Clunk On Left Turns Only

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In the past week or two I've noticed there's a clunk when I turn the wheel to the left. Always at the same spot, at about 1 1/4 turn to the left. It doesn't happen on the return from a right turn though, which seems odd. It's only when going left first.

I recently replaced all four balljoints, both tie rod ends.

Nothin appears loose. I'll be checking the balljoints see if I got a dud or not, but I don't think it's the balljoints.

Anyone have any ideas?

 

[97XEB]

This is gonna sounds crazy, but change the fluid in your transfer case.

My 1997 Eddie Bauer in turns was making a bad clunk / strange noise in the left front. I was sure it was something in my front- end. It started with hard right turns, but got worse and worse over time.

I had a mechanic rip the entire front end apart, including the CVs, and he still couldn't figure it out or find anything wrong. Nothing loose, broken or even worn. He did notice that the clunk stopped when he dropped the front driveshaft.

Then by chance, my friend's Dad, a retired Ford Expert, took a ride with me, played with my 4wd switch, drove in circles and within a second said, "You're transfer case is locking up. Change the fluid - worst case scenario, change the speed sensors in tcase."

$12 (with fluid pump) and fluid change later, no more clunk.

From what I understand, our transfer cases are electromagnetic, essentially operated by a very strong magnet. If you haven't changed the fluid in your tcase for a long time, the metal particles might be sticking to the magnet, screwing things up and causing your tcase to lock-up.

Give it try and good luck.

 

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That would be for a 4wd though, right?

I have 2wd.

 

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Did a little more driving, the noise comes fron the right side front when I turn left! ....seems odd, I can't figure it out. Nobody else has any other ideas?

 

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I did a little bit of searching and found this thread:

http://explorerforum.com/forums/showthread.php?s=&threadid=25873

Does anybody think that would cause the clunk turning left? I looked under there and the kevlar seems to be coming off.