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Back here looking for clues. Replaced upper and lower control arms, a ball joint and a bad tie rod, and I am still hearing the same 'clunk' when hitting rough or uneven pavement. Very annoying. Another thread brought up Old Skewel's mention of tightening nuts/bolts on the big aluminum cross bar at rear of engine, so I will look at that. What else could be causing the clunk? It's on the passenger side only. Any pothole or patch pavement will cause it to clunk. Have to say, even with the new control arms, the ride is not feeling all that different.
Back here looking for clues. Replaced upper and lower control arms, a ball joint and a bad tie rod, and I am still hearing the same 'clunk' when hitting rough or uneven pavement. Very annoying. Another thread brought up Old Skewel's mention of tightening nuts/bolts on the big aluminum cross bar at rear of engine, so I will look at that. What else could be causing the clunk? It's on the passenger side only. Any pothole or patch pavement will cause it to clunk. Have to say, even with the new control arms, the ride is not feeling all that different.
Lower control arms (bushings) , While backing up with the steering wheel turned to far left or right, see if the front wheels give a slipping/skipping sensation..like on marbles.
Replaced my lower control arms and solved this issue along with clunking and wandering steering...
Toyota/Lexus does not sell.bushings as service item for 1999 LS400, so acquired new arms..
Aftermarket bushings available however made in China and would require cost of extracting old bushings and pressing in new..
Paid $250 each for lower control arm assembly from Lexus
Installed arms myself..not difficult if you have the right tools...shop manual instructions highly recommended.
see original post -- i paid around 300 each side for part alone (OEM lower control arms). i will try your test all the same.
Originally Posted by YODAONE
Lower control arms (bushings) , While backing up with the steering wheel turned to far left or right, see if the front wheels give a slipping/skipping sensation..like on marbles.
Replaced my lower control arms and solved this issue along with clunking and wandering steering...
Toyota/Lexus does not sell.bushings as service item for 1999 LS400, so acquired new arms..
Aftermarket bushings available however made in China and would require cost of extracting old bushings and pressing in new..
Paid $250 each for lower control arm assembly from Lexus
Installed arms myself..not difficult if you have the right tools...shop manual instructions highly recommended.
tested out backing up with the wheel cranked. smooth -- no skipping so far, though was in an area where i could only test in one direction. will try turning the other direction later today and report back if any issues.
I've got new control arm bushings, ball joints, and outer tie rods ready to install on the front end of my 1999 LS. I know for sure my passenger side lower control arm bushing is bad - I can get underneath that wheel with the front end in the air and see it wiggle at that joint when applying various forces to the assembly. Driver's side doesn't seem as bad, but I will replace as well.
Before replacing (hopefully this weekend), I am going to check out this method of reversing with the steering wheel cranked. I will do both directions and report back with my findings for everyone's general knowledge. Any more tips or tricks that I can try out for diagnosing, YODA?
Forsythia - I replaced my strut rod bushings/cushions about 10k miles ago and it completely got rid of the clunk I had at that time. About 6 or 7k miles later, a new but very similar, clunk started to occur. There is NO way that the oem strut rod bushings went bad again that quickly; I made sure they were installed with the correct orientation...
So here I am finally ready to tackle the rest of the front end components. I will replace piece by piece until the clunk is gone. Hope you don't mind if I also use your thread here to document the process?
No, I do not mind at all. Interested in knowing how you resolve it. The clunk I hear is definitely on the passenger side and only happens when going over potholes or hitting rough road.
[QUOTE=EthanS;10217857]I've got new control arm bushings, ball joints, and outer tie rods ready to install on the front end of my 1999 LS. I know for sure my passenger side lower control arm bushing is bad - I can get underneath that wheel with the front end in the air and see it wiggle at that joint when applying various forces to the assembly. Driver's side doesn't seem as bad, but I will replace as well.
Before replacing (hopefully this weekend), I am going to check out this method of reversing with the steering wheel cranked. I will do both directions and report back with my findings for everyone's general knowledge. Any more tips or tricks that I can try out for diagnosing, YODA?
Forsythia - I replaced my strut rod bushings/cushions about 10k miles ago and it completely got rid of the clunk I had at that time. About 6 or 7k miles later, a new but very similar, clunk started to occur. There is NO way that the oem strut rod bushings went bad again that quickly; I made sure they were installed with the correct orientation...
So here I am finally ready to tackle the rest of the front end components. I will replace piece by piece until the clunk is gone. Hope you don't mind if I also use your thread here to document the process?[/QUOTE]
Thanks. I was told the rack was worn, but not leaking, so decided not to do anything about that just yet. It was put on there about 4 or 5 yeas ago (would would have to check) and was a refurbished OEM. So steering racks can clunk? Had no idea.
Originally Posted by RA40
Another suggestion would be to check the steering rack bushings.
Well, that's the thing. I kept waiting for the mechanic to suggest that he replace the smaller parts as part of this "refresh front end" process and he never did. So no, as far as I know, (and I paid a boatload for what he did do) I did not get any new sway bar bushings or new end links. So those parts would be really old at this point. I might get a quote (form another shop!) to see what they would charge to do that.
my clunk was my sway bar to body mount bushing in the front. Mine was so bad that I could slide my front sway bar side to side while mounted on the car. New bushings from Oreilly were $18 each and took care of the problem.
I also had the LCA bushing issue on my car. Bought Febest bushings for $27 and pressed the old out and new in and that took care of it.
Checking back in. Got the passenger side lower ball joint, lower control arm bushing, and outer tie rod replaced. The lower control arm bushing fell apart once I took the arm out of the crossmember. See below the new bushing, and the old bushing that was completely separated. It feels much better when going up my driveway and when I hit uneven pavement. Just had a local shop press the bushing for me - $20
I added FIGS roll center adjusters too. Got some ride height dialing in to do after those, but they should be beneficial for the fun freeway transitions around here. That's about the hardest driving I do in the yacht.
It doesn't make nearly as much noise, but I'm going to change the drivers side components out this weekend as well.
I also tried Yoda's test and there was no tire skipping, but my bushing was obviously absolutely shot.
06-02-18, 11:27 PM
New Suspension Parts but Still Hearing Clunk
