Zootal Posted September 13, 2016 Share Posted September 13, 2016 Symptoms: clunk noise from left front when making a turn at 5-10 mph, no faster. The clunk is fairly heavy, not a tinny clunk. I made a preliminary examination, and the tie rod and ball joint is secure. The axles are maybe 3 years old, and I would not think a single heavy clunk would come from the cv joints at that speed. I see nothing obviously wrong that would cause this. Does this sound familiar to anyone? My next step is to jack it up and pull the wheel and caliper and rotor take a closer look and see what I can see. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Brighton96 Posted September 13, 2016 Share Posted September 13, 2016 I had the same noise on the same side but I'm not sure exactly what the cause was because I made multiple changes to the suspension all at once. With mine it was: Replace the sway bar link and bushing and torque it with under vehicle weight, and I replaced the whole strut assembly but the tophat/mount was horrible, the bearing was a still in one piece but it took a lot of effort to rotate it and the rubber insulator was all dry rotted. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Zootal Posted September 13, 2016 Author Share Posted September 13, 2016 I replaced the swaybar link/bushing (it's all one piece) and axles and ball joints about two years ago. The clunk is down low, and considering how the strut connects I don't see how a bad strut could cause that. It's possible something came loose. When I first replaced the ball joints, I bought some el-cheapo ball joints that did not have a castle nut - they had a nut with a plastic insert to keep them from coming loose. A week later they came loose. I pulled them out, threw them in the trash, and went and found some ball joints with a castle nut, problem solved. I'm wondering if the ball joint has gone bad, as that would certainly cause the noise...<sigh> ... guess it's time to tear things apart and see what is loose ... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Brighton96 Posted September 13, 2016 Share Posted September 13, 2016 Well CV axles will click when they start to fail. They will usually click all the time under normal driving conditions or just a few times on turns but not just one single clunk, I'd look at struts, maybe pull it out and inspect it. I also really doubt its a Ball Joint or Tie Rods. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Zootal Posted September 13, 2016 Author Share Posted September 13, 2016 Well CV axles will click when they start to fail. They will usually click all the time under normal driving conditions or just a few times on turns but not just one single clunk, I'd look at struts, maybe pull it out and inspect it. I also really doubt its a Ball Joint or Tie Rods. CV joints also don't make as heavy of a clunk, this is a nice solid CLUNK. And it is one and one time only. OK, maybe it is the strut going? Tie rods are too small to clunk like that, and a ball joint loose enough to do that? Scary. I mention ball joint because of the fiasco I went through with the cheap made in china junk ball joints that I had to replace after just a few weeks. Also, I had an old plymouth with bad ball joints that would clunk like that but they did it going over bumps, not just on low speed turns. Struts...<sigh>... I've never pulled a strut, not really sure hot to test it to see if it's the culprit, and not sure I even have the tools to replace them. It's a good solid CLUNK, so I'm hoping the cause will be easy to find. I'm pulling it apart tonight.... And why does this happen when it's 100 degrees outside? Why can't this happen when the weather is cool? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Brighton96 Posted September 13, 2016 Share Posted September 13, 2016 If I were you and I had access to a little mountable camera, I'd pull the plastic wheel well liner out and mount the camera up in the wheel well so that it can record that area behind the tire and then drive around. That's given you have or know someone who has a gopro or similar camera. This method has worked very well with diagnosing suspension stuff for me in the past. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Winesalot Posted September 13, 2016 Share Posted September 13, 2016 Is the car an automatic? Does it feel like it is hopping when the sound happens? If yes to both it could be torque lock in the transmission. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Zootal Posted September 13, 2016 Author Share Posted September 13, 2016 Is the car an automatic? Does it feel like it is hopping when the sound happens? If yes to both it could be torque lock in the transmission. Yes automatic, and no to the jumping. No hopping or anything at all like that, just the clunk. And it sounds like it's external and located in the vicinity of the bottom of the strut or ball joint area. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Zootal Posted September 17, 2016 Author Share Posted September 17, 2016 So I got the car in the garage (good excuse to clean garage), jacked it up, pulled tire. The left side inner CV joint has about a quarter of inch of up/down slop. The right side is much tighter. Is that normal? How much play can a CV joint have before it needs to be replaced? I can grab it with my hand and push it up, pull it down, and it has a quarter inch, maybe 5/8 inch slop. What are the tolerances? The strut housing has caked on dirty grease/oil, I suspect they leaked years ago, there is well over 200,000 miles on them. At this point I can't say for sure what is causing the clunk noise. Everything else seems to be tight and solid. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Zootal Posted September 17, 2016 Author Share Posted September 17, 2016 And a related question: I'm looking at Gabriel Ultra vs KYB Excel-G struts. Back in my day, Gabriel was a decent brand name for shocks, are they any good today and does anyone have any comments about one vs the other? AND - these axles are about three years old - and I vaguely recall they were autozone el-cheapo axles, is it not unreasonable for these to fail after just three years considering the off-brand elcheapo nature of them? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Brighton96 Posted September 17, 2016 Share Posted September 17, 2016 And a related question: I'm looking at Gabriel Ultra vs KYB Excel-G struts. Back in my day, Gabriel was a decent brand name for shocks, are they any good today and does anyone have any comments about one vs the other? AND - these axles are about three years old - and I vaguely recall they were autozone el-cheapo axles, is it not unreasonable for these to fail after just three years considering the off-brand elcheapo nature of them? There shouldn't be any play with them, that would make me think that the CV axle is toast but to be honest I've never tried wiggling them so maybe mine do it to? I don't know, but I have the Advance auto brand (toughone) CVs and I haven't had issue with them so far. I heard that Gabriel struts give a stiffer ride than stock, I have Monroe struts and mounts in all corners and it rides pretty damn well for stock suspension. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Zootal Posted September 19, 2016 Author Share Posted September 19, 2016 New axles. New struts (KYB Excel-G, of course ). New Moog tie rod ends. New Moog ball joints (cause one had a bit of slop in it, and might as well replace them while I have it torn apart) (Moog because I got burned on a set of made in China garbage ball joints a few years ago). Might as well slap on a set of brake pads, the existing ones are getting a bit thin. In for a dime, in for a dollar, might as well do it right while I have it apart. Several of the lug nut studs are rough and damaged, need replacing. Need to press hub out just to replace these, so might as well replace the wheel bearing while I'm at it, 200K on a set of bearings is enough, National bearings are reasonably priced will last another 200K miles. Am I forgetting anything? Wish I had the money to do the engine and tranny also, the engine burns oil and leaks oil, the tranny works fine but has well over 200K miles on it. Finally off to the front end shop for an alignment. Then I look at the car payments my friends are making, and I don't feel so bad about the money I'm spending. All of the above is costing me about $600 or so. My friends pay more than that on car payments in two months. I haven't made a car payment in twenty years. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Brighton96 Posted September 19, 2016 Share Posted September 19, 2016 That's a full rebuild and I can't think of anything else besides sway bar components. The inner tie rods were a nightmare to replace on my car, I ended up paying some sucker $50 to replace them on my car. Be sure to keep all proof of purchase for Moog stuff since they have a lifetime warranty. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Zootal Posted September 20, 2016 Author Share Posted September 20, 2016 That's a full rebuild and I can't think of anything else besides sway bar components. The inner tie rods were a nightmare to replace on my car, I ended up paying some sucker $50 to replace them on my car. Be sure to keep all proof of purchase for Moog stuff since they have a lifetime warranty. I've had them off before, but I have the tool to press them out of the steering knuckle, so they just pop right out. Sadly, the Moog parts are made in Mexico. Still, you hold them side by side with the cheap parts and the difference is obvious. Even made in Mexico Moog parts are noticeably heavier than the cheap ones. I just hope the boots last...the factory boots lasted 20 years, I hope I don't regret not going to the dealer for these parts... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Brighton96 Posted September 20, 2016 Share Posted September 20, 2016 I've had them off before, but I have the tool to press them out of the steering knuckle, so they just pop right out. Sadly, the Moog parts are made in Mexico. Still, you hold them side by side with the cheap parts and the difference is obvious. Even made in Mexico Moog parts are noticeably heavier than the cheap ones. I just hope the boots last...the factory boots lasted 20 years, I hope I don't regret not going to the dealer for these parts... I trust moog, I have used them on lots of cars and my philosophy is just because it's made in a place with a poor reputation for quality doesn't mean the produced parts aren't held to a higher standard. When I worked for Advance Auto, most of the parts off the shelf are made in Mexico and we only had to do one recall of defective parts in my 5 years. It was a batch of stuff made that didn't meet standards so we sent it all back. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Zootal Posted September 21, 2016 Author Share Posted September 21, 2016 That is actually good to hear. I've gained a lot of respect for Made in Mexico stuff these last few years, even as my respect for Made in China stuff continues to plummet. When it rains it pours, right? Blew out a tire on the way to work. The fun just never ends.... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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