Hey All,

I've been self-diagnosing a front-end clunk noise that happens only once, only when turning at speeds less than 10mph. I've also noticed it when the vehicle is stationary turning wheel lock to lock. I'm suspecting something with the inner and/or outer tie rods. I've already swapped out both outer tie-rods as the boot was worn on both sides, not visibly leaking grease, but needed changed soon. I'm getting mixed feedback from mechanic friends and knowledgeable car enthusiast friends. The mechanic says it's normal that inner tie rod should just fall by itself when detached from the knuckle and offer no resistance. Numerous vids on YT seem to indicate that the inner tie rod should stay largely put when you disconnect it from the knuckle or at least offer some resistance to movement. Both my inner tie rods are acting like this one at timestamp 0:50 seconds. This isn't the only video I found where they say it shouldn't just fall down by itself like that. I'm definitely a big DIYer and have already looked into how hard changing inners is (not hard at all). Posting to see if anyone else had this similar clunk noise even when stationary and if new inners seemed to resolve it. Luckily MOOG inners are like $30 a piece so not terribly bad to give it a shot in replacing. Another note, I did do the test with the wheel off the ground on each side, 12 & 6 o'clock was very firm, no movement. 3 & 9 o'clock to test tie rod had a lot of left and right movement. It was hard for me to tell what is "normal" movement or not. Checked the usual suspect with this noise, CV axles, inner and outer boots look in excellent condition. Lower ball joint boots also look good. Sway bar links also look good. Jeep has just over 75k miles on it, I wouldn't expect tie rods to wear that fast, but I did buy it used at 48k miles, so who knows how the previous owner treated it. Based on the MOOG tips page, wheel wobble may also indicate worn inner tie rods. My steering wheel never shakes or wobbles at high or lower speeds. I may just magnetically attach my GoPro above my wheel well to see if my wheel is wobbling at higher speeds. Thanks for any help!

Chris