ball joint perhaps?

jakegday · #1 09-25-2009, 11:02 AM

hello. about a month or so ago i took my car to the dealership to diagnose and replace a control arm bushing. it cured the major squeaking problem i was having, however it didnt take care of the little "clunk" i heard from time to time. i took it back shortly after to have them look for that, but they couldnt find anything. its about a month later and its doing it worse, and i cant afford to take it anywhere.

when driving straight, everything is perfect. bumps, dips, you name it, as long as the cars not turning, its perfect. once i go to make a right hand turn, right at the beginning when i start to turn the wheel, you hear a clunk. if i make another right hand turn after that nothing happens. it "resets" itself when i go to make a left hand turn. when i make the left hand turn, i dont always hear the clunk, but i often hear it making the right hand turns.
when im turning and going up or a down a small hill at the same time, like pulling into or backing out of my apartment parking stall, it does it almost everytime, when i do that it kidna sounds like the clunky/grindy noise bad cv shafts make, but both of mine are new. also, both of my front struts have recently been replaced with quick struts, so everything related to that is new too.

does that sound like a ball joint? or what else could it sound like?

richtazz · #2 09-25-2009, 01:08 PM

I would say ball joint or hub bearing.

jakegday · #3 09-25-2009, 01:53 PM

forgot to mention, both front bearings are also new.

rkvons · #4 09-28-2009, 12:55 PM

I had a clunk sound on my 98 when I pulled out of my driveway. I was wondering what it was for a while. Then I was doing my front brakes and I noticed the rubber boot was falling off of my tie rod end link. I wiggled the wheel while observing the connection there and noticed play. I guess I would check it out if I were you. They are easy to replace. When mine were bad, the car would wander down a straight road, especially if I traversed a seem in the pavement on an angle.

jakegday · #5 09-28-2009, 03:44 PM

what a coincedence! i was just outside with the front end lifted. i tried holding the tire at the 6-12o clock position to see if i could feel the ball joint loose, and it felt solid as hell. i took both tires off to examine the sway bar and bushings and i noticed the boot on my drivers side cv shaft was twisted. (im almost positive this noise is coming from the drivers side) it looked like hell and i have no idea how it would have gotten like this. since i couldnt figure out how to loosen the hose clamp on it i just used a big pair of pliers and twisted it back until it was all straight. as soon as the boy wakes up we'll take it out for a test drive!

any idea what a person could use to squeeze in the boot opening to put more grease in?

jakegday · #6 09-30-2009, 08:56 PM

well that didnt make a bit of difference.
before i jump into the ball joint, i wanted to ask, is there any way a bad control arm bushing could cause this particular problem? or what about the stabilizer bar bushings? any chance those could cause a clunk when turning?

troy1 · #7 09-30-2009, 10:20 PM

How about trying the wiggle test @ 9 & 3 I've got real light popping noise occasionally and both of my outer tie rod and are shot.

jakegday · #8 10-01-2009, 08:36 AM

this noise is more then "light" and it happens way more then just "occasionally"
i tired 12 and 6 and i tried 3 and 9. both front tires are solid as hell. with that in mind, is there a chance it could still be a ball joint?? just not that bad of one yet.....

richtazz · #9 10-01-2009, 10:14 AM

Yes, even if you have no wiggle at the tire and it only does it as the weight shifts, it could still be a ball joint.

NOVAZ27 · #10 10-01-2009, 10:38 AM

Sounds like the INNER TIE ROD/S to me. The inner tie rod is a diffrent animal than the outer tie rod. It is actually a BALL & SOCKET affair that clunks when a wear pattern sets in. My 06 GT only had 27k on it when they went bad. GM did replace them under warranty. At 31k they are starting to get noisy again. I read some where that GM had a run of bad suspension parts for the 04-08 GP's. Your 01 may be running the same part #. My 80 Citation

had this problem also. GM was not the only auto maker with this problem. The mid 80's FORD

Tauras/Sable had the same problem.

HOPE THIS HELPS NOT HINDER

richtazz · #11 10-01-2009, 04:29 PM

Most likely an inner tie rod bad enough to cause a clunk would allow free play at the wheel at 3 and 9, and would do it both directions not just when turning right. Also, an inner tie rod would most likely cause a shimmy or shudder at highway speeds.

jakegday · #12 10-02-2009, 10:02 AM

ok heres my plan: i bought a ball joint last night. im gonna try it today. i THINK its the drivers side, but i also think i hear the noise come from both sides sometimes, so im gonna start with the drivers side. im gonna compare the tightness of the drivers side ball joint to my new one. if it feels pretty tight, im gonna move over to the passenger side, take that control arm off, and see how tight that one feels. i will replace the one that is more loose. if they're both tight, well hell, i dont know what im gonna do yet...
questions: if i get to the point of removing and reinstalling both control arms, how necessary will an alignment be? also, will a 1/4 inch drill bit be big enough to drill out the rivets holding in the stock ball joint?

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