Tracking down and repairing the clunk in my front suspension.
For a while now, my 1988 Jeep Cherokee XJ has had a clunk sound that can be felt on the floor whenever I go form stopping to going. It is especially bad when swapping from reverse to forward. I removed a control arm bolt and found the mounting holes in the axle were oval-shaped.
Made some washers that fit tight on the bolts and welded them over the holes. When I build a new axle I will use heavy-duty tabs here.
Some people have wondered how I have been able to live with stock lower control arms for this long. I thought I would share some of the secrets inside.
There is a piece of pipe pressed inside each arm and welded in place. This allows the arm to twist as intended but not bend.
At the axle end bushing, there is a spacer welded in place to prevent the arm from collapsing and loosening up the bushing.
And visible from the outside are lower control arm skids on the mounting tabs on the axle. As you can see they have taken a lot of abuse.
