suspension noise

[BlueMonster65]

recently i have noticed a strange noise which i believe is some part of the suspension binding. i have new ball joints on factory UCA's and factory LCA's. i installed urethane bushings in the LCA's but that changed nothing. i think it could be the spring perch, which is new..er with poly bushings or might be my old stock strutrods which were replaced about 14 years ago now. i hear lots of bad things about ureathane in the strutrods so should i replace them with rubber or aftermarket parts or just make some custom ones? i want to upgrade the front suspension but do not want to lower the vehicle anymore than it is already. i'm at a ground scraping 5"or 6" to the oil pan. all i did was put the 600lb contour coils and 17" wheels with 215/45 tires. can i lower the UCA's 1" and use a 1" poly spring bushing? if i buy the GW UCA's what springs should i get and is there a coil over set up i can use with these? i am pretty good at fabricating so if anyone has suggestions or some custom suspension setups i'd be interested in your ideas. also any ideas as to what might be binding it only happens when i make hard left turns?

 

[jikelly]

I don't have a clue about this one because I have a 73 and it's put together a little differently. One of the other guys should know though.

 

[NorCal66]

Define strange noise. Do you have a front sway bar?

 

[BlueMonster65]

clunking

it is a dull clunk that i can feel through the floors and not so much the steering wheel. i have a 1" swaybar with poly bushings. there is no evidence to support that it is rubbing against the strutrods. i heard this happens sometimes. maybe its time to throw more money at it until it goes away? i did reuse the original UCA's they looked good but there could be some funny stuff going on with them they only have about 100k on them. however i did replace the ball joints with some nice MOOG ones and the bushings with OEM style.

 

[Hack]

Well if it were me, I'd jack up the front end and put in some jack stands. Then turn the wheel all the way to the left. Then get under the car and start looking everything over.

You might also use a second jack to raise and lower the wheels if the problem doesn't immediately jump right out at you.

Also, if you describe the noise as stated above, that would help to diagnose it.

 

[fess40]

I had a dull clunk one time, ended up being the UCA. Believe it or not the nuts holding it to the inner shock tower actually came off! That was the last time I visited that alignment shop. I would only hear it with the wheel turned going over a bump.