Clunk When Braking

[Ryan92Sport]

Hi Everyone,
This is my first post on here, as I just bought my Explorer a few weeks ago. It is a 92 Sport 4x4 with the 4.0 and 5 speed. It is in great shape and I have just been tracking down a few annoyances. I have been hearing a single clunk from the front end sometimes when I begin braking and sometimes right when the vehicle comes to a stop. I briefly shook down the front wheels last weekend and the ball joints and tie rod ends felt ok. Anyone have any experience with this that could help direct my search? I appreciate any help.
Thanks,
Ryan

 

[1991fordexploder]

i have a 91 4 door 4.0 5spd and it does the same thing. but not all the time. if you get an answer would you let me know?

 

[Willard]

Check out your radius arm bushings, and grease the slip joints on both the drive shafts.

 

[Ryan92Sport]

Thanks for the help, I will check those out and report back what I find.

 

[conway90]

Mine '94 XLT began clunking in the front end after I replaced the 4X4 hubs a month ago. I will check these things. Thanks for the info.

 

[Spdrcer34]

'clunk' sound when braking a LITTLE on the hard side is almost always Radius Arm Bushings.

Ryan

 

[MikeLitt3810]

Radius Arm Bushings about 10$ from the dealer.. each.. takes about 20 min to do need's to be soaked in pb blaster for a few hours and a little heat won't hurt.

if thats what it is. the person who owned my explorer b4 me let it go for so long that the crossmember had to be replaced do to the hole growing into a much larger oval.

 

[pugsy]

Radius Arm Bushings about 10$ from the dealer.. each.. takes about 20 min to do need's to be soaked in pb blaster for a few hours and a little heat won't hurt.

if thats what it is. the person who owned my explorer b4 me let it go for so long that the crossmember had to be replaced do to the hole growing into a much larger oval.

Don't bank on the Radius Arm busings taking 20 min. They're a lot harder to do then it sounds if they've never been changed before. There's plenty of write ups on here on how to tackle them.

 

[gman1234]

Ever figure this one out?

 

[Ryan92Sport]

I did figure this out, thanks to everyone here. It was the radius arm bushings. As other people have described, mine didn't look that bad until I removed them. I did it the "no cutting" way removing the arms from the axle. It really wasn't that hard and only took a few hours. The most important thing is that you do have to heat the bolts to remove them as they must have some type of locking compound. But really not hard and I didn't have to grind out my rivets, which are still in good shape. Clunk is completely gone now. Big thanks to everyone!

Ryan