not the Radius Arm Bushings afterall...

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dan - 02 Feb 2007 18:45 GMT

Hi All,
I was getting the textbook "clunck" sound in the frontend of my 94 explorer
(still had factory RAB's) --I took it to an alighnment shop -hey said the
RAB's weren't too bad but, I had the RAB's replaced anyway- I still have an
occasional cluck when I hit the brakes-any ideas.
THANKS!
Lou

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dr bob - 03 Feb 2007 06:07 GMT

>Hi All,
>I was getting the textbook "clunck" sound in the frontend of my 94 explorer
[quoted text clipped - 3 lines]
>THANKS!
>Lou

The bracket that holds the radius arm bushings is subject to
elongation of the holes. If that's occured. there's a little extra
rooom for the radius arms to move before they are limited by the
bushings. In essence the bushings would be moving in the brackets.

The brake calipers slide in rails on the spindle, retained by
rubber-cebtered pins that really look more like wedges, long wedges
that slide between the caliper and the spindle slides. Anyway, the
rubber gets tired in those. When it does, the caliper may move
slightly when you brake. New caliper pins are relatively cheap. The
slides and pions are some absurd maintenance schedule, with grease on
them every 8k miles or something. Not many folks do that.

Ball joints might be the next thing to check.

Good luck!

dr bob

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dan - 05 Feb 2007 15:38 GMT

BIG THANKS Dr B ! ! ! ! ! ! !

best ones!!
dan

>>Hi All,
>>I was getting the textbook "clunck" sound in the frontend of my 94
[quoted text clipped - 24 lines]
>
> dr bob

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marlow - 19 Mar 2007 12:44 GMT

im having the same problem in my 94 explorer, it clunks when turning sharp
from moving out of a parking spot?

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Ashton Crusher - 21 Mar 2007 07:19 GMT

>im having the same problem in my 94 explorer, it clunks when turning sharp
>from moving out of a parking spot?

There will always be some play between the radius arm and the hole it
goes thru. The radius arm bushings are sort of on both sides of that
hole. My experience with different versions of the bushings is that
some are a bit larger then others. I have used extra washers for some
of the smaller ones to make then crank down tighter, like you squish
the rubber bushings on the end of a shock absorber. Yet no matter
what you do, the metal arm part that goes thru the hole in the bracket
always has some slight amount of clearance and will wear larger as
time goes on. I think that is the source of some of the clunk, if not
all. Most likely if you get a crowbar and pry a little on it you will
see it easily can move up and down.

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