Forum Discussion

Explorer III

Jun 12, 2015

Intermittent front end banging on the left side

I left on a trip this morning with my wife and grandson going out to Yellowstone national park, somewhere in New Jersey I noticed a clunking sound almost like it was coming from the steer safe on the left-hand driver-side. I stopped and noticed the LH spring was about 1/16 away from the lower A arm. The RH side had a 1/2 in clearance. After several rest stops and spraying the springs and noticing a loose bolt a on the upper RH shock mount which I tightened, the noise was still there, so I started looking at the steer safe again. Next rest stop I noticed a square bolt with a stop nut that looked like it backed off 1/4 in. As I tightened it,it would pivoted the spring away from the Arm. Called steer safe and they verified that was the right thing to do. Drove about ten miles or so with no noise an all of a sudden it was back again. No vibration in the steering wheel just had the MH aligned 2 years ago and front end parts replaced. Anyone have any thoughts about this problem?

Class A

34 Replies

wilanddij
Explorer
Jun 12, 2015
I had a strange noise at the right front, and guys at Redlands Truck discovered it was a broken weld where the box frame vertical member met the chassis. It sounded much like a broken suspension part. They re-welded about 8 years ago and it has held since then w/o problem.

Something else to look at ...
Gjac
Explorer III
Jun 12, 2015
The bolt did not back out again. I have a P 30 chassis so the picture is different, but the steer safe that I have has a plate that is parallel to the wheel and the adjusting screw is at the top. After tightening every bolt on the unit, I am just wondering what else would cause this noise?
fcooper
Explorer II
Jun 12, 2015
Can you help us by identifying which bolt is backing out. Here's a picture of a typical installation.

If all else fails, you can remove both steer safe units and complete your trip.

Fred
MrWizard
Moderator
Jun 12, 2015
Did the bolt back out again ?
If so maybe some blue loctite , will hold it in place