carchitect
05-19-2009, 10:16 PM
Okay here are the facts...
-I had Pedders Touring plus kit installed in my car middle of March.
-The shop forgot to install the radius rod bushings (large ones that are on the tension strut). Remember this as it is important later.
-Car feels great up until a couple weeks ago, it had developed a light clunk at low speeds from the driver's side front. It didn't matter if I was turning or going straight, I just had to be going slow.
-This past weekend I finally got a chance to go out to the shop and have them install the forgotten bushings. They also tightened the sway bar endlinks. The addition of the radius rod bushings amplified the sound greatly during a test drive afterwards, and the clunking is now more frequent and much louder.
-The shop put it up and determined that it was a bad inner tie rod.
Okay those are the pertinent facts, I have done an absolute ton of reading about our front suspension since then, and have educated myself greatly in how all this stuff works together and the common problems LX's have.
The vehicle tracks straight and there seems to be no play in the steering. The wheels move along with movement of the steering wheel. I definitely don't want to ignore the shop's advice but I want to be intelligent about this and not just throw replacement parts at my car without trying to isolate the problem first as well as learn from the experience.
I jacked up the offending corner this evening and I tried the 9 to 3 test. Nothing, if anything I was turning the whole steering assembly.
Definitely nothing like this:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=so0vL-ZOwY8&NR=1 outer tie rod
or this
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=02bjSXUX4K8 inner tie rod
This thread over at 300c forums found that several of the clunks their members experienced was solved by replacing the sway bar bushings. The solution comes near the end of the thread.
http://www.300cforums.com/forums/srt8-specific-wheels-tires-brakes-suspension/67526-weird-loose-rattle-sound-over-bumps-front-end-moved.html
Can the side of the tension strut that connect to the knuckle go bad? I've only seen posts showing the bushing side going bad. Remember the clunk was amplified when the radius rod bushes where installed. During my visual inspection I found none of the sealed suspension components (ball joints, tie rods, etc...) to be leaky or showing signs of seepage. I remember something about SRT shocks having a rebound issue, could it be a similar problem with the Pedders shock?
I'm going to have some time this Monday (I'm going on a road trip this weekend the Charger was supposed to be taking) to really get the car up and start looking for loose bolts.
-I had Pedders Touring plus kit installed in my car middle of March.
-The shop forgot to install the radius rod bushings (large ones that are on the tension strut). Remember this as it is important later.
-Car feels great up until a couple weeks ago, it had developed a light clunk at low speeds from the driver's side front. It didn't matter if I was turning or going straight, I just had to be going slow.
-This past weekend I finally got a chance to go out to the shop and have them install the forgotten bushings. They also tightened the sway bar endlinks. The addition of the radius rod bushings amplified the sound greatly during a test drive afterwards, and the clunking is now more frequent and much louder.
-The shop put it up and determined that it was a bad inner tie rod.
Okay those are the pertinent facts, I have done an absolute ton of reading about our front suspension since then, and have educated myself greatly in how all this stuff works together and the common problems LX's have.
The vehicle tracks straight and there seems to be no play in the steering. The wheels move along with movement of the steering wheel. I definitely don't want to ignore the shop's advice but I want to be intelligent about this and not just throw replacement parts at my car without trying to isolate the problem first as well as learn from the experience.
I jacked up the offending corner this evening and I tried the 9 to 3 test. Nothing, if anything I was turning the whole steering assembly.
Definitely nothing like this:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=so0vL-ZOwY8&NR=1 outer tie rod
or this
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=02bjSXUX4K8 inner tie rod
This thread over at 300c forums found that several of the clunks their members experienced was solved by replacing the sway bar bushings. The solution comes near the end of the thread.
http://www.300cforums.com/forums/srt8-specific-wheels-tires-brakes-suspension/67526-weird-loose-rattle-sound-over-bumps-front-end-moved.html
Can the side of the tension strut that connect to the knuckle go bad? I've only seen posts showing the bushing side going bad. Remember the clunk was amplified when the radius rod bushes where installed. During my visual inspection I found none of the sealed suspension components (ball joints, tie rods, etc...) to be leaky or showing signs of seepage. I remember something about SRT shocks having a rebound issue, could it be a similar problem with the Pedders shock?
I'm going to have some time this Monday (I'm going on a road trip this weekend the Charger was supposed to be taking) to really get the car up and start looking for loose bolts.