300M still clunks

Yeah, but I don't have a gym membership either

I figure any form of "incidental exercise" I get is good for me.

 

Actually I try for regular exercise. My wife and I are almost the only ones
walking the neighborhood rain or shine almost 365 days a year. But extreme
excercise in 99 degree heat once a week isn't good for anybody.

 

you know if these folks inspected the front end and can't find loose or broken
parts then i would venture to say it's a safe car to drive regardless of any
noise that might be heard

 

Except that the same people who did the repair work (replaced the rack,
etc.) are the same people who didn't do the job properly in the first
place or caused it by shoddy work - IOW, with that kind of work, just
because they don't find an obvious problem doesn't mean it isn't of
safety concern - IOW - you can't rationalize hundreds of dollars of
troubleshooting and work when the cause of the problem should have been
one of the first things checked on an LH car - IOW - with people who do
that kind of work, you don't have a lot of confidence in any conclusions
or lack thereof that they may come to for this or any other problem. In
any case, I don't know that Art was concerned for safety - just wanted
an annoying problem fixed (perhaps he did say he was concerned for
safety and I missed it).

Bill Putney
(To reply by e-mail, replace the last letter of the alphabet in my
address with the letter 'x')

 

As it turned out, with the inner tie rod bushing being torn, and things
improperly torqued, safety was indeed an issue.

 

But you didn't know that that was the problem. BTW - even if that
bushing totally disappeared, the tie rod would still stay attached to
the rack (it's a failsafe design - steering might be a little sloppy,
but basically functional). But - yeah - the bolt disappears due to
being loose and threading out - yeah - that's instant accident.

Bill Putney
(To reply by e-mail, replace the last letter of the alphabet in my
address with the letter 'x')

 

I guess the question is, how obviously sloppy it would have been and how
quickly a loose bolt comes out. Do you know? When I first started driving,
my father who once owned and worked at a gas station (but was never much of
a mechanic... cars were very simple pre- and immediatedly post WWII)
always said that you never drive around with a screwed up front end.

 

the car wanders all over the road. it is very noticable
even a new driver could tell something is not right

 

As it is loosening, it wouldn't be any more sloppy or noisy than a worn
out bushing. But when the bolt finally decided to pull out at the end
of the threads, that would be a sudden catastrophic life-changing incident.

Bill Putney
(To reply by e-mail, replace the last letter of the alphabet in my
address with the letter 'x')

 

I have to respond to that (very late in responding because I was having
trouble with my news server when that was posted and never saw Philthy's
ill-advised post until just now when searching Google archives).

Your mistake was in removing *both* end links at the same time to do
this test! Very dangerous.

The sway bar is held in a more-or-less horizontal orientation by the end
links - i.e., the right and left tips of the sway bar are pointing
towards the rear of the car - held generally up by the end links. If
you removed *both* end links, then sure - the sway bar is going to
rotate in the bushings and drop down from its own weight! Then - yes -
it will fowl the steering knuckle and calipers - very dangerous!

My instructions were to remove *one* end link completely from the
vehicle for this test - not *both* end links at the same time. Or
perhaps your mistake was removing only one end of one end link, in which
case, then the end link could flop around and hit things - not sure
which mistake you made (removing *both* end links at the same time or
only removing one end of one end link so it was left to flop around) -
in either case, you would have not been doing it right and were
endangering yourself and others on the road.

Bottom line: To do the test with absolutely no problems, FOLLOW THE
DIRECTIONS: REMOVE ONE END LINK AND ONE END LINK *ONLY*, AND REMOVE THAT
ONE END LINK COMPLETELY FROM THE VEHICLE (meaning you remove both ends
of that one end link and set that end link down somewhere - on your
workbench or something - while you go drive the vehicle to see if the
noise is still there with the sway bar unloaded).

NOW, if you read what I wrote correctly, you DO have a clue!!

Bill Putney
(To reply by e-mail, replace the last letter of the alphabet in my
address with the letter 'x')