37ford

In the last 3 months, I have changed:

Tie rod ends - due to car wandering all over

Lower control arms - due to car still wandering all over

Strut assemblies - One of the strut bearings was bad.


After about a week, I started getting a single pop in the front end somewhere that is loudest after the car has been sitting for a while when I first turn the wheel. It's frustrating since the car has essentially a new front end. Experience tells me it's a tie rod end, but I don't know why the new one would go bad so quickly.

Is there anything else I may be missing?

bl817

sway bar end links, sway bar bushings

ghunt

I was told a pop like that was the strut mount, although I replaced mine over the winter and have now had it pop from the same side it was before twice (during a sharp turn) in the last couple weeks. I just had the car inspected and they would have told me if I had any bad tie rods or ball joints, so I don't know.

37ford

The popping is consistent when I first turn the wheel after sitting a while, LH curves, and medium to hard braking. The problem is that I can't get it to do it in my shop. One thing I have noticed is that the tie rod end on the pass side stays cocked at an angle like it's rotated along its length about 15 degrees. The other side is level like it should be. I can't tell if this is due to a bad rod end or something in the rack. I can straighten it out, but it doesn't stay that way after being driven.

ghunt

Tie rods tend to do that on at least one side, often both...really I think that's just due to the movement allowed by the inner tie rods, I don't think it necessarily points to a problem.

I'm thinking now mine may be sway bar related, if I take a sharp turn at 20-25 mph it makes a pop from the passenger side (I think just on left turns?). I will have to look around under there.

Derf00

Did you torque the control arms while the suspension was loaded or while it was unloaded? If you tightened things down while unloaded, I'd drive the front up on ramps, loosen the front and rear bolts of the control arm and retighten them to spec.

Tightening the suspension down while the suspension is unloaded can cause noises and premature wear on new bushings.

37ford

I torqued the control arms down with the car on stands. I can see what you mean by that putting a bind on the bushing when loaded, but if that is what is popping, wouldn't it eventually settle into position and eventually stop?

I changed the sway bar link, and I'm still getting popping from the right front. I hope it's not the brand new strut bearings. It is not behaving like other I have dealt with.

When I back out of my garage every morning, it pops before i even turn the wheel.

Derf00

So the suspension was just free hanging when you torqued things down? That's probably part, if not all, of the problem.

Control arm bushings don't settle into a position and eventually stop popping, when they do stop popping it's because the bushings have been torn which means you'll need to replace the arms again. The bushings don't freely rotate. They are press fit in and have torsional stress put on them by the bolts that go through them. The Rubber has some give for normal suspension travel but not enough to make up for how far they would have to travel just to be in a neutral position with the suspension loaded.

37ford

That seemed to do the trick. I just climbed under, loosed the main control arm bolts, and re-tightened them. There's no pop now. Sometimes, it's just something simple. Thanks for the advice.

It did help me notice that my car was sitting higher on the front end because it's usually pretty tough for me to slide under the front end, and I have no problem now. The wheel arches are now 1/2" higher in the front than the back. Can I expect the new springs to settle over time?

Derf00

Awesome, glad that fixed it! Always keep that in mind for suspension components, only torque them down when loaded.

Yes, new springs settle over time.

Did you get new pre-assembled strut assemblies or did you take the strut assemblies apart and replace things?