Clunk - right front

[ExSport]

Hi All

I just bought my used 98 Explorer Sport this week, and luckily happened upon this site. Excellent reading... hope to become a regular.

My first problem:

I have a clunk coming from the right front area. It clunks regularly when going over bumbs, etc. I had all the obvious suspect areas checked today (ball joints, tie rods, sway bar bushings). Everything appears to be okay.

Does anyone have any other suggestions on what I can check? 98 4x4 Sport


Thanks!

 

[Kyle K.]

Clunk

Welcome ExSport,
nice to have you on the board and hope you stay for a while, we've been growing nonstop since inception and it's always nice to meet the new members that keep the numbers rising.
When you checked the "usual suspect areas" did you look at the sway bar endlinks or just the main bars bushings? There has been a recall on the endlinks. They break! Also have you checked the c-v joints? Steering components? lug nuts? are the brakes in that corner working properly, i had a car that had one caliper quit and it would thunk when i first touched the brakes, like when going over a bump or turning or other slowign of the vehicle. Let us know when you figure it out, so we can check our trucks out too.

hope this helps a little,

dodgerr

 

[Brian91]

Check the upper rubber bushing on the shock. I had the same problem when my bushing "disappeared" because of a powersteering fluid leak. I hope this helps.

 

[vang]

it's your strut

I believe that it's your struts

 

[fordkrazy]

as far as my knowledge goes explorers dont have struts. they have a double a arm type suspension. as for the clunk, i dont know what it could be offhand but what i would do is get the tire off the ground (making sure that it is supported well) and pull and push on everything. nothing should budge even slightly. check your cv joints(if its 4x4) by having some one push the breaks while you twist the halfshaft. again you should not be able to get it to move even slightly. if you can get any thing to visibly move then that piece is probably the culpret.

 

[ExSport]

Thanks for the tips. I'll try to report back with any finding.


Brian

 

[JDraper]

Had the same problem with my '92 sport. The radius arm bushings had worn out and the radius arms would whack the frame every time I went over bumps or railroad tracks. The easiest way to check it is to put a floor jack under the radius arm just in front of the point where it goes through the frame. Jack it up and see if the arm moves up against the frame. If the bushing is good, the arm will move slightly up, and then the truck will try to rise. If it is bad, the arm will go up about 1" and 'clunk' against the frame. There are two ways to fix it. First is to burn the rivets off the frame where the radius arms are attached, replace the bushings, and replace the rivets with grade 8 bolts and Loctite (don't want them to come loose!!) The other way is to slide the front axle forward to release the bushings from the frame. Method #2 is preferred, but a lot more of a pain in the a**.

 

[TPLYNCH]

FYI - Radius Arm Bushings only apply to the 91-94 Explorers. They went by the wayside with the redesigned IFS in 95.

 

[JDraper]

Silly me. I guess I'm old school explorer. I kinda forgot that they changed the suspension when I replied. LOL. My new one has torsion bars, and I'm still not sure which I like better. Maybe I'll post a poll....

 

[Robert]

Originally posted by ExSport
Hi All

I just bought my used 98 Explorer Sport this week, and luckily happened upon this site. Excellent reading... hope to become a regular.

My first problem:

I have a clunk coming from the right front area. It clunks regularly when going over bumbs, etc. I had all the obvious suspect areas checked today (ball joints, tie rods, sway bar bushings). Everything appears to be okay.

Does anyone have any other suggestions on what I can check? 98 4x4 Sport


Thanks!

See my post at http://www.explorerforum.com/forums/showthread.php?threadid=25873 for a possible solution to your clunking.