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Gen 4, Rattle from left front. Consistent with wheel moving up and down.

1K views 4 replies 3 participants last post by  whydididothis 
#1 ·
I heard a hard rattle/chatter from the left front. Having recently replaced the strut, brakes and sway bar links, I figured it must be one of those that wasn't tight enough. I thought for sure it was a loose strut, either top or bottom. It wasn't.
I tightened, to spec, every bolt I could see, even the subframe. None of them moved very much and they all clicked the torque wrench.
The outer tie rod end didn't feel very tight and it was pretty old so I replaced it, counting the number of turns so I wouldn't throw the alignment too far out of center. My fear is that when I removed it from the hub previously, I accidentally used the metric side of the torque wrench, which would reduce the ft/lbs. However, getting it to release from the hub took a long time and some pounding.
When disconnected, I could move the old tie rod end with my hands, but it was firm. The new Moog wouldn't move at all. I found three different torque specs for the same outer tie rod castle nut. I went with the highest one, which was 45-50 lbs.
I drove it and the rattle is gone. Happy but confused. The steering feels more accurate.
My question is this: Is it possible for an old tie rod end to rattle on the inside where the bearings are? I figure it wasn't the torque on the castle nut because it was so hard to get it to release from the hub. I don't know.
 
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#2 ·
Have you checked or replaced the sway bar end links? Failed end links is a relatively common issue.
 
#4 ·
Hi. Yes, I replaced those. I thought maybe one those bolts were loose. The top one clicked the torque wrench but I cant get a torque wrench on the bottom one, so I just cranked on it as hard as I could, which wasn't mush because of the weird angle.
 
#3 ·
I had a simalar problem on my '06 500, drove me nuts trying to find it. I finally found the problem using an old phone in camera mode while driving. Turned out to be a washer that was too thin at the top of the strut. It was plenty tight, just a gap between it and the top of the mount causing an erratic clunk while driving. You could see the movement as the noise was being made, simple fix, thicker washer.
 
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