It’s been doing this for a while, possibly since I installed new oriellys axles. I knew the lower ball joints / upper ball joints / outer tie rods were bad, so I replaced the lower ball joints and outer tie rods a few hours ago on the right side only, doing the left side lower ball joint and outer tie rod tomorrow night. Sometime within the next month she’s getting REVO adjustable upper control arms and an alignment at a friend’s shop.
Anyways, it’s still making a knocking sound from that right/front wheel, and it only seems to happen when I’m turning left. Could it be the axle doing that? Everything else looked fine, everything is tight, with the lower lower ball joint and outer tie rod.
Also…will those REVO adjustable upper control arms, the orange ones from ebay, work on a 2nd gen? The auction said they worked, several friends in my area claim they work…I just want to be sure instead of finding out the hard way.
I looked those over during my inspection before replacing the passenger lower ball joint and outer tie rod, they look a little old but still intact.
I may hold off on the driver lower ball joint and outer tie rod until I can order new bushings for the swaybar. I already have prothane bushings on the end-link and prothane bushings in the front LCA. I may also replace the axles while I’m in there, I almost want to say this left-turn knocking started after installing the new set of oreilys axles. I’ll warranty exchange them if I can find the receipt, or just buy a new set from Autozone. The oreily axles I hear are known for this.
I just replaced both my tie rod ends, solved my popping sounds. Also if you have SS brake lines mines where rubbing on my rim when i turned one way making a clanking sound, zip tied it up and good to go.
The popping is definitely coming from the passenger side, during left turns…and I replaced that outer tie rod and lower ball joint so those got ruled out. All that’s really left to replace on that side is the upper ball joint, the sway bar bushing and the axle. Of those three, the axle seems like the only one that would cause popping during a turn based on past experience…and I’m finding more and more complaints about oreily axles popping.
When I am parked I can turn the wheel all the way to the left or the right without any noise or binding/weird resistance in the steering. With the front end on jackstands, wheels on or off, the wheel can be turned all the way in either direction and still no noise or binding/weird resistance in the steering. The popping only happens when I’m driving and making a left turn.
I’ll hear the popping leaving a stop sign turning left, and the popping gets a little faster as I gain speed and then goes away as my wheels straighten out. That has axle written all over it, so to test this theory I bought a brand new Autozone axle for that side a few hours ago, will replace it tonight and take the car for a test drive to see if that solves the problem.
Beyond that, everything else looks good on that side of the car. I installed all new Prothane bushings on the front end not even a year ago, minus the sway bar bushings which I will order sometime next week.
Ok, so I guess it popped when turning left and turning right, just not loud enough for me to notice when turning right.
Anyways, I got the new autozone passenger-side axle installed and the car handles a million times better, steering doesn’t’ feel as loose as before and the popping has disappeared.
The new Autozone axle looks to be built very well, I was surprised to see how they even machined in some sort of metal grommet type of thing that looks like it fits in the hub’s dust trim ring(the one you need to pull to remove the lower ball joint), which looks to further protect the bearing and such. Very solid axle, pivots nice and smooth, boots and bands look good, the bearing housings are even coated black which is kinda cool. Will definitely buy the driver-side axle here in the next few days, to get that last Oreilys axle off of my car.
Moral of the story…Oreilys axles = GARBAGE, and are known to cause popping sound when making turns, usually right after installation. Buyer beware.
[QUOTE=DOHCIntegraLS;2059375]Ok, so I guess it popped when turning left and turning right, just not loud enough for me to notice when turning right.
Anyways, I got the new autozone passenger-side axle installed and the car handles a million times better, steering doesn’t’ feel as loose as before and the popping has disappeared.
The new Autozone axle looks to be built very well, I was surprised to see how they even machined in some sort of metal grommet type of thing that looks like it fits in the hub’s dust trim ring(the one you need to pull to remove the lower ball joint), which looks to further protect the bearing and such. Very solid axle, pivots nice and smooth, boots and bands look good, the bearing housings are even coated black which is kinda cool. Will definitely buy the driver-side axle here in the next few days, to get that last Oreilys axle off of my car.
Moral of the story…Oreilys axles = GARBAGE, and are known to cause popping sound when making turns, usually right after installation. Buyer beware.[/QUOTE]
What brand Autozone axles did you get? I’ve had bad experiences with Autozone Cardone brand axles…
I’m not sure what brand they are, honestly. The choice was between remanufactured or brand new, I got the brand new one. White box with a black-silhouette cv axle printed on it.
[QUOTE=DOHCIntegraLS;2059657]I’m not sure what brand they are, honestly. The choice was between remanufactured or brand new, I got the brand new one. White box with a black-silhouette cv axle printed on it.
It may have been Duralast.[/QUOTE]
Cool…I’ll check those out the next time I get axles… thanks!
And FYI, stay away from the Cardone brand axles form Kragens or Autozone… they suck!