Alright here's the deal, The front end clunks on the driver's side. Yes I have replaced the upper strut bearings, and was exptremely dissapointed to find that didn't fix it. This last time around while I was rotating the tires I decided to looks at the swaybar endlinks and mounts because other people suggested that that may be the source of the sound. Now i have a question for you all, on the upper side of the endlink, the part that attaches to the strut uses two combination wrenches to tighten. I believe I used an 8 mm for the inner stud to hold it in place and used an 18mm on the nut itself. Thing is, I feel I can't get it tight enough this way. I tried tightening the lower endlink point, the part attaching to the swaybar to get a feel for the torque and I couldn't budge it. I'm trying to figure out how you guys are tightening that endlink nut and how tight are you tightening it? I am determined to solve this noise but I can't figure it out!

 

I believe there is a TSB on this and if under warranty go to the dealer and let them solve the problem..... JMO

 

I see you responded to this thread but I do know there are other TSB on the thunking that have to do with the sway bar and endlinks
https://mustangforums.com/forum/2005...07-18-2-a.html

 

I have to tighten my front sway bar end link, where it attaches to the strut right behind the top part of the wheel, at least once or twice a month, mostly the drivers side. Clunking noise disappears after its tightened. I don't even bother taking the wheel off, I just jack the car up until the front wheel is about to lift off the ground which usually gives enough room to fit the wrench and ratchet in there. I put the wrench on first, using the fully enclosed side, then put on a small ratchet on the end. I use the ratchet to hold, and tighten with the wrench as much as I can. When I feel like not being lazy, I'm going to take the wheel off and try some blue locktite on it and see how long that will last.

edit: You will know if that nut needs to be tightened. If it doesn't, it will be very hard to budge it since you really can't get a lot of torque on the small wrenchs that fit in the small area. When mine gets loose, I'm at least turning them 1/4 of a revolution, sometimes more.

 

mygt500- thanks for the response but my dealers refuse to work on my suspension because it has lowering springs on the front. Screw them. I did the strut bearings myself and had to purchase them. Forget the dealer.

AmericanSpeed- man that really really sucks. Thanks for the explanation though. We are pretty much doing the exact same thing except I'm using two combination wrenches instead of just one and a ratchet. I want to know what the dealer uses to tighten these, I know that I am not getting the proper torque.

Anyone else have anymore ideas as to how to tighten the nut effectively? I'm thinking about getting a pipe or something for leverage and putting it over the wrench. I may buy a new nut and put red loctite on it to keep it there.

 

I wonder how they would tighten this thing to spec, or what tools they use. It's a real pain in the @ss to tighten the thing all the time, but at least it doesn't take more than 10 minutes of my time. I see you are in Orlando too, where at do you live? Unfortunately I live in downtown and have to deal with the terrible brick roads, I'm sure they really speed up the process of loosening that nut. It's so aggrivating!

 

Leverage is the key....I tighten that fugger up with all my might. My torque wrench is like 18 inches or so.

 

Man, I am glad I am not the only one. I replaced my lower control arms thinking it was the ball joints and it still makes the clunking noise. I was thinking of replacing the strut mounts but now I wonder. I will have to take a look at my end links and see if they are loose.

Thanks for the posts!

 

AmericanSpeed- I'm near UCF. Hope you're going on the cruise!

Mustangs4u- I changed my upper strut bearing thinking it would solve it and man was I so dissapointed. When I come home for winter break, I'm jsut gonna unbolt the endlink and see if the problem is solved. If it is, I have successfully nailed the problem and will most likely look into a sway bar delete or something. Maybe better endlinks. Or maybe tighten the b**** as tight as I can.

 

I heard that the size doesn't matter, it's how you use it......