I just bought a 93 Explorer and I have a ?

[bstjnky]

Well, let me tell you guys about the truck before I ask any questions. Its a 93 with 115k miles, been lady driven its whole life, 1 owner, 2wd, no mods, and towed a sail boat every now and then. Now to the question. Whenever I go over a bump it makes a thumping sound. I think it may be a bad bushing on a shock. What would this sound like? Could it be a radius arm bushing? What are the indicators that these are going out? It sounds like the noise is coming from the passenger side front. Any help would help.
Thanks, Jason

 

[class16]

jason, I have a 93 eb w/135k, bought it back in august99.I had the same problem, found out it was my lower ball joint.so while replacing the ball joints"all 4",I did the radius arm bushings w/ poly bushings and what a diffrence.feels nice and tight again. hope this helps you.
ps.its a real pain in the a#@ job.
peter

 

[Mike Moyer]

I have a 93 XLT 2WD. At 75K I had the same problem. Mine would make thunk sounds over bumbsbut even worse right before I got ready to come to a complete stop I would hear this pop sound. I had ALL my ball joints replaced at the same time. (I paid someone to do it though). I'm going to install a 2" Skyjacker lift in a few weeks and while I have the springs out I will go ahead and replace the radius arm bushings. Good luck I hope this helps. It was all the people in this forum that solved my problems for me. Listen to what they have to say 99% of it is the right diagnosis.

Mike

 

[bstjnky]

Mike, thanks for your advice(you too Peter). How much was it for you to get your ball joints replaced? What kind of shocks would you guys recommend for just driving around town, no off road? Dead Link Removed

 

[sluke]

Mike Moyer
DId replacing your ball joints help that popping(clunking noise) right before you came to a stop? If not, I went round and round with this very same problem. I had replaced my radius arm bushings hoping this would take care of it, but it didn't. Ball joints and u-joints were all okay too. It eneded up being my front brake pads shifting each time i stopped. THe pads were the ones with a liner/shim glued to the back of them and they had eventually worked loose over time. So each time the brake cylinder made contact with the loose shim on the back of the pad, there would be movement of the pads because the shims and pads were not attached to each other anymore. And eventually, the shims had worked themselves all the way out of the back of the caliper. SO, if your still hearing this clunk right before you stop, you might want to check the brake pads for those loose shims. I replaced them with the pads withot the shims and never heard the thump/clunk again. What a pain in the butt this was trying to figure out!

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shawna l.

 

[94pimp]

hey dont worry about the ball joints i had the same problem les schwab told me to do my ball joints so i did and it still does it just replace the bushings and check the bushings in the back of the sway bars then if it still does it then do the ball joints bushings are cheap why spend more then u need to