Front End problems...

rob_w · tinkerer Joined: 19 Feb 2002 Posts: 395

Hi all, been a while.....
anyways, for a little while now, my front end has been giving me the shits....evert time i reverse and turn the steering wheel, the car makes an odd clunk when i hit the brakes. it also has a squeak that starts up occasionaly on the F.LH wheel, that dissapears under load. was thinking wheel bearings and/or glazed discs.
any ideas? its really shitting me to tears.
thanks heaps.
rob.

Adam · Site Admin Joined: 04 Oct 2001 Posts: 682

Hello Rob,

"Every time i reverse and turn the steering wheel, the car makes an odd clunk when i hit the brakes."

I have this exact problem and I am stumped if I know what it is, I've removed and re-attached just about anything... I'm just about to pull the crossmember out and start fresh in a final ditch effort to eliminate it.

mana · tinkerer Joined: 06 Feb 2002 Posts: 169

hey adam i had the same prob found it out to be the lower control arms and bushes were knacked- replaced it and it went away -------note that some fools have been known to put tx control arms in tg and it just dont work they are slightly different and make a clunk on reverse!!
hope this helps >>>mana

alan · tinkerer Joined: 07 Apr 2002 Posts: 429

Why not? You CAN put TX control arms into a later RTS models (late TD onwards), however they were meant to take shorter springs, so you will drop your front end somewhat. They will not cause clunking.

IF you have clunking, either your ball joints are shot, your control arms rubbers are loose/stuffed, or one of the bolts for the xmember/steering rack/control arms are loose.
The other thing is, Ive had instances where spot welds come loose on the body, and they too can make noises, but they are a bastARD to find.

You just have to go over all those things to make sure its all tight.

Adam · Site Admin Joined: 04 Oct 2001 Posts: 682

My new polyurethane suspension bushes aren't shagged, the bolts are all tight.... as for the spot welds... egad.. that sounds like a right bastard of a thing to try and find.

Mooch · backyard mechanic Joined: 17 Oct 2001 Posts: 573

had some siliar squeeks with mine. it was all clean and freahy painted so there were a few things. The stub axle would rub on the disc backing plate as the arm moved up and down. (similar sound to bushes being worn) and the stub would also hit on the bottom arm at full lock making a clunk sound. so i just dabbed a bit of grease on the tip of the stub.

solvered the probs.