How to check Pitman arm, Noise from the front suspension!?

Knebel

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Hi,

I had opened a topic about this before but it came to no conclusion. I had replaced the Idler arm, all the ball joints, strut rod busings and the tie rod ends about 2 years ago. about a year ago I did the motor mounts and the shocks in the front. Non of this solved this sound. When I go over small bumps, accelerate from a stop, sometimes when I come to a stop I hear this clunck coming from the front end. I also noticed it once when I wanted to turn the steering wheel while parked and no power assist on the steering, I turn the wheel and "clunck". It sounds like it echoes through the whole car and I cant seem to find the cause of it. Greasing all the joints does not make a difference either. I am suspecting a worn pitman arm but how do I chec it and/or replace it without a lift? I have no place to really wor on the car anymore other than the grocery store paring lot across the street, so I have to be as stealth as possible...:( oh yeah, driving a straight road it sort of scary sometimes, it feels like it wanders a lot and just dosent feel "solid" straight. Had an alignment done too after I changed all the parts.

Also, my leafsprings are squeaing pretty good, is there a specific lube i should use on them? Or just gie them a powerwash at the carwash?
 
what about the sway bar bushings?

The wandering can be caused by lack of caster in the car.

These C bodies love as much as you can give them with the radial tires..
 
It was alinged for maximum caster, I want to say the max he could get was 2.5° or so. I dont have sway bars.
 
to check that pitman arm, have someone wiggle the steering back and forth just enough to check for any play in the joint.
Crawl under the car and hold it in your hand to see if there is any side to side play.
If there is then it is worn out and will cause the wandering as you drive too.
 
strange, I thought all C bodies had the front sway bar...\

What have you got?
 
to check that pitman arm, have someone wiggle the steering back and forth just enough to check for any play in the joint.
Crawl under the car and hold it in your hand to see if there is any side to side play.
If there is then it is worn out and will cause the wandering as you drive too.

I will try that soon! Thank you! Is the Pitman arm easy to change without having to really get under the car?
 
Yeah, Ive got a 1968 Fury III 2 door hardtop. I dont even have the brackets on the frame to mount a swaybar. But, its also got a non original 360 in it and I wonder if the PO just too out the swaybar. But it loos like there were never any bracets welded onto the frame...

forgive the typos, my Keyboards V and K are not always working
 
Yeah, Ive got a 1968 Fury III 2 door hardtop. I dont even have the brackets on the frame to mount a swaybar. But, its also got a non original 360 in it and I wonder if the PO just too out the swaybar. But it looks like there were never any brackets welded onto the frame...

forgive the typos, my Keyboards V and K are not always working

NP!

have you also checked and replaced the front strut rod bushings. this can cause al of what you are experiencing too.

These are the rods that go from the front frame cross member to the lower control arms..

The pitman arm requires a good puller. most parts store will lend one out but it is a bit of a bear to change out if doing it by hand.
you need a good impact gun to run the puller.
Plus the torque spec on the big nut is fairly high too.
 
I did replace the bushing on the rods, but only the front on the frame (i know, I know) the rear ones looked just fine while the front ones were deteriorated and the struts were moving around in the hole and I was scared of removing the torsion bar :). I feel like I had a similar noise before I replaced them, then thought "oh, its gone" but it came back. I have grabbed the strutrods and pulled and pushed on them like crazy, before the bushing replacement i could roc the car back and forth in park and hear and feel it from there but that is no more.
 
I believe also the sway bar is a bolt in unit.
upload_2016-5-6_15-5-55.png
 
I definitely think it should have one but I have never owned or worked on a 68 Fury..
 
If you have excessive "wandering" the likely cause will prolly be the
lower control arm bushings....
The uppers can also cause it but usually the lowers create a more
pronounced wandering/sloppyness.....
 
If you have excessive "wandering" the likely cause will prolly be the
lower control arm bushings....
The uppers can also cause it but usually the lowers create a more
pronounced wandering/sloppyness.....

Good point, I had forgotten to ask if these had been replaced.
 
It was alinged for maximum caster, I want to say the max he could get was 2.5° or so. I dont have sway bars.
If the alignment guy was worth the oxygen he consumes... You would NOT be wondering what's wrong. Any alignment includes checking for worn parts and at least a final test drive... sounds like you got the tire store guy who drew the short straw and had to work on a car older than he was. I really have so little faith in so many mechanics out there...
 
If you have excessive "wandering" the likely cause will prolly be the
lower control arm bushings....
The uppers can also cause it but usually the lowers create a more
pronounced wandering/sloppyness.....

This is what my Lower Control Arm Bushing looked like....
2015-10-25%2013.32.01.jpg
 
strange, I thought all C bodies had the front sway bar...\

What have you got?
My 67 has no sway bars either. No brackets...nothing. Sitting behind the driver one can easily be rolled to the passenger side of not belted in! I love doing it !!
 
My 67 has no sway bars either. No brackets...nothing. Sitting behind the driver one can easily be rolled to the passenger side of not belted in! I love doing it !!
Armor All the seats and your riders will really be thrilled!
 
Well.... those lca bushings look the same on my car. I cant replace them where i am at and I dont really trust most of the shops here to touch the car, npt to mention the cost for that either. Most dont even want to touch it to replace my windshield either. Anyone in the Portland oregon who wants to replace my lca bushings?

Alignment guy just said my steering box is a bit sloppy.... he was actually the performance guy who got it dead on (had to go back and make a scene after I gave them the numbers i wanted it set at and the person who aligned it was a total moron)
 
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unfortunately this is not good. you will need to source out someone who is willing to work on the car and one you can trust.

This is a labour intensive job to replace these bushing.
The bushing are not expensive but the entire lower suspension has to be removed including the torsion bars.
Also the old bushing need to be pressed or cut out so the new news can be pressed into place.

Check out any videos you can find on YouTube on Mopar lower control are bushing replacement.
It will give you a good idea of what needs to be done.

I found one here that shows the actual improving of the CA but not removing it
 
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