Knock in Suspension around slow hard turns

[Artesia]

Quick question. What is it when I take a sharp right turn, fairly slow, and maybe hit a little bump and hear this horrible knock type sound from the driver's side wheel well?? Is that the dead strut on that side? (all struts are dead)...or is it somehow caused by the axel going out (torn boot)...or what? I'm not quite sure what it is yet. shoot

 

[SHOfun 93]

Brian,
I would suggest a worn strut bushing on the top of the strut where it bolts into the tower. Give your suspension a visual check for torn cv boots, etc, and you can eliminate a lot of what it ISN'T and then you can figure what it IS! Good luck.

 

[Artesia]

Yeah, I've given the car a visual once or twice...just haven't taken anything apart yet. I was looking at it while it was on a rack.

I'm going to go ahead and change out the boots, cause I KNOW they're torn to ****. I don't have the money, however, to change the actual axels out right now, though. Maybe later.

My friend has some liquid polyeurythain, or knows where to get it anyway...I'm thinking of taking my bushings off and the sway bar mounts and using that on all of them. It works quite well...he did it with dead motor mounts and now they're strong as can be...NO flex on the motor whatsoever. There's a vibration over the whole car though. LOL Very nice though, I like it.

I'm also considering getting aluminum plating and making custom bushings, because I saw an aluminum kit for our cars. Haven't decided yet though...we'll see. At least we'll rule the sway bars out of the equation (which probably weren't ever in the equation at all LOL)

 

[Blast7]

It sounds like your tie rod ends. I would check the outer ones first, since they are the easiest to get to.

 

[Artesia]

REALLY...? That's interesting. no one's mentioned that yet. I'll definately take a look at those. If I can polyeurithain anything like that (in otherwords...does it have rubber on it?...don't think it does actually), I'll do it and fix anything I can. hehehe I'll just dip the whole freakin' car in liquid polyeurithain and then it should handle fine. hehehe j/k Well, cool...I'll check the tie rods when I have the axels out later this week. Thanks.
shoot

 

[jthomas68]

No rubber than can be replaced,but the tie rod ends are cheap and easy to change.Just get a wheel alignment afterwards.Jack up the car and try to move the tire,top to bottom and left to right by hand.

 

[Artesia]

So I need to jack the car up to where the wheel is off the ground. Then I should try and move it how? What's it supposed to do? Is it supposed to go up or down, or left or right?
shoot

 

[sdpatt]

With the tire off the ground, grab it onthe front and rear edge and try to turn the wheel left and right with your hands to see if there is any play in the steering linkage. You can also remove the wheel and physically grab the tie rod to check for any play. There should not be any play in the tie rod end.

Another check for the "strut bracket" is to remove the plastic cap over the top of the strut. Inspect the visible rubber around the strut shaft and nut to see if there is any tearing of the rubber. The strut should be centered in the top of the strut bracket. The strut bracket is only $26 through Ford, but you have to remove the entire strut and spring assembly to replace it. I recently replaced my driver side bracket to correct a clunking sound during cornering and rapid wear of the inner tread area on the front tire.

 

[Artesia]

Well, I don't THINK I have the inner tread wear yet, but I do have the clunking sound when turning like you're describing. Maybe that's it. I KNOW the strut bearings are dead, but the mounts...I'm not sure. The bearings creek like mad when I turn...it's pretty bad, pretty loud.
shoot

 

[Artesia]

Well, I don't THINK I have the inner tread wear yet, but I do have the clunking sound when turning like you're describing. Maybe that's it. I KNOW the strut bearings are dead, but the mounts...I'm not sure. The bearings creek like mad when I turn...it's pretty bad, pretty loud.
shoot

 

[sdpatt]

You say that you know the strut bearings are dead. How do you know this? Worn bearings will give a grinding sound and feel when turning the steering wheel. You have to buy the bracket that the nylon-raced bearings are clipped to since they come as an assembly.

Scott

 

[Artesia]

Well, when we met I would've showed you what I'm talking about, but I didn't think to do that. Basically, there's just a horrible sound and yes, vibration, when turning the wheel anymore than a full turn. It sounds really bad inside the car, and not too pretty outside the car. I know they're worn out. What do I have to buy as an assembly and how much does it cost? The SHO Shop had the bearings for $20 each.
shoot

 

[sdpatt]

I haven't priced them in many years, but the bearing alone is probably a $5 part (that's about 20 SHO Shop dollars), but Ford sells them as an assembly with the metal plate that the top of the spring fits into. They are probably around $20 at Ford too. The bearing is held on the plate by two small tabs that can easily be bent to allow removal and replacement of the bearing.

Scott

<small>[ February 26, 2002, 11:02 PM: Message edited by: sdpatt ]</small>

 

[AutoXSHO]

If you guys are talking about the strut bearing plates, I picked up the Moog ones through Performance Plus when I did my Eibachs and Tokicos. Front and rear, lifetime warranty.

John V

 

[sdpatt]

If Moog makes them, that means you can probably buy them through auto parts stores.

Scott

 

[Artesia]

AutoXSHO - what did you pay for those and what store did you get them at?
shoot