trouble shooting rear clunk
 

The problem first:

Hearing a clunk from the right rear whenever loading changes. So when I brake, I get a clunk, start from a stop, clunk. I can sometimes sit in the car with the parking brake on and move the car forward and back to achieve the clunk. (1994 touring, 82k miles, pfs springs, stock struts)

I have been reading and searching all about the rear suspension clunks. I have checked out the suspension to make sure nothing is loose, the sway bar was, but is now tightened down.

I had read in a thread that if you can move the trailing arm at all, the busing is shot. So I can get my Right rear trailing arm to groan with my hand, not easily, but not with my entire weight either. Based on this being the only component I can get any sort of deflection or sound out of, I am looking to replace the trailing arms.

So I am airing this to the public to see if my reasoning is sound, and if there are any tests I can do on my suspension to see if there is a bushing that needs to be replaced. I can replace what needs to be replaced, but sadly can not afford to replace everything, that is why I am looking for verification of my analysis.

TIA

Not a bad question. I'm curious to hear from some of those with suspension experience. I'm still going through the engine bay on my new purchase and will likely go after the ever so common "clunk" next.

On other cars I've always used a small crow bar to lightly pry at the suspension joints. A little (maybe up to 1/8th inch) movement is OK. Anything that will cause a clunk will have a very obvious large amount movement.

I'd love to be enlightened at to proper diagnosis procedure for our suspension. My car may be approaching 20 years old but it's been garaged it's whole life and has less than 65K miles. I suspect that the suspension isn't all bad.

90% of the time the clunk comes from the pillow balls in the upper and lower control arms.

TwinCharged- I have read about that extensively, is there a way to test it to be sure? I understand there is always some risk of misdiagnosis of the problem, but I would like to be able to do some testing before hand.

if you have 82k miles your pillowballs are most likely toast

Guarantee its the pillow ball bushings, my 94 had same issue only on the drivers side, replaced them and no more clunk!
They are pricey but I replaced all of mine even though just two of them showed movement with pry bar.

What are you prying? I you just putting it in between the bushing and the control arm?

no he means when they were out the car, he could move the center piece with ease, i just changed my rear bushings and pillowballs and got rid of the loud clunk i had, now i have a slight clunk im hearing with is either something inside the car, or the sway bar.. i gotta look into that.

This sounds more like what I have. It is not a loud clunk, I just back from the car, and with a pry bar, I can get the bushing for the strut to move, but not by hand. None of the others move from prying.

Ive have the same issue and a check I read about doing was to jack the rear end up an grab the tire at the 9 and 3 oclock position and try and move in and out.

I also have taken the tire off and with my hands just shook the individual suspension compenents. My tie links clunked when I did this so I replaced those and the clunk and decreased noticeably.

Also Japan2LA here on the forum sells complete low mile jdm rear suspension sets for under $600. Good deal and it save some time and money from pressing bushings in.

I have also read that if you can jack up the diff more than an inch then those bushings need replacement as well.

http://www.maxcooper.com/rx7/how-to/...lls/index.html
This link is were I went to troubleshoot and replace my pillowballs. The upper one was the bad ones for me. The pillowballs are about 50 dollars a piece and there is six, three on each side, its really not that bad to replace. Took about 2 hrs to perform.

+1 for pillow balls.

I had the same clunk before changing out the pillow balls.

doesnt AtomicRexor something sell the aftermarket pillowballs for much cheaper than oem

We changed out the pillowballs, BUT -- the clunk when breaking as described is something that we still have. So at least in my case -- it's more than just the pillowballs.

could also be bad differential bushings or a cracked PPF

So I have poked around, I have not seen any cracks in the PPF.

So for the diff, to test it, I can put a jack under it, and if I can get it to raise about an inch before I can get the rear wheels to pick up, I should replace those.

For bushings, I've seen the guy from socal selling the poly bushings for a reasonable price. Is it going to be horrible to do the rear's and not the front's too?

Finally, I have read the maxcooper page as well, how well does his method of bushing removal work? I would like to be able to do this at home, which is why that is appealing. My girl friend's brother in law has a press , but he lives over an hour away.

Do not get pillowball mixed up with bushings that are advertised for other areas on the suspension.
There is no pillowballs in front only the back, and it depends if you want to remove the arms to replace them or do it with the arms left on the car. If you remove them then yes the press would be the best method but I found it fairly easy do it with the arms left on the car, just a little time consuming.
Follow the maxcooper page and it will work out fine...

*much* easier to do with the arms off the car.

if you dont know the last time the pillowballs were changed and you have a clunking in the rear.... just change them

So it looks like Ray is the way to go 6 pillowballs and 12 dust seals for ~400, or are there better options out there?

Thats probably the best deal out there unless someone has some new ones they have purchased and never used for sale. Its happened!
You will not be sorry replacing them!

Might check on Ebay, thats where I picked up two for 35 dollars. You never know!

Just curious as to how much play the things should really have. I'm replacing one right now and was under the impression that they should have some movement, but the new one doesn't seem to move much (if at all). Just curious to know what should be changed.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T0FsQ023NtA

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7UYmJ6k0F5I

Thanks. :icon_tup:

Brand new Mazda pillow balls should be very hard to move by hand. Worn pillow balls will be extremely easy to move with just your pinky finger and should be inspected without the dust seals in place. The dust seals will offer some resistance and will make the pillow balls feel like they're better than they actually are. The big bushing at the other end of the control arm is supposed to move around like that and doesnt fail too often but a lot of my customers replace it with a Powerflex bushing when replacing everything.

Like others have said already, worn pillow balls are the main cause for rear end clunks. I usually replace all 6 at the same time so the rear end is nice and new and happy :nod:

Thank you very much for your reply.

Yeah I just looked over my Gotham invoice from 2006 (4K miles since then) and saw only one pillow ball had been replaced. I guess I'll order another 4 and replace those at a later time. Still just trying to get my car back on the road. Am I looking for front to back play? Red grease? A click? Should it be extremely resistant to moving like a new one?

You sell the 'Atomic Rex' Pillow balls as well don't you?

I replaced pillow balls and had clunking, then I installed a full Superpro kit - all better now :)