steering wheel shakes and a clunking!!!

[richardkeith97]

so my etas having some issues. sometimes the steering wheel will shake. no speciific speed or anything. sometimes it won't do it for a couple days then it will. also over certain bumps it will make a little thud noise. i've taken both wheels off and tightened the outer balljoints and the tie rods. also checked the nut on the top of the strut. i also made sure the nut that holds the strut in the strut housing is still as tight as it will go and it appears to be. everything just seems tight. checked the sway bar links also. its def coming from the left side. first it would just clunk now its starting to shake so i think they go hand in hand. unless the shaking could be the wheels need to be balanced and its just coincidence. when it clunks i can feel it in the steering wheel a very little bit. what else should i check? i also replaced the inner and out tie rods on the left and that didn't help. thanks

[KenC]

Airbag car?

[richardkeith97]

non airbad. 85 eta

[Philo]

Faulty drop hat. :)

[richardkeith97]

lol thanks. no drop hats on this car actually

[E30_fiend]

are you sure its coming from the left front and not the rear? there isnt much to make a clunking noise in the front end. Now the rear, it could be a subframe bushing or your diff bushing. Possibly even your shock mount clunking up and down. The only other thing you could check in the front end that would make a clunk would be the spring binding and popping or possibly a loose/bad front wheel bearing. Now that a think of it, a bad or loose wheel bearing may result in the two symptoms you are having. Check the wheel bearing out, I believe its a 32mm socket size. See if that puppy is good and tight. Also, with the wheel mounted, grab at 12 and 6 o'clock and push and pull on the wheel. Basically wiggle the wheel from top to bottom. If there is any drastic play, suspect a bad wheel bearing.

In addition, get your wheel rebalanced. Its at most 30 bucks and it couldnt hurt to have them redone.





Taylor

[RidingSimple]

clunking up front could be c/a bushing, tie rod ball joint, or sway bar end link.
my car clunks something fierce up front and needs all of the above.

[richardkeith97]

i'm getting my wheels balanced tomorrow, i guess i'll ask them to check the wheel bearings. my balljoints, tierods, and sway bar end links look fine. the cab looks a little rough but i not so bad that it would be clunking. i hate having problems i cant figure out. i can fix anything if i know whats wrong.

[metalix1021]

i'm getting my wheels balanced tomorrow, i guess i'll ask them to check the wheel bearings. my balljoints, tierods, and sway bar end links look fine. the cab looks a little rough but i not so bad that it would be clunking. i hate having problems i cant figure out. i can fix anything if i know whats wrong.

You say a clunk when you go over a bump? Have you checked the strut mounts? I had that issue and had a bad left front strut mount. Given mine failed because of a missing washer, but it failed none the less.

Also, does it shake right when you start to drive it in the morning and then it goes away? Do you park it on cold ground? like a concrete garage? If so, can have cold spots on the tires that go away after the tires warm up a bit.

[richardkeith97]

so it shakes because the inside of the tire is all bumpy. i had them check the front end when they were going to balance my tires. they said everything is tight so idk. my strut mounts are less then a year old? idk

[Fidhle007]

I'd suspect a CA ball joint in the front (even a little play in the right direction can cause issues) or rear shock mounts. I went through the whole front end of my IX looking for a clunk and a loose handling issue only to find a blown rear shock mount.

[george graves]

Clunking noise is most likely a finger tip stuck in a suspension component.

[Jean]

zing

[TOM1911]

I have smilar problems with my 92 vert. Upon jacking the front up I discovered the right front outer ball joint and the c/a bushing was loose. I would suspect the same for your front end

[richardkeith97]

ya i'm thinking cab. is their any way to check them? they look fine? its just a lot of work to not have it fix my problem.