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Clicking noise coming from front suspension...

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Posted by: CKMustangCobra

Hey guys. Love the site, I tend to lurk and check out others Marks. All badass. I have and issue and I'm hoping you gurus can help.

About a month ago whenever I would make a left hand U-Turn I would hear a little click from up front. Didn't think a whole lot of it... I'm not the best on working on suspensions and troubleshooting them, so I wished for it to go away.

It didn't.... it progressively got worse. Now everytime I make a sharp right or left turn it has 2 or 3 pretty loud clicks.

I decided to take it apart this morning and I didn't find anything I would consider unusual.

Everything from the wheel lugs to brake lines were tight. I took it all apart, checked for shavings, broken pieces, loose bolts/nuts and didn't find any. The only thing I felt was possibly NOT normal was the steering rack had about 1/8" of play when I would grab the assembly and move it back and forth. Same distance on the other side and I noticed that the other side didn't move when I would do this. I'm assuming it's just the clearance between the gears in the rack.

SO.... I'm open to opinions and such.

Keep in mind that my Mark has had the air-suspension removed and replaced with coil-overs.

Thanks a bunch!

Posted by: Staffamerica74

Ball joints and tie rods were ok?

Posted by: CKMustangCobra

Quote:

Originally Posted by Staffamerica74

Ball joints and tie rods were ok?

Well... like I said I'm not an expert on this stuff... but the tierod was straight and didn't appear to have any flaws.

The balljoint is likely the issue, but I didn't know what to look for. It was free, tightly secured and didnt appear to have any tears or breaks/loose material coming from it. I've asked a few people on other boards and I'm hearing balljoints and hub bearings... two things that I didn't/couldn't investigate.

I plan on swapping to Cobra brakes, hub, lug pattern here soon so the hub bearings are going to be replaced shortly anyways. But if it's the ball joint, how would I troubleshoot them and replace them if necessary?

Posted by: lscmkviii

Mine dose the same thing! All the balljoints, tierods, and bushings are new. The "popping" sound is made when the suspention travles only when I am turning or braking. I have no idea what it could be. Mabey the whole sterring rack? Oh I also converted to coils.

Posted by: Staffamerica74

Quote:

Originally Posted by CKMustangCobra

I plan on swapping to Cobra brakes, hub, lug pattern here soon so the hub bearings are going to be replaced shortly anyways. But if it's the ball joint, how would I troubleshoot them and replace them if necessary?

Sweet go for it, I just did mine a month ago didnt go to cobra brakes yet since I dont have a lot of cash to spend at 1 time. Been collecting parts to do it though... The fronts are an easy swap. The rears on the other hand are a pita if you plan on removing installing the new bearings and hubs yourself (wasn't that bad except that the bearings and hubs were all corroded into place and wouldnt press out)

Anyhow back to the subject you can check the tierods for looseness pulling and pushing on the sides of the tires while its in the air... any looseness is a result of the tierods being loose. To check the ball joints atleast the way I did it in school was to use a prybar and a dial indicator that lays on the ground and you measure for play as you pry the bottom of the wheel up. I am sure there is a more simple way of checking but am not sure.

Posted by: fossten

Could also be bad end links. That's what was causing my problem, which was the same as yours. Luckily, that's a cheap and easy DIY fix.

Posted by: JMiles_T

Quote:

Originally Posted by fossten

Could also be bad end links. That's what was causing my problem, which was the same as yours. Luckily, that's a cheap and easy DIY fix.

Posted by: lscmkviii

My swaybar endlinks are new also! could it be a bad steering rack bushing?

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