I'm guessing it's a bad ball joint? I hear a loud pop when I have the wheels turned all the way to the right in the parking lot. Am I right here? Looks like it's time for a front end rebuild. Anybody have any experience with Polygraphite bushings? Thanks.

 

It could also be one (or both) upper strut mount bearings; or, worst case, the frame is cracked by the steering box mounting points.

Pete

 

Thanks, I didn't know about the steering box cracking problem. I just got a TDS wonderbar to help prevent future cracks once I get this fixed. I did a search and it said that if there are cracks, they can be welded. What kind of shop does this service?

I'm pretty sure it's not the upper strut mounts as I've had problems with them for quite some time now. This new sound is different. I noticed it just before I put my car into storage. When I'm parking or pulling sharply into a parking lot, I hear 1 or 2 loud pops, like bang! Bang! There's no play in steering and everything seems to be working fine.

I'm gonna go checking the steering box mounting are this weekend while I'm home from school.

 

So did ya find any cracks?

 

Not big ones, I found a very small crack around the steering box about an inch long, I had it rewelded anyway. My friend did it for free. I installed the wonder bar from TDS and it works awesome. So, now I'm back to thinking it's a problem with the suspeinsion. That's OK though, I'm currently rebuilding the whole suspension in the car.

 

The most likely cause will be worn Tie Rod ends. They get worn in two spots through normal use. Because of the Tie Rod geometry, when you really crank the wheel over, the Tie Rods will hang up and then suddenly " snap" to a new position.

Also check the taper where the ball joint bolts into the spindle. I've seen this taper hole get enlongated over time. This can also cause a loud " pop" when things get heavily loaded. This can be hard to find unless you pull everything apart. Normal ball joint checks by a typical alignment shop may not show this up. The ball joint itself may check out good. The stud can get cocked in the enlongated hole....then suddenly " snap " into position when placed under a heavy load. Full lock at low speeds will put a lot of load on the ball joint stud ( due to castor jacking affects ). It took a six foot long pipe under the front wheel to load my ball joint enough to detect the worn taper hole in the spindle. Best way is to take it apart.

BTW...if you re-paint your spindles, you must make absolutely sure that no paint remains on the inside of the tapers where the ball joint or tie rod end mounts. The paint will compress and wear away....the the taper stud gets loose and then the hole will start to elongate. In extreme cases, ( Competition use ) you can even snap a ball joint taper stud in half if the taper fit is not good and tight. I've seen it happen.

On the Poly- graphite bushings. I'd recommend the Global West Del-A-Lum bushings over poly lower control arm bushings. Poly is not that great of a material for LCA bushings.

GW Del-A-Lum bushing link can be found here