davesan1

iTrader: (4)

I'm chasing suspension clunks on my '93 3rd. Gen. They occur on acceleration and braking. It sounds almost like a substantial movement between 2 "parts," where the suspension is in a stable state in either position and switches between them on acceleration/deceleration. It is not "rough road/bump" initiated.

It is very difficult to tell whether it is front or back, but my leaning is to say it is in the front

As a starting point I checked around all the suspension bushes. The only items I found questionable were the control link bushes on the front stabalizer bar. They seem to have too much movement. Physically they appear to be simple "two degrees of freedom" bushes, (the sort you get using a cylinderical outer metal tube filled with rubber and with an axial bolt or rod going through the middle. If this is what they are intended to be, there is something seriously wrong with them as they have 3 degrees of freedom (ala pillar bushings). In practice this means I can (very easily) cause the central rod to move significantly diagonally off the central axis by applying a lever to it.

My question is , "is it supposed to work this way or is it caused by the rubber being worn?" I am suspicious that this may be the way it is designed to work because both sides show exactly the same "symptom" as to how they move. However, at the same time, I believe that this could be the cause of my clunk problem because, with the car jacked up, if I lever one of the control arms, (RHS), I can create a small clunk. The bottom line - I need to understand what the bushing should do, before I can decide if it is faulty and should be replaced. I would appreciate some help here.

Also, has anybody seen a similar problem? Has anybody replaced these bushings? If so I would appreciate some advice on doing the job.

Thanks

FDjunkie

From your description the end-links are probably loose and in need of replacement; either with OEM style or with the heim-end variety that I prefer. However, I don't think that these would be causing noise during acceleration or braking. In my experience loose end-links only make noise during single wheel bumps, so I think the rear suspension is more likely to be the source of your noise, at least during acceleration.

Suspension noise during braking can come from either end. Another clue might be found if the noise occurs under vary light braking vs more normal or heavy braking. The front brakes receive proportionately more hydraulic pressure than the rears and therefore build braking forces sooner. Therefore, under vary light braking conditions the front brakes tend to be the only ones doing any work. Not a guarantee or anything, but a way to help isolate.

davesan1

iTrader: (4)

Thanks for the input.

I did some more checking and, in fact, when I enter my (steep) driveway from the road I can hear the clunk when the right hand side front wheel enters the slope, (the same side as the bushing that I caused to clunk when leveraging it while under the car). So that looks hopeful as a possible cause.

However, I still have the interesting phenomena that on acceleration, (even fairly light), I hear the clunk and then, generally, I don't hear it again until I brake. It's like as if a bushing, (or something), moves into a new position when I accelerate forwards and clunks metal on metal. It then stays in that position until I brake when it presumably returns back to its initial position, (as before acceleration), and clunks again (presumed metal on metal). This seems to suggest a longitudinal "bushing" movement in the line of motion of the car, verses a lateral or vertical motion.

It's also interesting that light braking seems to produce the clunk more than heavy braking, in line with your comment about the front of the car.

It could be that there is more than one problem. Anyway, there is some evidence of the front control link bushings being sloppy so I think I'm going to change them first and see if that helps, (assuming it is not a massive job). There appears to be a lot of info. on the forum on rear-end bushing replacements but little on front-end replacement. Can anybody help here?

Thanks

rockshox

iTrader: (3)

the front anti-sway bar endlink bushings are indeed pillow ball type.