finally got rid of an annoying clunk

Ever since the last Corpus trip, I have had this extremely annoying "clunk" on the front end. It started out only occurring when I turned far left or right- if I turned far one direction, then it would not occur in that direction again until I turned far the other way. I had Shannon turn the wheel each direction, and what I discovered was the front axle would shift slightly, and as it did so the passenger side coil would "slip" slightly out of it's little notch in the lower perch. George said that was probably my trackbar.

So last weekend I got under there and tighten the bolts on each end. I don't have a torque wrench that goes above 100, so instead I just put a 2 foot cheater bar on my wrench and cranked down hard. Well, that kinda helped, and kinda didn't. The coil was no longer slipping, so that clunk was gone ((Yay)). But now I had a new clunk, and this one wasn't limited to hard turns, it was occurring EVERY turn! I could not locate where it was coming from, so for the past week it has annoyed the living shit out of me- every single turn, no matter how little, caused this new clunk!

So yesterday I laid under it while Shannon turned the wheel back and forth. Drove me friggin nuts trying to locate the sound. Took forever- it sounded like it was coming from behind the passenger front tire, until I would lay back there and then it would sound like it was coming from in front of the drivers side. Aaaarrrgghhh.

Then I spotted it- the trackbar on the passenger side- it would jump just a tiny bit, and I mean TINY! Almost completely un-noticable. But once I spotted it, I could clearly see it move ever so slightly every time the clunk sound occurred. I put the Jeep back up on the ramps, put my wrench and cheater bar back on, and cranked to the point that my arms and legs felt like they couldn't take any more- got the bolt to move about 1/4 turn more.

Ah!!! It was so nice to drive yesterday without hearing that noise on every turn!

And I thought it was the body in the back.

hahaha

sometimes its nice to be able to say " TOLD YA SO"

redneckhouston wrote:

sometimes its nice to be able to say " TOLD YA SO"

Get in the trunk

hmmm...on our ride back I thought we figured it was the hood flapping, timed it with the clunk. But even on a non-windy day or with the wind there is a slight clunking, so I'll have to check this out. Everything else is tight, even the steering is tight which was a culprit for some JK'rs.

thanks for the post Steve

how loud was the clunk? I get a tiny one in the steering then moving it back and fourth left and right, i feel it in the steering too, but I can't firgure out if it is just normal steering linkage or if something is loose. I'll have to lay under mine and have the mrs do that too.

Also, I get a strange vibration when turning hard left or right on a downward inclined turn. Like on those circular on and off ramps at hwy intersections. Did you experience this at all? I've replaced all my shocks, steerstablizer and I have a front and rear adjustable trackbar in the garage that I need to put on so I can rule that out!

matthew2000tx wrote:

how loud was the clunk? I get a tiny one in the steering then moving it back and fourth left and right, i feel it in the steering too, but I can't firgure out if it is just normal steering linkage or if something is loose. I'll have to lay under mine and have the mrs do that too.

Sounds like what I was experiencing. Have the Mrs turn the wheel- and you have to watch VERY CLOSE to see it.

matthew2000tx wrote:

Also, I get a strange vibration when turning hard left or right on a downward inclined turn. Like on those circular on and off ramps at hwy intersections. Did you experience this at all? I've replaced all my shocks, steerstablizer and I have a front and rear adjustable trackbar in the garage that I need to put on so I can rule that out!

Can't answer that- we don't have any of those circular ramps around here.

matthew2000tx wrote:

Also, I get a strange vibration when turning hard left or right on a downward inclined turn. Like on those circular on and off ramps at hwy intersections. Did you experience this at all? I've replaced all my shocks, steerstablizer and I have a front and rear adjustable trackbar in the garage that I need to put on so I can rule that out!

sounds like its the ESP. mine used to do that alot until i got my steering wheel lined up.

right now i'm getting a little ??? clicking?? feeling from the steering & gas pedal. a very slight vibration when i hit any little imperfection in the road. like somethings loose. i think its the ball joints though. each one has about 1/8" play up & down.

what do you guys think.

jkx0778 wrote:

sounds like its the ESP. mine used to do that alot until i got my steering wheel lined up.

right now i'm getting a little ??? clicking?? feeling from the steering & gas pedal. a very slight vibration when i hit any little imperfection in the road. like somethings loose. i think its the ball joints though. each one has about 1/8" play up & down.

what do you guys think.

Did your ESP light go off then... Mine never has when it did does this.

yeah, my light would flash on the dash. if your's isn't then i really dont know what it could be.

yeah mine ESP light never goes off when I get that strange vibration. It feels like something in the steering is binding up. I also feel it in the break pedal. It first happened after a meet up last year when I was following Adam over to Bass Pro Shops from Hills'n'dales. I just try to aviod those cicular turns. I'm working with an auto shop on Bandera Road to figure out what the heck it could be.


I have a shake at 51-53 mph. I replaced shocks and steering stablizer to get rid of the tera-flex extenders, so I ruled that out! Next is those adj. Track bars I have sitting in the garage, if that dosen't fix it I'll order some adjust control arms or a new lift kit (since it is the same price as a full set of arms). When does the spending stop.. I'd like to put some rails and bumpers on but this damn shake is freakn' drivin' me up the wall! (or almost in those dam cicular turns) so until that gets fixed I can't buy more fun stuff.