Rattle in the front end

[black98]

I have a 98 pathy and when I'm driving on rough surfaces (crappy roads/gravel) I hear a rattle in the front. I thought maybe it was the tie rods or the sway bar ends. It switches between the driver and passenger side, and it happens when I hit about 55 mph (unbalanced wheels). So I need some help deciding whether or not to take it to a shop to get it checked out. I was also thinking it could be ball joints or struts. Any advice is welcome!

[94extreme]

you may want to get under the car and have a look and feel at things.

[bigmatt]

I just went through the same thing with my 01. One of he front swaybar links was bad and clunking. By the time I replaced it the whole front end sounded like it was coming apart whenever I hit a bump with either front wheel. A replacement set from rockauto.com fixed it.

 

Bigmatt

[black98]

I had the truck up on jack stands the other day when I was working on it and checked all the steering and such and nothing felt loose or bad, so I was leaning towards the swaybar.

[Simon]

Pezzy's R50 was making a racket over bumps for a while, and it turns out her strut mounts and bearings were shot. Also, she's still got a minor clunk, which, I know is the swaybar endlinks. Due to be replaced soon.

[black98]

I wouldn't doubt that my strut mounts/bearings are shot, considering they are the originals with 130k on the odo. How much do they cost to replace? I don't have the $$$ to replace the whole strut at the moment. And will it matter if I just replace the bearings/mounts and not the strut? How long will it be safe to drive with shot bearings/mounts?