matholland

Alright guys, so I have had the xj for a bit, and I have discovered 2 different problems from the front end...the first on is when I put it in reverse and hold the brake in, let off the brake and press it again the front end pops. I opened my door and watched, and my front end is actually twisting a bit, and making a loud clunk...maybe a rubber bushing bad somewhere??

The other noise is bothering the p!$$ out of me! When I am going anywhere up to 25-30mph or so i can hear a clicking noise....pretty quickly..if you say tick tick tick at a normal paste thats about how fast it is...hard to explain....but u joints seem to be good..its annoying, and i notice it more when I slow down.


Any ideas?

matholland

Anyone?.

Donnie_K

time bomb? lol. put the front axle on jack stands, then turn the wheel to check your u joints. put it back on the ground, and have someone saw back and forth on the wheel while you watch all the front end components.

matholland

lol funny..that was my plan to go and put it on a lift when I get home from work today...one thing that I was wondering about was there is a brace of some sort that goes from the top of the front end and goes up to the frame maybe? didnt look at it real close it was dark, but it looks like that is where the clunk is coming from..


I have an appt. set up to get a front end alignment as well sat. morning...tires will rub if I turn it all the way to the left, the inside of the left tire is wearing weird and stuff, so I am hoping an allignment will get me fixed up on that.

Donnie_K

brace? you mean an upper control arm?

matholland

yeah thats probably it...is there a bushing or something that those have on them?

Donnie_K

on both ends of both upper and lower control arms, for a total of 8 bushings, 4 control arms.

matholland

i dont think thats what it is..it bolts to the top of the axle in the middle and goes up somewhere..it stops the front axle from tweaking.

Donnie_K

take a pic pointing it out. only other thing going from the axle to unibody is the trac bar.

matholland

it is the upper control arm, and there is 2 it looks like..so i need to get all 8 bushings and replace...is that a pain in the *** thing to do or does it go pretty easy? does that sound like it would cause a clunking noise or whatever?

Donnie_K

would cause clunking, shaking, and sloppy steering. The job isn't too hard providing the bolts all come out easy.

matholland

hmm, well i went to autozone...got 4 control arm bushings....well after looking theres no way in hell these are the right ones for that...both ends take different ones, and these are all the same size, and part number....hmmm?


the clicking was a bad ujoint..thank god thats gone with..the front end has gotten worse the past cpl of days, so it needs attention.

matholland

I went to get an allignment on sat. and they told me my ball joints were shot....well they were right lol...i installed all 4 ball joints sunday evening, and need to get an alllignment set up for sat....my front it end still twisting....i was thinking about ordering a bushing kit off of ebay for the front end control arms....do you guys thats it...its hard to tell where its coming from.

Donnie_K

sounds like you're on the right track

matholland

well I have about a 4 inch lift...idk what kind of lift is in it...but idk if I have the stock control arms or not? how do I tell?