Weird Clunk from front

[wayconvict]

Weird clunk coming from the passenger side of my car.... Sounds like a dent being popped in and out.

Happens when cornering fast or hitting a soft bump in the road (the kind that gives you vertigo when you have no shocks).

On that side (passenger) I have a new control arm/ball joint (on both sides) only put in a month and a half ago, new sway bar bushings, a used strut assembly, and a new half shaft. I think the wheel bearings may be worn in the steering knuckle, and from what I can tell, it looks like the tie-rod end in the drivers side has a little bit of play in it. Two of the tie rod end rubbers are not looking good but the one on the passenger seems solid.

Everything but the CV joint I put in myself, and it all seems solid. I seen a post that talked about the ball joint being loose it could clunk, would that be the ball or stud that clunks.

Also, but it could be my imagination, it seems like when it clunks it starts to pull to one side and when it clucks again it goes straight. Also, would a bad strut tower bearing make that clunk.

Any ideas anybody?

[wayconvict]

update on the situation

I took another look and it was the the ball joint stud.... so now it seems I may have put the ball joint in wrong and have damaged the pinch bolt int he process.... I think it was clunking in and out the groove in the ball joint.....

Does anyone know what the specs are on the bolt .... I think a new one came with the control arm (i know a nut did anyway) so I may be able to find the old one..... but if not does anyone know a solution?

Does anyone know approximately how far the ball joint should be from the back steering knuckle/half shaft.... every time I press on the brakes, it sounds like it rubbing off the CV boot or whatever it there.... need help quick...

[Pgh5spd]

There's a groove in the ball joint stud, so the right bolt should only pass thru when it's aligned with the groove. But it's not a very deep groove so it may be possible to jam it in when not aligned. If you need a new pinch bolt/nut, you can't go wrong by getting a grade 8. Make sure it's metric so the diameter is right - I expect just a mm or two under spec could leave enough space for the stud to slip in the yoke of the steering knuckle.

However, to put your mind at ease a bit, I've never been able to pop the ball joint out from the knuckle without unbolting the knuckle at the top. I think this is because the stud is at an angle relative to the axis of the knuckle. Has anyone ever had a ball joint stud part company with the steering knuckle while on the road? (Ball parting company with the control arm doesn't count).

But, the clunking may also be due to an excessively worn rack. Since you've replaced so much other stuff up front, maybe now you're able to hear the next-most worn component, ie the rack. My son's '89 (~150K mi) had symptoms like what you describe and I was planning to replace the rack with him in the spring, but mommy bought him a damn Chrysler for Xmas. Still have his Festiva but haven't tested the theory yet.

Good luck!
John

[brownspank]

You might wanna check the steering rack assy, too. I had that same problem when steering out from a tight steer and going over bumps. Had the whole assembly replaced (including boots and bushings), and everything was fine.

[wayconvict]

thank guys, the rack seems OK.... it was the pinch bolt after all.... with caused me a lot of trouble.... I first put a Canadian tire bolt (might as well tie it together with fishing line) to get me through and ended over-torqued it until it was stripped.... so I had to grind it out of there.... best kind now with a new 8.8 grade bolt...

[damac]

i dont really know anything about cars, but replaced a ton of stuff on a 1997 ford aspire recently according to the manual, etc.

anyways i was getting this clunk on the left front at various times, especially when slowing down at low speeds.

the original bearings werent tended to at all until around 120,000+ miles and they were in terrible shape.

i got a new hub thing, all new bearings and seals and had them pressed by a shop.

the old assembly you could just freely spin and all of a sudden it would catch and be hard to turn. crunch