Knocking noise

So I have been having this knocking noise on the drivers side. Saturday night I put on a Mopar front strut bar, and on my way to UG the noise got worse and was also coming from the passenger side now too. I dont think the strut bar would cause it to get worse but anyway. I just finished replacing the lower control arm on both sides in my garage (thanks Adam for answering my calls). Took it for a ride and still the same shit, I spent $200 on the control arms, and I'm leaving them on save myself from a future problem. So any ideas what else the problem can be???? Adam said maybe the sway bar links.

Bushings maybe...

moaugust88 wrote:

Bushings maybe...

Your speaking chinese bro. I'm pretty mechanically inclined except when it comes to suspensions. I was surprised I was able to do the control arms. So where are these bushings and how do I check them???

Bushings will pop I think rather then knock or clunk.

If it got worse with the bar whatever was wrong might have gotten moved around since the frontend is now stiffer.

Is it worse or the same on a turn?

Turning doesnt affect it at all. Its only when I hit dips or bumps in the road. If the pavement is smooth the car is fine.

ghosts bushings went out on his sway bar end links and it sounded like ass. end links are a cheap place to start looking. another problem area is tension struts...

I replaced the tension struts/lower control arms today. I believe those are the same thing, just 2 different names

That's all I got, Jon is here so hopefully he can help ya.

control arm is not the tension strut.

the tension strut goes from the lower control arm to the front of the front cradle.

Does it look like a miny strut and it swivels?

YEah man, I'd check the Sway bar end links. Those are known to make noises like you're describing. IF it's not those I'd check all the bushing, even though I highly doubt they'd make a noise like you're having. If everything checks out to be good and tight, fingers might point to the struts, BUT I have doubts they's be bad already like that, with the miles they are supposed to have on them...

I'm having exactly the same issues as Shawn. Maybe to a lesser degree. It started when I experimented with slipping a reservoir bracket under the dr side brace mount. It really clunked bad. I took it out and the clunking is still there, but not as bad.

Sway bar end links can make that much noise??? I'm not doubting you but its hard to believe those little fuckers would make that much noise. How could I check if those are bad?

From the looks of the pic Jontoad posted I changed the tension strut. The lowr control arm looks exactly the same in the pic as the tension strut. Is it the same part just different name??

The lower control arm goes from the hub (knuckle where the rotor attaches to the car) straight to the frame next to the engine. The tensioner strut is what is pictured in Jons pic going from the knuckle to the frame near the front bumper. The tensioner strut is sometimes called a radius rod but never is it called the lower control arm. You might want to also check your sway bar bushings that are under the car towards the center of the sway bar. Those can wear down easily and make noise as well. The good news is they only cost $12 for both and take about 45 minutes to install. Also, jack up one side of your car so one wheel is off the ground, then grab the wheel and shake the hell out of it and see if it moves easily or makes a clunking noise. If it moves, left and right easily then it can be your tie rods, if it moves up and down easily then your ball joints might be going. If it moves all around easily then it could be your hub bearings. I hope you figure it out bro.

Good info. I guess we will figure it out at mod night. I haven't bought a floor jack or jack stands yet. What kind of fjack do you get that's low enough to slide under lx's?

Illinois Chaos wrote:

Good info. I guess we will figure it out at mod night. I haven't bought a floor jack or jack stands yet. What kind of fjack do you get that's low enough to slide under lx's?

Rudy has a kick ass low profile floor jack. I think he got it from Sears. I have an old ass jack so I have to drive up on 2 2x4s to lift my car up enough to get the jack under the front end.

I have a low profile one that we got from harbor freight, its freaking huge but will fit under our cars. Will try to get the name of it when I get home tonight. Its orange with a white handle if that helps any.

Illinois Chaos wrote:

Good info. I guess we will figure it out at mod night. I haven't bought a floor jack or jack stands yet. What kind of fjack do you get that's low enough to slide under lx's?

I plan on having it fixed before mod night. I'm going to buy sway bar end links and bushings today and will install tonight. Hopefully that fixes the problem, if not I will have to go see adam.

Here's some of the things I did to diagnose my clunk which I fixed this past weekend

1)remove front sway bar and end links and go for a ride. Your car will handle like poo but you won't be hurting it. A lot of serious drag racers (LX platform) take them off. If the sounds go away then I would start by replacing the sway bar bushings as they are the cheapest, in fact I have some practically new ones I can give you. If not replace the endlinks. They have balljoints in them all it takes is a little bit of movement in the wrong direction for them to make noise.

2) if that doesn't do it replace the tension struts. almost everybody has had issues with these, they are relatively cheap and easy to replace. I did mine last weekend and it was a breeze. They had maybe ~1mm of looseness in them and that alone made it sound like my front end was falling apart.

Are you sure it's not your tie-rods? We can take a look at those too.

Ok, I just finished replacing my sway bar bushings and sway bar links on both sides. Still making the noise, I'm at a loss as what to do next!!! The bottom bolts on the sway bar links had to be grinded off. I even tried heating them up with a torch to the point where they were almost melting and I still couldnt get them off. Any ideas??? I think tomorrow I might take it to Firestone and let them figure out whats wrong, and then fix it myself.

Shawn1112 wrote:

Ok, I just finished replacing my sway bar bushings and sway bar links on both sides. Still making the noise, I'm at a loss as what to do next!!! The bottom bolts on the sway bar links had to be grinded off. I even tried heating them up with a torch to the point where they were almost melting and I still couldnt get them off. Any ideas??? I think tomorrow I might take it to Firestone and let them figure out whats wrong, and then fix it myself.

on the endlinks did you hold the nut still with a box or open ended wrench (i usually let it brace up to the body or suspension component) while rotating the stud with a 10mm (iirc) socket?

did you take it in yet shawn??

carchitect wrote:

Shawn1112 wrote:

Ok, I just finished replacing my sway bar bushings and sway bar links on both sides. Still making the noise, I'm at a loss as what to do next!!! The bottom bolts on the sway bar links had to be grinded off. I even tried heating them up with a torch to the point where they were almost melting and I still couldnt get them off. Any ideas??? I think tomorrow I might take it to Firestone and let them figure out whats wrong, and then fix it myself.

on the endlinks did you hold the nut still with a box or open ended wrench (i usually let it brace up to the body or suspension component) while rotating the stud with a 10mm (iirc) socket?

No!