Ford Escape / Hybrid :: 2005 XLT Jerks To The Left

2005 Ford Escape XLT (4WD) (non-Hybrid). Our Escape had uneven wear on the front tires. Because the mechanic we've used over the year we've lived here doesn't do alignments, my wife took it to a chain tire place on a Sunday afternoon because they were open. He said the ball joint was bad, so he wouldn't do an alignment and because they were super-busy and short-handed, he asked if we could bring it back during the week for an estimate.

A couple of weeks later I called my guy, who recommended a shop a few blocks over who does alignments, so we took it to him. We told him that the chain store had said about the ball joint. I'm pretty sure that before we took it to him, the car had started occasionally started jerking a bit in a curve, but it's been a couple of months and I only know for certain it was doing it after. (I'm not certain if it was doing it before because my wife was mostly driving that vehicle, then)

The first time it was in his shop, the mechanic said it wasn't the ball joint, but the tie-rod. After fixing that, he sold us a couple of tires and aligned the vehicle. On the way home is when I know I was aware of the car jerking a bit in curves. I'm pretty sure it was jerking in the direction of the curve, but again, it's been a couple of months.

Took it back to him the next day and though we suggested he test drive in one direction which had multiple curves, he said he retightened the tie-rod because one side wasn't right, ran it through alignment again and test drove it in another direction which only had one s-curve.

I want to say it was better for a while, but I can't really swear that to be the case. We've long had an ABS light which our previous mechanic in another part of the country said was the sensor. I had forgotten, but the first mechanic we used here had broken the axle and replaced it at no charge, when he was replacing the alternator.

The alignment mechanic said that we had a bad tone ring and the easiest thing to do would be to replace the axle. A week or so later, I called him and said we were ready to do the brakes, but I have one car and he does many and I wasn't really clear, instead of doing anything with the axle or the tone ring, his shop replaced the brakes.

Somewhere around this time, the vehicle started occasionally jerking to the left. Not in a curve, but in the straightways and the best we can tell, it's mostly when we're accelerating and is most noticeable between 30 & 45 MPH. This may not be entirely true, but it's true enough that we believe it. The "jerk" sort of feels like a car driving through fresh snow "falling" into a rut. It also sort of feels what I imagine a faulty ball joint might feel like.

While it was still more of a minor issue -- it happened more rarely than it's happening now -- we took it to what I'd consider our regular mechanic and got him to replace the axle. I didn't actually say anything to him about the jerking because it was still too occasional and I was hoping it was related to the tone ring. It's now gotten progressively worse and I'm at a loss for diagnosis. You'd think that if it was the ball joint, between the two alignments, the brake job, tire replacement and rotation and getting a new axle, one of the mechanics would have noticed it.

Compounding the issue is the fact that there's two (or three if you count the first guy, four if you count the chain tire place) garages involved. Also, I've done some of the engine work my regular mechanic recommended, so there could be a thing about me getting them to diagnose and then doing the work myself or the one mechanic replacing the axle like the alignment guy had suggested. Who knows. We haven't lived here long, so there's not really a lot of history. All I know is that they all get good Yelp reviews.

Also should probably be factored... the alignment mechanic said he felt vibration around 45 MPH and because didn't think we use the 4WD, he said he disconnected the drive shaft from the CV joint (or something like that) as a means of diagnosis. (If there had been a vibration, we hadn't paid attention to it and he did this at no charge, all on his own) Also, a few years ago, prior to our move, the transmission was rebuilt twice (once under the transmission shop's warranty) and I don't remember what the vehicle was doing, but on a third trip the transmission shop had to do something with the transfer case.

Mostly around 40 MPH -- though it may just be too subtle to notice at higher speeds and we rarely drive this vehicle on the highway, so we're mostly traveling short distances at 35 & 45 MPH -- the SUV lurches a bit toward the left and there's a little jerk in the steering wheel. It really feels like I described, like it's getting caught in a rut. Both the car and the steering wheel jerks to the left side. There hasn't been any noticeable uneven wear over the three months we've been trying to figure this out and the front tires look straight up and down. We also haven't noticed any noise. Not going down the road, not when we turn or when the steering wheel jerks.