Ball joint’s replaced but still have a occasional Knocking noise

[Aussie Explorer]

I replaced Both Upper and lower Ball Joint's with Moog parts but it still makes a Knocking sound when you hit bumps in the road, Not as loud or as often as it did before but it still dose it.

What else could it be?

It’s so annoying having the track making random sounds.

Oh and I found out today that my LSD is now a Large Slip Differential and not a Limited slip when off road, it works good on-road but when the going get tuff the slip gets going. LOL

Well I got 145,000k’s out of the Factory LSD not too bad I guess, Time for a True tack, arrr.. #### it only keeping the thing for another 6 months anyway so just fixing up all the little niggling issues before I sell it and trying not to case any damage well still enjoying it.

 

[rd_turbo]

I have an 01 Sport Trac that now needs everything at 70K. I had the ball joints replaced at 25K under warranty. The clunk is sometimes caused by sway bar link bushes, but it could be also be a lateral clunk as the wheel is impacted with a bit of side load in which case you could be dealing with bad tie rod ends. That's how I discovered that everything is bad on mine. I went to investigate the clunk and found the biggest culprit to be an inner tie rod with some crazy play.

 

[Aussie Explorer]

Arrr. Bugger, the Tie rods only have 45,000k on em so I am hoping that it is just the sway bar bushings will look at them a bit closer tomorrow.


I like the llok of the sport trac’s, think they are a wicked looking truck with a few mods done on em, Whish they sold them over hear in Australia, if I ever had the spear cash I would import one in a second.


Cheers.

 

['97 V8]

the knocking when you hit bumps could be the torsiuon bar key hitting the stop it has....over time the kevlar padding on top of the key wheres out and then you get a metal on metal knock.

 

[Aussie Explorer]

IS this on top of the torsion bars above the adjusting bolt?

So if I just get some more Kevlar insulator I can just replace the old stuff yeah?

 

[dreamr]

98 up explorers have a different torsion key design. The pad and the key are not 2 seperate pieces like they are on 95-97. To test this issue wedge a pry bar between your frame and trosion bar and see if you have any play.

My suggestion would be to look at inner tie rods.

 

[Sherwood]

I replaced Both Upper and lower Ball Joint's with Moog parts but it still makes a Knocking sound when you hit bumps in the road, Not as loud or as often as it did before but it still dose it.

What else could it be?

It’s so annoying having the track making random sounds.

Oh and I found out today that my LSD is now a Large Slip Differential and not a Limited slip when off road, it works good on-road but when the going get tuff the slip gets going. LOL

Well I got 145,000k’s out of the Factory LSD not too bad I guess, Time for a True tack, arrr.. #### it only keeping the thing for another 6 months anyway so just fixing up all the little niggling issues before I sell it and trying not to case any damage well still enjoying it.

When you replaced your lower ball joints, did you have to replace the whole lower A arm or did the ball joints come out seperate? In my Haynes manual, it says that the upper and lowers are not servicable units and must be replaced.

 

[IZwack]

When you replaced your lower ball joints, did you have to replace the whole lower A arm or did the ball joints come out seperate? In my Haynes manual, it says that the upper and lowers are not servicable units and must be replaced.

The lower ball joints pops out of the lower A-arm. It is the upper A-arm that must be replaced entirely.

 

[Sherwood]

Ok cool. It looked like it but wasnt sure. I replace my upper A arms as a whole but was wondering about the bottoms. Like I said, the Haynes manual says differently. Thanks for the info. Eric

 

[IZwack]

If you need more info on the lower ball joints, search for it on here, its been covered a few times. Basically you need a cheap ball-joint press. Harbor Freight has one that works very well.

 

[Sherwood]

Yeah, shortly after I replied to this thread. I found one that I subscribed to so I can come back to it when I get them done. Thanks again, Eric

 

[Aussie Explorer]

No I Just did the Lowers Ball Joints, not the whole lower Arm.

I don’t have access to a BJ-Press hear and don’t know of any shop that has one Tyred 2 Auto workshops, And the only place that listed one ( A Industrial and Automotive supplier) said it would cost $550 to buy yes that’s right!!, and they have never even had one in stock.

So I improvised with some SS tube, a Trolley Jack a(Hoist, Thanks to a helpful workshop) and hammer, the passenger side was easy the driver’s side put up a bit more competition but it got done.