Front End Klanks

[fatboy0186]

I have a '91 XLT, and its has some issues. It's had these problems for quite a while now, but they seem to have gotten much worse in the past few weeks. Here goes:

When I brake, at speeds slow enough to hear the noise, I often get a Klank sound, metal to metal, somewhere up front. I'm thinking its just the calipers, but I;m mentioning this in case its related to the other noises.

When I turn at low speeds, i.e. out of the drive way, and sometimes just driving straight, I get klanks the thuds and pops from underneath the front end, around my feet. The sound is similar to when you engage the 4x4.

I thought the 4x4 might not have disengaged, so I put it in, and then took it out, but this time it surely wasn;t disengaged. The steering was horrible and was making all kinds of noises, screetching tires, you name it. And this was just in my drive way. So I messed with the button and finally got it out. I let it roll back until I heard the hubs disengage.

Any ideas? I had it checked at a Suspension shop and they said nothing wrong, and it was just inspected so I believe my mounts are good.

 

[udmsvt]

before getting to the end, i would have said the hubs werent diesngaged. i would still back up another 10 or so feet and see what happens. i am assuning auto hubs, i would pull them off and inspect inside. we also had a car that the front caliper moved...there was some sort of pin missing. no shops could find it, me and a buddy finally figured it out.

if it still does it, i would take it back to the shop and have someone test drive it with out or take it for a test drive so they can hear it (although murphy's law says that it wont act up while the mechanic is around)

 

[Bashman]

It sounds like your radius arm bushings are shot.

 

[Metallic2001]

I had to replace my bushings a few weeks back b/c they would squeak and klank when breaking..they were pretty much worn out.

 

[fatboy0186]

I have suspected the radius arm bushings, but I had one bracket replaced (I thought that was causing the noise) and the guys told me everything was good. Maybe they just didn't want to do anything. Also, the suspension squeaks alot now when going over speed bumbs, and I didn;t have that a few months ago. I just think I have a few front end problems all occuring at once. I'll check it out closer tomorrow.

 

[Metallic2001]

The sqeaking coming from the suspension over bumbs is probably your radius arm bushings b/c that is exactly what mine did...You may also want to lube ur chassis (sp?) if you havent had that done in awhile. Replacing the bushings cost around $300 at shops but I did mine myself for $20 in parts from autozone.

Dead Link Removed this website will tell you how to do it.

 

[fatboy0186]

Thanks for the info, I think I'll get some bushings this weekend. The site you listed doesn;t work, but I think my manual might give me some instructions. Thanks

 

[93 x_SPORT]

try this: Dead Link Removed