i have a clunking sound coming from the front of my jeep.i got new shocks (not in yet).then i crawled under the jeep today and i noticed that the sway bar link is disconnected(pass. side).could this be my clunk?

its a 94 cherokee sport

 

it could, is the link arm completely missing?

 

im gunna say yes its a good possibility

 

ok so i went and got a new sway bar link.15 bux. should i get the other side done to?since i'm doing one side i figured i would just do both.another thing, do they go in as easy as it looks?1 nut and a bolt...

 

They had 20 years of rust on them. I had to jack up the Axle on the side I was putting the link back in. As you Jack it up work the bolt in and tighten it up to where it's suppose to be.

 

cool thanks for the tip.i'm new to jeeps and 4x4's..if you could'nt tell...lol

 

I am as green to j reps as you can get. But I have been slowly rebuilding my 89 xj. I put s new front end in this week end it was hard but well worth it. If it wasn't for the axle swap it would have been a real easy job. Gd luck.

 

i also have several clunking noises and crunches that i cannot seem to locate...everything seems to look normal and everything is tight. i also heard that if you do not lengthen your driveshaft after a lift it will slide back and forth and make noise is this true even for just a 4.5" lift?...not to mean to steal your thread

 

i have to say yes also because my sway bar link is broken and it does the same thing

 

grease up every fitting and make sure your sway bar end links aren't binding. I noticed a bump and grind after installing my 4.5" RC kit, looked around and saw the bolt on the sway bar end link was catching the steering box. flipped the bolt around so the bolt head was on the inside and pulled it towards the tire before I tightened it. gave me the clearance needed to stop the noises.
EDIT: your front driveshaft has a slip joint on it, no need to lengthen that.

 

What about the back...it sometimes sounds like its in the middle of the jeep under the dash

 

ok back to my clunking sound.lol...i put the sway bar link in.almost no vibs.and less clunking..now how do i find out if its my ball joints or shocks making the rest of the clunk?

 

Clunks are a blast, aren't they? The unibody of the XJ means that EVERY little noise from EVERY little corner of the jeep travels into the cab and sounds much bigger than it is.

Clunking can come from all kinds of places, but based on what you're describing it sounds like you need to check your control arm bushings, and/or track bar. If you're still running the stock CA's, the rubber bushings wallow out over time and will clunk around on the bolt.

There is never a silver bullet answer for clunking. It takes a lot of combing over potential culprit areas and eliminating them one by one.

 

crawl under there and look at all the bushings. engine mounts, tranny mounts, make sure your t-case is tight, check all the u-joints (front and rear ds and front axle) the list goes on... as previously stated clunks are hard to diagnose.