> Date: Tue, 20 Oct 1992 14:34:36 CDT
> From: "Andrew C. Green" <acg@hermes.dlogics.com>
> To: british-cars@autox.team.net
> Subject: Re: steering "clunk"
>
> Roland Dudley (cobra@cdc.hp.com) writes:
> > One thing I've noticed is that the steering has what I would call a
> > "clunk" in it. It's not something that's noticeable while driving but I
>
> Your description matches perfectly what a couple of my cars did before I
> fixed the ball joints. It was easy to produce the clunk whenever I backed
> out of our garage. As the front end backed off the flat garage floor onto
> the rather steep little ramp, the loose ball joint allowed the front wheel
> to move from its "slop-forward" position to its "slop-rearward" position
> (i.e. it tried to roll down the ramp faster than the car), and the loud,
> singular "clunk" was heard.
This could be. During lunch I tried to get a better feel for just when
this "clunk" occurs. I backed in and out of the driveway, tried full
lock turns, et cetera. Naturally I couldn't get any clunks. I did
drive the car to work and think I felt it while parking. It's really
more a feeling of a slight bump than a clunking sound. It seems to
occur when the steering direction is changed while making sharp turns at
low speed when turning effort is high; but not at the beginning of the
change of direction. It's as if some resistance has to be overcome
first. Somewhat like what you describe. I'm going to try jacking up
each front wheel and see if I can "wiggle" things.
Roland
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