Diagnosing possible suspension issue

[gookies]

When I brake, I hear a slight clunk on the front driver side and my vehicle veers to the right slightly. I recently replaced both of my front wheel hub + bearing a month or so ago since I was doing some other work (replacing all my brake lines) and purchased them a few years back knowing I'd need to replace them someday. I plan on replacing the lower ball joint because it seems like it may be the culprit (already purchased some LBJs awhile back too + rented out AdvanceAuto's ball joint service kit). Can anyone else chime in on what could cause this?

 

[Ida4runner]

Check your calipers to see if one is sticking.

With engine on have someone turn you steering wheel back and forth while you check lower ball joints and control arm bushings and tie rod ends for any excessive play, you should see near zero movement.

My guess is a bad ball joint or lower control arm bushing.

 

[gookies]

Small update - Replaced the ball joint over this past weekend, that was pretty simple with the loaner tool from AdvanceAuto (it's the larger kit you want, 23 piece, kit #46), but the one I removed still seemed okay. Unfortunately, can't test drive because in the process of checking for any possible loose bolts, one of my caliper bolt thread holes in the steering knuckle stripped. I ran into this issue before and at that time, fixing it with a chaser tap worked, not this time. Purchased a thread repair kit (similar to helicoil) to tackle it later this week. There are also aftermarket steering knuckle arms for around $90 on places like Amazon, RockAuto, which is good to know if the thread repair fails.

 

[r0cksal0t]

Dang, I gotta add thread repair to my tool box. Lucky I haven't had something similar happen to me yet.

As far as the clunk and pull, +1 for ball joint or bushings. If there's a clunk when going over bumps, sway bar bushings are frequently a culprit. And seized calipers are common as well, just replaced mine and both front calipers had one side seized up. Could be two separate issues, one causing clunk, one causing pull.

 

[gookies]

Dang, I gotta add thread repair to my tool box. Lucky I haven't had something similar happen to me yet.

As far as the clunk and pull, +1 for ball joint or bushings. If there's a clunk when going over bumps, sway bar bushings are frequently a culprit. And seized calipers are common as well, just replaced mine and both front calipers had one side seized up. Could be two separate issues, one causing clunk, one causing pull.

The symptom still showed up after replacing the ball joint, but seems like it's resolved after an alignment. Wondering if my cam bolts were loosening up causing this, double checked and torqued to ~100 ft/lbs.

This is a similar thread repair kit I purchased, worked great. Beats replacing the entire knuckle.

Amazon.com


Also, you'll probably need replacement caliper bolts (the thread repair kit and this is for the front)

90105-12175