Front end clunking??? Help

[biznaz]

1998 Explorer Eddie Bauer

I have this slight clunking noise when going over small bumps in the road.:thumbdwn: I thought it was the caliper but I checked that out today and found all the bolts to be super tight. I noticed the sway bar link was cracked at the bottom where it attaches to the lower A arm. Would this make a noise? I also notice that there was play in the hub and the rotor. I could move the hub back and forth by hand causing the studs to make contact with the rotor. Could this be the noise??


Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated!

 

[Jason c]

I noticed the sway bar link was cracked at the bottom where it attaches to the lower A arm.

This was mine, except the bolt completely broke in two. The clunk was worse when the tire hit the bump at different times like entering a driveway at an angle.

 

[jlsparky7]

Its definitely the swaybar links. Same problem on my ranger and explorer.

 

[biznaz]

Thanks for the feed back. Going to do the sway bar bushings for the front and back today.

 

[jlsparky7]

Let us know how it goes. Ill shoot a video on clunks and front end noises soon.

 

[biznaz]

Yep sure enough it was the sway bar link that I saw was cracked. NO more clanking. The old links were really rusted and very difficult to remove. Spent more time removing the links than doing the whole job.

 

[sport97]

Yep sure enough it was the sway bar link that I saw was cracked. NO more clanking. The old links were really rusted and very difficult to remove. Spent more time removing the links than doing the whole job.

That's when you break out the sawzall or the grinder

 

[jlsparky7]

That's when you break out the sawzall or the grinder

Definitely the way to go.

 

[biznaz]

Yeah unfortunately I do not own either one of those but I wish I did.