I have an 89 CRX Si and the drivers side front is making a clunking noise. The person I bought it from said it needed a new axle so I replaced that yesterday. This did not make the noise go away. It clunks at above 55mph and more so on right turns. I am thinking it is the wheel bearing or the strut. Is there anything else I should check for?

Also when replacing my axle I noticed that my balljoint was torn where the steering meets up with the spindle. Is this a problem that needs immediate attention? Could this be the cause of my clunking front end?

 

Jack the car up and wiggle the wheel in an out, if it moves you need a new wheel bearing. I wouldnt worry about the ball-joint too much they will go for a while even with a small tear.

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by 96-EJ6 B18C &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote"> I wouldnt worry about the ball-joint too much they will go for a while even with a small tear.</TD></TR></TABLE>



YES THIS IS A MAJOR PROBLEM AND QUITE DANGEROUS....DO NOT DRIVE THE CAR UNTIL YOU DO THE FOLLOWING:

Take the arm that's tied to this balljoint (its the tie-rod), try and rotate it side to side....I.E. kinda like grabbing a pipe and turning it clockwise and counter clockwise.....it should be extremely difficult to turn. I'm betting it will be easy as ****

Next take the rod and pull up and down on it....if it has any give (which I'm betting it will), its fucked


What is happening is that the tear most likely allowed the balljoint to dry and get filled with crap and ruined it. If you drive this car with that balljoint, you risk it popping out ....consequently one wheel will stay attached to teh steering, the other will suddenly turn in (or out) and jam...bending most of your suspension, possibly causing body and frame damage and possibly causign a serious accident.


You have a good eye to have noticed the tear....change the tie rod end ASAP if you encountered any of the symptoms I mentionned....if not...check your balljoints (explained below)...clunks are usually signs of upcomming accidents.

You're lucky as **** that it didnt pop out at 55+ mph.


(BTW I just found out about this problem a few weeks ago....so dont feel bad if you didnt know...I had never heard of it before....but its quite serious) That balljoint is more likely to cause a severe crash than any other balljoint.

Check all your balljoints too.

Lower BJ: Jack car up slightly, wedge pipe under wheel, put one hand on top of the tire, one hand on the pipe, pull the pipe up and push the wheel in...if there is any give / noise the BJ is gooing...if its just the tire flexiing, or the car lifting, the bj is fine.

Tie rods: test I told you above

Upper BJ: Cant remember..I believe you pull the top of the wheel and look for the same symptoms as the lower bj

 

I have a similiar clunking noise but on my front passenger side whenever i go over a bump (ie my driveway) could be my tie rod joint? i dunno

 

It could be your radius rod, that r loose. It clunk on hard brake of accel.

 

best thing to do is to get the car up on ramps, or a hoist or something and have a look at everything. I've started to get a clunking noise too from my front passengers side. I got it up on rams to check everything out, and my lower strut mount bushing is done... so I'm gonna replace that tuesday, but if I hadn't have gotten under my car, I would have never guessed that bushing was the problem. So best thing to do is take a look, and see what you can see.

and about the balljoint/tie rod, you should get that replaced, like Jet Black said, you wouldnt want that popping out on ya and getting into an accident, just replace it before it gets any worse.

 

you threw a rod .. pull the motor and put a jdmgsr in it.. its the only fix.

 

i just recently had to replace my upper control arms/upper balljoint because of a torn boot. i wouyld hit a bump and i would hearone sudden thump i was clueless of it until i went to get an allignment and they said "you need a new ball joint, we can do it for you for $$$outrageous amounts of money$$$ so i went to the shop and stripped a couple parts from my parts car

this can become very dangerous i would reccomend replacing them if they have any sign of wear

 

JetBlack: Thank you very much for telling me all that info. I just bought the car, I drove it home, then to my friends house to change the axle, and finally back home. My front end is also pretty squirly feeling.

Is it difficult to replace the balljoint? I havent bought any manuals yet.

 

dont bother with buying the manual, unless you get a helms...everything else is only useful to wipe the grease off your heands.

btw check out http://tech.hybridgrage.com 's tech section....it might help

THe odd feeling will probably be fixed by your tierod ends. Its not tough to fix, but its a PITA since they usually seize, you'll probably need 2 pipe wrenches....thats what I used.

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by Jet Black &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">
(BTW I just found out about this problem a few weeks ago....so dont feel bad if you didnt know...I had never heard of it before....but its quite serious) That balljoint is more likely to cause a severe crash than any other balljoint.
</TD></TR></TABLE>

That is crazy, I have never heard of that, thanks for the heads up!

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by Jet Black &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">dont bother with buying the manual, unless you get a helms...everything else is only useful to wipe the grease off your heands.

btw check out http://tech.hybridgrage.com 's tech section....it might help

THe odd feeling will probably be fixed by your tierod ends. Its not tough to fix, but its a PITA since they usually seize, you'll probably need 2 pipe wrenches....thats what I used.</TD></TR></TABLE>

This is very true, if the balljoint lets go, your wheel will not be controlled, it could flop over, or rip in one direction or the other causing loss of control and a lot of damage. (friend had it happen twice)

Another thing that creates clunks and weird feeling through the wheel is a bad steering rack. I have knocked the bushing right out of mine before