

Yeah alignments dont cost that much, so check your radius rod for sure. If you take it in for an alignment and it didnt fix anything then its obviously something else. Does it make any noise when it goes left to right?

[soth222]

Thanks for the input. There isn't any noise associated with the issue, at least not that I can tell (my squealing speedometer needle tends to drown out most other things in the car). I'm probably going to wind up taking it to a mechanic, but I'm worried about it holding up till Saturday. I'll definitely try the screwdriver test on the lower arm joint.

[l3aLLa]

did you have your rims checked out? A pothole at 40 MPH was bound to put a nice bend in the rim on the side you hit which will cause that motion. But when you say it goes from side to side, i dont think it would be the rims because its should just excessive shaking below 50 MPH which indicates bent rims.