Hello all,

I'm a new member to the board. I have a '92 bonne that has an odd vibration/knock coming from the front right corner. I've tried various things to track it down, but with no luck. It'* driving me crazy, and am perhaps a little concerned it could be serious. Here is a list things I have tried:

1) Replaced right half-shaft (I thought for sure this would do it) - no change.

2) Checked lower ball-joint during install of #1, ball-joint seems ok.

3) Checked tie-rod ball joint during #1, ball-joint ok.

4) Verified upper and lower strut mounting bolts are torque'd to spec

5) Front brakes needed complete overhaul, so everything in front is new, including rotors.

Here is a list of symptoms to try to describe the problem:

a) can only be felt through floor and pedal, cannot significantly be sourced through the steering wheel

b) varies with road inclination (downgrade worse), throttle (coasting/no throttle - is like a clunky rattle) and steering position (turning left is worse)

c) Can make clunk sound while vehicle is sitting still by cutting the steering wheel back and forth


I have some other ideas to try, such as subframe mounting bolts loose, steering rack loose, etc. But I don't expect much to surface here.

Does anyone have any ideas? I'm perplexed and would really appreciate any help or comments. Thanks alot, Matt

Check the rotors again if it’* been awhile and check the antiswaybar. Also move the tires around to see if the ride changes with the wheels moved around. I had wheel separation that caused similar ride problems. It was with new tires too. There are other things to look into but first try the easy ones.

Ty

I did swap the wheels from LF to RF and no change. I also had to install a new anti-sway bar end-link on the right side as well. The old one rusted and broke. So, at least I know its connected properly to the control arm.

I will check to see if the rest of the swaybar mounts are good. Thanks, Matt

I'm gonna have to agree with Jr. It sounds like a hub bearing. I think Tamara is having the same problem.

Wow...i'm surprised that no one has said STRUT - not strut bolts, but the strut itself.

You will feel it especially while driving and going over the smaller bumps. By the sounds of it, it'* gotten really bad. And if you're feeling it in your floor, it'* probably the driver'* side. It fits with the bumping and the bad steering. You might also notice a bit of grinding when you turn to the left if it'* bad enough
My '89 was doing the exact same thing. Go push down on each side of the car to make sure what side it is. If it'* bad enough, you should be able to hear it creak/groad/squeek or whatever.
Also, inside the hood, there'* a black cover on each side of the car. You should be able to pop that off with a screw driver and if you can wiggle the strut there at all, then that'* what it is for sure....

I think I found the culprit. With the car sitting normally on the ground. I can grab the wheel and move it side to side and make the clunk. So, either the hub is worn or the bolts are loose?

Either way, I bought a new hub ($160, yikes!) and rented a hub puller.

Does anyone know if I can just pull the hub out with the puller without having to seperate the lower control arm and knuckle and pull the half-shaft out of the backside? That would save so much work and time. Now, I just have to finish the job by Weds. night, so I can drive from Detroit to K.C. starting thurs. evening. Yeah!

Thanks to all who helped. You'll sure hear from me if I get stuck. Otherwise, I'll keep you posted. Thanks, Matt

I installed the hub tonight. Went ok for the most part. The hub was rusted to the knuckle. The hub puller did nothing more than just push the shaft back. Pretty useless, unless I was using it wrong. I ended up using an air hammer to break the rust. Once it was that far, it was a piece of cake after.

I managed to cross thread the end-link nut (don't ask how ). I have to get a new bolt and nut, so I won't know if it hub fixed the vibration or not until tommorrow.

The hub wasn't the problem. After a test drive, I could still wiggle the RF wheel back and forth. So, I got underneath and had someone wiggle the wheel. I can feel the tie rod move with the wiggle, all the way to the boot cover. The boot cover contracts and expands with the wiggle.

My haynes manual doesn't say anything about replacing tie rods. Only the rod ends, boot covers and the rack itself. I won't replace the rack. I'll just drive it until the car ceases the turn anymore.

Does anyone know if I can replace the tie-rods only? If that is a fairly painless procedure, I'd do it to cure the problem.

I learned a few things here. The most important is not to rush, take your time debugging the problem and be confident in the solution before you turn a wrench. It would have saved me lots of time and money.

Thanks for the help, Matt

Did you check the STRUTS?

And is it still clunking and vibrating...because if it is it sounds so obviously to be a strut..
[/i]

Just curious...did you ever figure this out?