Front end noise, please help!!

[GA1990]

My right front end is making a clunk noise when i hit bumps. It doesn't always happen, and it doesn't seem to be related to how big of a bump it is, sometimes i'll hit a huge hole and it won't do anything, other times i'll hit something small and it'll make the noise, or vice versa. Any ideas? I can't visually see anything broken or anything like that, but it is a pretty loud clunk.

 

[DOGMAN]

GA1990,

What year and model of Explorer do you have? The first thing that comes to mind is radius arm bushings. Can you feel the clunk through the steering wheel, or does it eminate from under your feet? Does it do the same thing whether you are going straight or turning?

You can inspect the radius arm bushings visually and by grabbing onto the radius arm and trying to move it. You should not be able to get any movement at all out of it.

If it's not the radius arm bushings, it could be a host of other things, including wheel bearings, brake rotors, steering linkage, etc.

I'm assuming this is in two wheel drive instead of 4WD.

Please give us more information to go on.

DOGMAN

 

[Trckmagik]

I just had this happening on my 92 and it did turn out to be the radius arm bushings. i had these swapped out while installing my lift and the noise was gone. This is a fairly easy insatll if you have the right tools. hope this helps a little.

------------------
Brian Green
92 2wd Explorer w/
6 inch Suspension lift
92 2wd Ranger w/
5.5 inch suspension lift

 

[GA1990]

It's a '94, i've only noticed it in two wheel drive because i haven't driven it lately in 4 wheel drive. I dont' feel it in the steering, or really at all, i just hear it. I'll check on that radius arm bushing, thanks for the help.

Dave

 

[GA1990]

Well i just went outside with a flashlight and was checking it out. I couldn't budge the radius arm..but by the looks of it, with the car sitting on the ground, it doesn't look like you could really move it much, even if the bushing wasn't there. But anyways, how hard is it to replace? It doesn't look too difficult...do you just take the nut off the end of the radius arm and then drop the crossmember that it attatches to? The only thing i notice is that the crossmember was held on by two bolt and two rivets on each side...do you just cut the rivets and replace them with bolts? I didn't look at it long, maybe i'm missing something.