Chasing a clunk

[turdsmell#2]

Hey all, I spent yesterday replacing my strut mounts, strut inserts, springs, ball joints, tie rods and CV boots, The ol turdsmell rides like a dream. I had no idea it could be that responsive! However there is still a clunk on the passenger side (sounds like metal on metal) Any ideas on what it could be? I am thinking sway bar bushings but I can't find them for purchase anywhere. Any one have any ideas? It does sound 300 times better but it is even more annoying now that I spent the time and money to fix it!!!!!

[Highlander]

If you're looking for the swaybar end bushings, look in the OE Part numbers category here. Tom put up the OE part numbers, or if you look for the Polyurethane Suspension Bushings post, there are some made from Polyurethane listed there as well. Which one you want depends on what you want, the Poly bushes will be stiffer, but the originals will probably be easier to install. You might also check the diagonal support that runs from the crossmember to the frame, I had one decide to fatigue at the bolt and that led to a front end clunk.

[Petros]

If all of your bushings are good, and all the bolts are tight, it could be the chassis flexing. As the car ages, especially if driven on rough gravel roads regularly (like mine), the sheet metal parts and the spot welds work loose and fatigue cracks eventually become visible around the strut towers. This photo shows my cracks and the spot weld also have tiny cracks around them.



Beside stitch welding all of the seams, getting a strut tower brace should stiffen the front. That should reduce the flex and any noise coming from cracking.

like this one;



See this old thread where I go into detail in trying to find my clunking;

https://tercel4wd.com/forums/viewtopic.php? ... ilit=clunk

[dlb]

did you check your control arm bushings? easy to do, just jack it up, take off the wheel, undo the ball joint (either the 17 mm nut or two 14 mm bolts, doesn't matter which) and the control arm will drop down. try pulling it back and forth from the front of the car to the back a bunch of times. it should be snug. if it flops around, the bushing is shot. it's a PITA to press them in and out. i just did this on my project car but luckily the bushing in the control arm from the donor car is still good. yippee!

also, you should definitely pull the sway bar off and check the bushings and metal tubes, if you haven't already. get them all off the sway bar and then inspect the ends for wearing down. it they're severely bottle-necked, head to a wrecker and find a sway bar in good shape. you don't want one of the ends snapping off while driving.

two more suggestions: did you do both inner AND outer tie rods? and did you double check each nut and bolt to make sure all are snug?

[ARCHINSTL]

Ditto and AMEN! on checking the sway bar-to-control arm!
A number of us have had occasional clunks on only the passenger side for ? reason. This was before I replaced absolutely every suspension bit up front; it turned out to be the two not-quite-tight bolts holding the strut mount to the steering knuckle. But, since you installed new strut inserts, I presume you torqued these bolts to 105 ft-lbs? Always a good idea to double check.
But - DO check those sway bar ends! dlb just did an XLNT pictorial on this procedure in the Repair Guides forum!
Tom M.

[turdsmell#2]

Thanks for the advice everyone. Upon further inspection the spring has moved from its proper seat on the top of the strut. Also I am assuming I need new bushings because there is absolutly not a single smidgen of rubber where the bushings should be! Go figure. Thanks again for the detailed responses, you guys rock!