How do you know when the ball joints on your front upper control arms are going south?

When I make a U-turn, or pulling away from a stop with the wheels turned (parking, turns), sometimes theres a noticable "click" sound from the left front suspension. I had a knowledgable friend drive it, and he said "for sure, its not the axle". I have a feeling it could be my damned Ingalls camber links (no matter how hard i try to grease/disassemble them, they still squeak). Or possibly the ball joints...

Please help!

 

When you turn your car all the way, and you hear a click, its the cv joints i believe

 

its a series of clicks/knocks if its the joints....i'm pretty sure its not the cv joints.

the sound i'm hearing is more of a thud, than a click...

 

Might be a worn tie rod end. I had the same symtoms and my inner tie rod was to blame.

 

Does it happen when you hit bumps?

 

nope.

 

Hmmm i'll look into that, but the sound seems like its coming from the upper half of the suspension...I was turning the steering wheel all the way left to all the way right while idle/stationary, and I heard the click/thud, but not as loud....


Thanks for the help guys, keep the ideas coming...

 

If you can make it klunk when stopped, then maybe you can see or feel what's going on. Basically, the ball joints (including the one at the outer tie rod end) are supposed to pivot, but have no looseness.

Find a point where you can make the klunk by moving the steering wheel just a little big back & forth. If you're real careful, you could grab the tie rod end while a *trusted* friend wiggles the steering wheel. Same for the ball joints. One of them is going to pop sideways or up/down; instead of smoothly turning.

But it's real easy to crush your hand if your buddy turns the steering too far, so it's not really a good idea to do this. It's mostly just an explanation of what's going on.

Rather use a piece of garden hose up to your ear like a stethoscope while he turns the wheel. You should be able to hear which joint is klunking.

 

awesome, i'll look into that right now...