zonianbrat Posted July 16, 2007 Share Posted July 16, 2007 Okay before I get flamed I am at work with not alot of time to search. I did attempt a quick search with little results. So here it goes. My 97 R50 has 127,000miles on her and I have noticed on side to side bumps or when she rocks side to side I am getting a clunk sound from the front end. I have gotten underneath and tried to wiggle all the rods etc. and can not get any movement from anything. It is starting to concern me as the clunk has been getting worse over the last 6 months or so. Any ideas??? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mws Posted July 16, 2007 Share Posted July 16, 2007 (edited) Dozens... Loose strut, worn control arm bushing, worn sway bar bushing, loose sway bar mount, loose sway bar end, loose lug nuts, bad ball joint, loose crossmember bolt, bad tie rod end, worn or loose brake caliper, something broken, worn rack..... I would start with a bolt tightening party. Grab tons of tools, slide under there, and inspect and tighten everything you can see. You just may find something loose, broken, or just moving when it shouldn't. Focus on sway bar and struts (top and bottom). Edited July 16, 2007 by mws Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
zonianbrat Posted July 16, 2007 Author Share Posted July 16, 2007 I figured I should have done that this weekend when I was changing the oil. but my garage is cluttered and it started to rain on me when changing the oil in my driveway, so I was just looking ot get it done. Thanks for the advice I will check it out this weekend. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
94extreme Posted July 16, 2007 Share Posted July 16, 2007 yeah, something is loose or worn out. there is another recent thread about the rack being an issue Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SaKaNa Posted July 16, 2007 Share Posted July 16, 2007 I had a knocking noise from the front passenger side untill I got lifted, so I figure I had a loose strut or something.. Now my problem is that sometimes (especially hot days I notice it the most) I'll go through a turn, and it feels like the rear axle is disconnected or something, I get this weird swing through the turn. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PDCCD Posted July 16, 2007 Share Posted July 16, 2007 Okay before I get flamed I am at work with not alot of time to search. I did attempt a quick search with little results. So here it goes. My 97 R50 has 127,000miles on her and I have noticed on side to side bumps or when she rocks side to side I am getting a clunk sound from the front end. I have gotten underneath and tried to wiggle all the rods etc. and can not get any movement from anything. It is starting to concern me as the clunk has been getting worse over the last 6 months or so. Any ideas??? OK, gotta story to tell you. Shortly after i lifted my pathy, i started to notice a funny clunck from the front drivers side. I tried half heartedly several times to track it down. Checked the bolts. Checked the strut mounts, yada yada. Then, after a 500 trip to visit family, i tried again. This time i jacked it up, and tried to wiggle the wheel. The damn thing moved at least 4"!! Turns out when i took it to get it aligned, they failed to tighten the top bolt of the two bolts on the bottom of the strut, where the camper pin/bolt goes! I could have been killed!! And i finally thought i tracked down my clunk. But no. The clunk persisted. So, this sunday, i tried again. took off panther armor, i jerked, banged and wiggled. Nothing was loose. So it tried pushing up on the undercarriage like a bench press. Well, to wrap it up, i tracked down the noise. Of all the damn things, it was the rubber boot over the steel strut piston rubbing against the inside of the spring just right, and i assume because of the horn shape and material, made it sound like a loose kind of clunk. So i sprayed some WD-40 in there, and whoala, the mysterious has been just about eliminated. it was real odd, i could have sworn it was a bushing or loose bolt, but it was just a weird sound effect of the strut. Heck, try it out, may help you too! Most interesting thing to me was, if I hadn't had that shock boot noise, who knows what would have happened with that strut bolt. I coulda been kilt!! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
88pathoffroad Posted July 17, 2007 Share Posted July 17, 2007 Could also be rack bushings...the rack is bolted to the firewall/unibody with rubber bushings/mounts that can wear out or degrade over time and become loose. I went through that several times on my Impulses. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
zonianbrat Posted July 17, 2007 Author Share Posted July 17, 2007 Man this is why I like this site so much. Thank you all for the advice. I will be getting underneath her this weekend and tightening any loose bolts, shaking stuff, checking all the rubber boots and definetely checking any bushings I can see Then I will jack it up and check the tires by tring to move then around. I have noticed it seems to happen more often over little bumps and almost never on big bumps like speed bumps etc.. I hope to figure this out soon as I Just got a job offer today (sweeet!!) and I will need to drive to midland TX for training. Then I will have to use my truck to get to oil rig sites. Some oil rig sites will require 4x4......MUHahahahahah. If this job does pan out and the pay is what they say it is... my pathy will finally get some sweet upgrades. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
projekz Posted July 17, 2007 Share Posted July 17, 2007 keep us updated...I still have a clunk over small bumps and I've replaced nearly everything in the suspension. It's driving me nuts Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
zonianbrat Posted July 18, 2007 Author Share Posted July 18, 2007 Sounds like we have the same kinda problem. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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