nawagner

08blackoutstang, worn out ball joints will make a similar noise. How many miles did you have on the car when you replaced them? Did you replace the whole A arms and if so with what?

kc5mhb

Well I guess my time has come. This morning I started hearing a light clunking on the drivers side and by lunch time it's much worse. Will be checking it tonight when I get home. It sounds terrible, almost like the front end is falling apart. 58K miles so I guess I'll be replacing the strut mounts. Of course these wonderfully paved (translation: pot hole laden) Louisiana roads I guess have taken their toll on the suspension.

***UPDATE***
Got it home and put the drivers side up on a jack stand. Found play in the lower control arm ball joint so it looks like the roads here got me and I'll be changing 2 of them. Guess I'll park it and drive the Bronco until I get the parts and time to fix it.

**UPDATE 2***
Parts ordered from Rock Auto, Moog Ball Joints. Total cost for 2 with 3 day shipping, $100. Bought a ball joint press tool off Amazon, shipped for $85 instead of renting one missing pieces from Auto Zone like last time with my Expedition. Total cost of both orders much less than the cost of one lower control arm. If they are anything like my Expedition, it won't take long to change them.

newjohnre

Aggghhhhhhhh....I went over some bumpy terrain recently and BAM...clunk is back! Not as bad though. I'm curious if I need to remove the struts and properly tighten the mounts. I'll get back to you guys on this...THIS THREAD SHOULD HAVE NEVER MADE IT THIS LONG! I mean that we should have definitively fixed this issue with one clear answer.

*** UPDATE*** Went to the garage last night and poked around. I also seem to have clinky Lower Control Arms...sounds like the ball joints are a possibility for me too.

***UPDATE Again*** I ended up being a loose bolt on the upper section of my left endlink. My tie rod ends are busted but they don't seem to be making any noise....need to get a bump steer kit.

kc5mhb

Alright its done. The problem was two fold in that one of the ball joints was going bad and the driver's side stabilizer link bar where it connected to the strut was loose. Figured out that you only have to take the wheel off, strut bolts out, ball joint bolt, and the bolt holding the brake line/ abs sensor line off and you can do the ball joint replacement on the car. One hour per side and you don't have to get the car aligned because you don't take the control arm off.

kc5mhb

If you have to change the ball joints its really easy all you need is the tools and the time. I changed mine on the car. Tie rods on those cars are a little bit tricky since the inner one is in the steering rack. I might would attempt it but not sure at this point. If the outer tie rods are still good but the boots are bad, auto parts stores sell the boot covers pretty cheap. You'll need a pickle fork or tie rod separator to break them loose but I put some of those boots on my wife's '66 Mustang.

JRamagost

What is all the fixes to this issue? My car sounds like its falling apart! Please list the things I need, where I can get them,and part #s. I have a 05 GT. Does a strut tower brace help any? I want to change balljoints,struts,sway bar links,a-arm bushings,whatever it takes. My front wheels look cambered in bad to, I dont know if I have camber plates or not,will adding these help anything

JRamagost

Bump.........

kc5mhb

Check Rock Auto for your parts. The ball joints I bought were Moog and considerably cheaper than local parts houses here. Basically you'll need a ball joint press (I got one from tool topia but you can rent them from Auto Zone or Oreilley) and some decent tools including a 1/2" drive ratchet, cheater bar, and ball joint separator. Otherwise its just some basic tools. If you are going to change the upper strut mounts, you'll need some spring compressors. I highly suggest you watch videos on the internet on how to use the ball joint press and New Take Off's videos on the GT suspension swap for the strut spring removal. The ball joint separator, though not needed, helped me to get the spindle off of the shaft easily. Strut tower brace helps to stiffen the front end from flexing during turns. Even the early Mustangs had issues with body flex and that is what they did to help that issue. The control arm bushings I have not changed as mine appeared to be in good shape but it doesn't look hard at all once you get in there. Hope this helps.

JRamagost

Ok, cool, where do i get the upper strut mounts? Do I need these along with the camber kit? what about the sway bar end links, do I need those too and what kind? Sorry about all the questions, this is just to long of a thread to dig in!

kc5mhb

I don't know anything about camber kits at this point, however if you check back a few pages, someone posted where to get the upper strut mount assemblies and what the Ford part # is. The links may be available from Rock Auto if not call a ford dealer and get the part number, google it on the web and see if you get a better price from somewhere other than the dealer on the same part. I can only post on what I've done already. Maybe someone else can assist you on those areas.