Thud coming front driver side suspension...

[9646gt]

Ok so jsut bought this 01 GT with 52k. It has spent the Alaska winters in storage and it just came out of storage about 2 days before I bought it. It drove perfect the entire 6 hour drive home. But after some spirited highway driving on the way back..taking some long sweeping turns its making a noise. When I hit bumps I can sometimes feel it almost like it's right underneath my right foot or something. I can also hear is kind of doing a clunk clunk noise when I turn...I think it's either direction but can't remember. I jacked up the car, wich btw is a pain to get a jack and a jack stand under for some reason...but anyways, I looked around to the best of my ability on the driver side and saw nothing. The passenger side was still on the ground so maybe it put to much tension on everything to let me see if anything was loose. I tried to shake the tie rods and sway bar end links and nothing moved wich I assume is good.

I didn't see any missing or ripped bushings either and none of them looked oil soaked o anything. It might be worth mentioning that sometimes when I shift and let out on my clutch I feel a slight clunk but it seems further back and seems like it would be completely unrelated. I need help finding the source of this! Any help?

 

[bhuff30]

Sometimes ball joints can make a thud. Get the nose up in the air again and try to find any looseness in the wheel. Grab the wheel at 12 and 6 try to shake it. If it moves, the ball joint may be to blame.

 

[9646gt]

Does the entire front end need to be up when doing these checks or is the one side efficient?

 

[9646gt]

Had my wife rock the steering wheel back and forth while car was on the ground and I was laying under the front bumper. Heard a very audible clicking and light thud coming from the part of the tie rod that is covered with a boot. This is the inner tie rod right? Is there an affordable upgrade over stock or are they pretty much all the same? Is there a link to a good DIY install?

 

[bhuff30]

That may be the inner tie rod, but it seems wierd for it to make noise like that. Maybe the rack and pinion is damaged?
I guess you'll just have to take it apart and see. If it is the inner tie rod, there won't be any upgrades for that part, so a quality name part would be a good replacement. Motorcraft or origional from the ford dealer are your best bets, since the car is low mile still.
I'm not sure if it will help you or not, but here is one easy way to get the front in the air and on jack stands. I normally jack at the front and center of the K-member and place the jack stands towards the back at the side of the K-member. Then, you only have to jack it up once and you can put both stands in at the same time.

 

[lazerred02]

Had my wife rock the steering wheel back and forth while car was on the ground and I was laying under the front bumper. Heard a very audible clicking and light thud coming from the part of the tie rod that is covered with a boot. This is the inner tie rod right? Is there an affordable upgrade over stock or are they pretty much all the same? Is there a link to a good DIY install?

Go with MOOG parts, not too expensive but good quality. Double check your ball joints too, that is kinda what it sounds like to me.

 

[9646gt]

Go with MOOG parts, not too expensive but good quality. Double check your ball joints too, that is kinda what it sounds like to me.

That's exactly the brand I bought today. My ball joints made no noise at all when shaking the wheel....jsut that inner tie rod. Is the car still ok to drive in the mean time if I take it easy on sharp turns or avoid them? It seems to have no effect on anything other than the noise :/

 

[9646gt]

Got it fixed just forgot to post. The tranny mount bolts were like 10 tunrs loose for one and like 2 turns for the other. Thanks for the help guys!