Really Bad Suspension | Ford Explorer Forums

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Really Bad Suspension

troyboy238

New Member
Joined
February 8, 2006
Messages
5
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City, State
Arvada, Colorado
Year, Model & Trim Level
'96 5.0EB
Hi yall, i have a 96 explorer 5.0 EB, i have been having suspension problems for the past two years and trying to figure out what the problem is has been an adventure. Let me describe to you what some of the problems are and then ill tell you all that i have done to it.
First and foremost when i drive over pavement and hit small, and im stressing small bumps i hear a metal clunk in the front not sure what that is, the ride is extremely harsh and josling it takes bumps much harsher than what it used to, and it leans alot more than what it used to, and i bought it when it had 70,000 miles on it and it now has 125,000, and ive replaced the the shocks two times, ive just recently had the upper and lower control arms with the ball joints replaced, and when i tell them that it has not improved the ride they dont know what can be the problem and tell me that everything looks alright. If anybody can walk me through some things that would be awesome, my person opinion would be the rubber bushings and things to that nature, but of course i would rather defer to experiance than keep spending money and the problem still is there. Thank you all very much!! Troy
 



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I have a 2000xlt with the same clunking noise, it sounds like something is loose. I got under it the other day and found that if I jacked up the lower control arm and raised up on the tire with a prybar, I have some slack in the lower ball joint. I have bought the parts but have not yet installed them. Did the work you did take care of the noise or do you still have the noise and a rough ride? If you have any luck finding your problem, please post it in case this does not take care of my "clunk".
 






ive heard the torsion bars can 'clunk' soetimes as well. and maybe if the ride is that 'loose' your torsion bars dont ahve enough tension on them
 






1. Tire Pressure (no higher than 35, or the ride sucks!)
2. Shocks
3. Sway Bar Bushings
4. Control Arm Bushings
5. Torsion Bar adjusters
 






Last weekend i changed my brakes and when i did that i also adjusted the tension bolts on the torsion bars to see if that helped and it really didnt help at all.
As far as the lower balljoints i havent checked them since i had my lower and upper control arms replaced completely, and they replaced the balljoints supposedly with them, so maybe thats something that i should check out and when i do ill post it on here and let you know what came of it.
Troy
 






I had a clunk in my front end and it wound up being the outer tie rod ends. No matter how small the bump I would feel it in the wheel and at my feet.?.?.? When anyone check them they appeared to be OK. Here is what I found out what and why it happend. My tie rods would for some reason twist foward, causing the shaft from the ball to wear on the socket. That caused a notch to form in the socket and when ever I hit a bump and the tie rod end moved it would snap out of the the notch making the noise and the feeling in the wheel and feet. If I can find the old tie rod ends I can take a pic for you to see. Replace the tie rod ends with a greaseable one. I have Moogs on mine now. Whenever I grease them I also makesure that they are straight. I have seen a few Ex's with the tie rods twisted foward.

Also you may want to check the sway bar end links. They also tend to wear, break and come loose causing all sorts of noise.
 






Yeah a pic would be great jp450! I would really appreciate that!! So if that may be what accounts for the noise, which ill have to look into that, what accounts for the sloppy, and harsh ride, and to give an example of how sloppy it is, its like riding in an old horse carriage with wooden wheels!! lol You can feel every bump and it feels as if the suspension is loose, and i have looked at the bushings and they look old dont get me wrong, but they dont look cracked or anything. And can bad bushings make that much a difference? Troy
 






Worn sway bar end links caused a clunk in my 96. Also the torsion bar wear pads can wear out and cause a slop in the setup.
 






As mentioned above, look at the sway bar ends and the balljoints. My '01 Explorer had the clunk, and I had the dealer replace the swaybar ends under warranty at about 10k miles and that fixed one clunk. The balljoints provided more clunks. I had to replace the balljoints at about 25k (under warranty) and then again at 40k. One of my friends has a 97, and the front had a pretty bad clunk. Again...balljoints were the culprit. Ford balljoints are pretty piss poor.
 






Jdraper is right on the money. In 80k on the other truck I replaced the ball joints twice, and they weren't factory when I got it with 60k on it.
 






troyboy238 said:
Last weekend i changed my brakes and when i did that i also adjusted the tension bolts on the torsion bars to see if that helped and it really didnt help at all.
As far as the lower balljoints i havent checked them since i had my lower and upper control arms replaced completely, and they replaced the balljoints supposedly with them, so maybe thats something that i should check out and when i do ill post it on here and let you know what came of it.
Troy


You realize that adjusting the torsion bolts has nothing to do with how the car rides? They adjust the height, not the stiffness of the ride.
 






it may be the steering rack
 






I have a post, probably on the 2nd or 3rd page by now, of a sway bar end-link issue, with a couple of pics.

I had a broken left end-link. The body leaned a bit more, but what I mostly noticed was a random clunk noise. It actually seemed to happen more on smooth pavement than on rough. It sounded more like something was hitting the passenger well than anything else.
 






Sorry about not responding for awhile guys, ive been super busy, and i havent had a chance to check any of this cause it has snowed the last two weekends!! But as soon as its going to be a "decent" weekend ill get up under there and check it! But the funny thing is that today i was at work and i work up in the mountains and i got stuck like no other, i was up there for three hours trying to get unstuck so i had to call a guy i work with "chevy guy" and i decided that im going to get the superlift suspension and get bigger tires and basically make it a more capable off-road vehicle, cause thats the last time ill ever get pulled out by a chevy!!! I hope that you all understand my shame!! lol But as soon as i get underneath my truck ill post a reply on here and tell you what the analysis was!!
Troy
 






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