Amazing what torquing some bolts will do

for a while I have had a clunk in the passenger side front wheel / suspension area when I apply the brakes at a slow speed like moving forward at a light then re applying the brake. Only seemed to do it when moving forward

I finally got the wheel off the ground by supporting under the LCA with the tire off. i could duplicate the clunk just by rotating the hub back and forth.

I used a stethoscope, wood dowel and my hand to isolate the clunk. the clunk is most noticeable on the lower, outer tie rod end but when moving the steering wheel there is no clunk and no excess movement in the tie rod end.

The next noticeable location is the lower ball joint. There is visible movement between the spindle and the LCA BUT as I under stand with the ball joint unloaded movement is expected. (I did not attempt to measure the movement)

Next it the UCA bushings at the body, visible movement and audible clunking.

I did not find any clunking at the brake pads (that is where I expected to find main clunking)


Ok so the front suspension is in need of a complete overhaul but not today so I started looking at bolts / nuts

the UCR (cam) bolts were only torqued to at best around 40lb, in the FSM the procedures call for the Cam bolts to be tightened to 65 lb. both sides were less than 65.

One of the caliper half cross bolts (on the passenger side) looked loose so I torqued it to spec (it moved about 1/4 turn with minimal resistance before torqueing) and the upper on the same caliper was loose but not as much. So I torqued all the caliper bolts to spec, most were already there but a few turned before the click.

Took the car for a test drive and what do you know, no more clunk while creeping forward.

I don't know what was the specific bolt that did the trick. but it goes to show that checking the torque specs on the bolts is probably something we should all be doing once a year or so.