Clunk - front end

[1999montana]

Noticed a small clunk in the front end the other day. The van has about 129,000 Kms at present. No shimmy or vibration on the highway.

With the van stopped, rocking the wheel back and forth slowly, a small clunk is noticeable in the front end. I've had the front end apart in the last year or so, the outer tie-rods are still tight. Everything is good and tight, no loose bolts or ball joints. The sound is not coming from the shock strut mounts.

What should I check for first?

Could it be coming from the rack assembly, or are there inner tie-rods next to the rack assembly (covered by the rubber boots)?

Is this an easy fix if it is an inner tie-rod?

And finally, how do you replace inner tie-rod ends?
.

[SonofSparks]

I had a similiar problem, found out it was the ball joint. The garage that replaced the CV joints couldn't even tell the ball joints were bad, until they started trial & error.

[Flatrater]

I would also make sure the bushings on the control arms are not pulled thru the control arm. If you use a pry bar near the bushing you should be able to load the arm up and down and not see the rubber bushing coming out of the arm itsrlf.

[1999montana]

Howdy Folks,

Took me a while to get the vehicle up in the air but finally got it in the garage and pulled the front wheels off today.

Summary of inspection:

The lower control arm bushings are good and tight. I checked this by placing a pry bar between the frame rail and the control arms (on both sides); - no movement in or out or up or down.

The upper shock mounts are new (about 20,000 kms ago); - no movement that I can detect.

The lower ball joints are both tight; - no movement when you pry between the knuckle and the lower control arm.

No movement in the wheel bearings; - either under load or while the wheels are off the floor.

Outer tie rods are tight, can't get at the inner ones (assuming they exist)

There is a clunk that comes from the 'rack and peanut' (as Homer Simpson calls it!), but on further examination of my neighbor's van (as a bench mark), his does the same thing.

The sound is there either with power assist under load on all four wheels, or while the van is raised and the engine is off. Rocking the steering wheel gently from side to side generates the noise. It sounds like the rack and pinion have a slight amount of clearance and movement.

Everything seems solid. The van steers straight as an arrow, doesn't wander nor is it difficult to steer on the highway.

Maybe nothing?

Hmmm

[1999montana]

Hello Folks,

Two things, one I missed during my last note.

The stablilizer mounts, and links are all good and solid.

I think the sound is coming from the new shock strut mounts. I had an issue with them when I installed the new shocks last year. Didn't torque the nuts down tight enough and the top retainer plate on the mounts was loose on both shocks.

Had to take them out again and tighten way beyond the specs that Monroe specified for the nuts (I think it called for 44ft/lb with a big disclaimer about damaging the threads if you over torqued them).

I found that to tighten the nuts properly you had to go down to 70 or 80 ft/lb. I even contacted Monroe only they weren't much help. Asked me to call their pay to talk tech line (big bucks!)

[1999montana]

OK,

Seems that there is a small amount of play in the left lower ball joint; - enough that the shock and spring assembly moves up and down when you pry between the knuckle and the lower control arm.

Apparently this is often mis-diagnosed as a bad strut mount, which is exactly what I was thinking.

(But heck the shock mounts were replaced new about 10,000 Kms and one year ago!)

Upon discussing it with a GM mechanic friend of mine today, he confirmed that this is often the case. I originally didn't think the small amount of play (less than an 1/8 inch in the left ball joint (as described above) would be an issue, but apparently it is.

Sooo, into my garage she goes tomorrow and I'll grind and punch out the rivets and remove the old joints and replace with new TRW's at $78.00 CDN each (ouch!)

[Lil Bandit]

After reading various warnings from guys who'd replaced their own struts / mounts, I chose to use local repair shop, Canadian tire chain to replace struts and mounts. The result was exact same popping noise, no change. The mechanic did a poor job as the lower rubber that the spring sits on was half way off the strut, the bearing races were not centred up in the mount. This just leaving me shaking my head. If I had done the job, it would have taken longer, and it wouldn't look like a dog's breakfast. What next?