Help me identify a suspension clunk shortly after a Pedders Touring plus install

[carchitect]

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/srt...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.

[Cam]

I'll bet you the lower shock mount bolt needs to be tighten up and I'm talking big time. Put a cheater bar to it and give it a shot. That was a common problem with the KW's where the lower mount was just a tad to wide for the control arm. It could be more, but it seems you have done a great job of isolating the problem.

Good luck bud.

[carchitect]

I'll bet you the lower shock mount bolt needs to be tighten up and I'm talking big time. Put a cheater bar to it and give it a shot. That was a common problem with the KW's where the lower mount was just a tad to wide for the control arm. It could be more, but it seems you have done a great job of isolating the problem.

Good luck bud.

I'm definitely going to tighten everything up.

I had to run out for an errand earlier and I did two more things:

Popped the hood and put as much weight as my 150 lbs. could on the shock tower in order to depress the corner and get the suspension to rock. Squeeky squeeky from the right, quiet from the left.

I wish I had thought of this earlier to make sure I was doing the the 9-3 test correctly. I guess my movements weren't jerky enough. With the door open and an arm on the steering wheel and my head below the car I just jiggled the steering back and forth quickly. Knock, knock, knock. Sounded just like the second video.

I'm glad I got a full set of Moog replacements sitting in the trunk, and an alignment appointment at 12pm on memorial day.

[carchitect]

UPDATE:

So I finally got around to pulling and inspecting the outer tie rods today. The factory outers were fine, and look exactly like the MOOG replacements I bought. The inners looked alright seemed pretty tight. No real play in them.

After all that I tested my steering wheel (quick jiggle back and forth) and still heard the knocking. Whelp... I guess that means the steering gear is farked. The steering wheel kinda does seem to have excessive play in it. Can anyone confirm my assesment?

So I put as much back together as I could but I left the new inner and outer tie rods off. I'm going to get a 9-land gear from a Daytona/R/T^2 car and put that in, but first I'm gonna pull the all the tie rods and replace them with the MOOG parts I have. I also have to figure out if the Pedders bump steer bushings can be easily transferred over.

Let's see where I stand with these clunks after I do all this. Now I need to find a part number for the non-SRT 9-land steering gear.

No driving the Charger until I get this fixed. Modding can suck sometimes.