Steering clunk sound

latief · Post by **latief** » Wed Jul 26, 2006 10:37 am

when i move my steering left and right with the car turned off, i have a noticable clunk which i hear and feel in my steering wheel. the clunk also is noticble over some sharp bumps such as speed bumps, but not always.... so i've been researching this for quite a while, and sent the car to diffrent mechanics a number of times for this problem. their is no apparent problem in my suspenison, every thing is in a great shape. i changed the outer tie-rod ends, but the problem remaind, i changed the control arm bushings and stabilizer bar bushings but nothing changed, yesterday, i went against dodge's recomondations and even changed the inner-tie rods assuming that this will fix it for sure, boy was i surprised when the problem was still there...... such a waste of money and time.....

i could tell for sure that the clunk sound comes from the steering gear area, it is very noticable, but what the hell could it be..... i give up!!!!!
i know that other people where having the same problem... anyone found a solution for this ?

my car is a 2000 5spd .............

thanks,

silentneon01 · Post by **silentneon01** » Wed Jul 26, 2006 10:59 am

You check your CV boots? I had a clunk when I went over speed bumps turned out to be the upper motor mount wasn't tight enough.

DannyBoy · Post by **DannyBoy** » Wed Jul 26, 2006 11:48 am

That is a CV problem, check to see if they are ripped. You will probably see alot of grease around the boot if they are ripped.

latief · Post by **latief** » Wed Jul 26, 2006 11:58 am

someone explain to me how the cv joint could cause this ?
i could swear that i hear the clunk in the steering gear area....

thanks for the input, this is driving me crazy

DannyBoy · Post by **DannyBoy** » Wed Jul 26, 2006 12:02 pm

latief wrote:someone explain to me how the cv joint could cause this ?
i could swear that i hear the clunk in the steering gear area....

thanks for the input, this is driving me crazy

Well Basically, when your CV boot gets ripped, all the packing grease inside the boots comes out, so inside the boot which is suppost to have grease to lubricate it, is now gone because of the torn boot. And when your turning, you hear a NASTY sound because of it.

Just check it out, go under your car and check the component that looks like this:

http://www.samarins.com/glossary/cv_boot4.jpg

Look for rips or tears in it.

latief · Post by **latief** » Wed Jul 26, 2006 2:54 pm

it is not the CV boot, i checked, every thing looks great ......

2k2patriotblueneon · Post by **2k2patriotblueneon** » Wed Jul 26, 2006 3:31 pm

latief wrote:it is not the CV boot, i checked, every thing looks great ......

Even if the CV boot is in great shape a CV joint will wear....its a wear and tear item.....but if the clunking happens during turns its def gonna need a new axel soon. Only other possibility is the strut mount or maybe a tie rod end....but its usually the CV.

BlackRoseRacing · Post by **BlackRoseRacing** » Wed Jul 26, 2006 7:50 pm

Depending on the year of your car, there is a TSB out there for it

03's were known for this clunking sound and there is a TSB out there to fix it, not a recall though.....

latief · Post by **latief** » Thu Jul 27, 2006 8:39 am

its is a 2000

and i'm familiar with the TSB and had it done,

nothing changed...

i'm starting to think that i'm looking in the wrong direction and maybe this has nothing to do with my steering gear after all... could be something in the CV axle as the guys here said....is that possible ? if you ahve a clunk in the axle will i feel it in the steering wheel ?

Paralyzer · Post by **Paralyzer** » Fri Jul 28, 2006 10:59 pm

it was the ball joint on mine. I had the front passenger just replaced and now my front driver side is doing it.

scneonchic · Post by **scneonchic** » Sun Jul 30, 2006 4:14 pm

Mine made a clunking noise the past couple of times ive driven it for a month or so. Took the suspension apart yesterday and the bearings in my lower strut mounts on the front were compltely stripped out.

I didnt even know there were bearings there, but there is and you cant get the bearing alone replaced, you have to get the whole front strut mount set.

Mine is an 01 ATX, I thought it couldve been the cv joints also, but it wasnt

fixitmattman · Post by **fixitmattman** » Sun Jul 30, 2006 6:12 pm

scneonchic wrote:I didnt even know there were bearings there, but there is and you cant get the bearing alone replaced, you have to get the whole front strut mount set.

Ahahahahahhahaha.

$86/piece IIRC

Matt

scneonchic · Post by **scneonchic** » Sun Jul 30, 2006 6:18 pm

^yeah...I got the KYBs like I got for the back for like $50 from Advance. They will be in tomororw and Im getting the ACR alignment also while its there.

Sucks I had to spend $100 on a couple of bearings though