Friends,

You guys helped me with my windshield wiper, so I am back for more advice.

Coming home today on a rural country roa dI noticed a a faint thunking or clanking noise coming from I thought the front driver side wheel well. The more I drove the louder it got and I have never heard this before and I am seriouly in tune with my vehicles aand their various sounds. I thought I had ran over something that had wrapped around my wheel. I pulled over and looked... there was nothing there! I got home and jacked the car up and looked at all four wheels and everything seemed ok. I drove it some more. It is making a clunking noise after a few miles of driving. It does not do it in neutral or at idle and sounds as if it the same rythum as the wheels turning. And it seems like it is coming from the front. When I jacked the car up I rotated the front wheel left and right and could hear a thunking comming from the u-joints but to be fair it only clunked when I cahnged direction. I am thinking a u-joint or cv joint. It does not do it when turning mainly in a straight line.

Do any of you find this familliar or have any suggestions as to what it might be. The car has 60,000 miles.

Thanks in advance

Rob Garven

98 Rodeo 4WD V6
steel wheels, automatic

Does a 98 Rodeo have hubs or flanges? I don't remember...

Pretty sure it's flanges ; At least if it has SOTF. That's according to the tech article on here about installing manual hubs on 96+.

Richard <img src="/forums/images/graemlins/patriot.gif" alt="" />

It has flanges. Check to see if you don't have a loose shock mount. Also jack the front tires up one at a time and see if you can move the tire at the top or sides once the tire is no longer touching the ground.

This will check the ball joints, the tierod ends, and even the wheel bearings. If there is movement try and see where it's loose, or where the slack is.

Joe

Are you guys saying that with drive flanges, there is no way for the outer axle shaft to come loose from the hub (like a bad c-clip)?

In any case, I'd ask him to grab each outer axle shaft and make sure that they are not loose. Can't hurt to check that.

I jacked it up and checked the wheel bearings and for steering play and it looked and felt OK. What would a bad u joint or cv joint sound like? I will check the shock mounts.

Nah, I was just trying to figure out if the CV axle would even be turning in 2WD. Since it has flanges, it is turning all the time. FWIW...

Ahh, okay. Even with the drive flange, it is possible for the clunk to be related to the outer drive shaft. It's 30 seconds to check each one and eliminate that as a possible issue.

How exactly would I do that? I jacked the car up and rotated the wheel and the only noise I heard was at the U joints when I reversed rotational direction.

Thanks

Rob

TAKE OFF THE DRIVE FLANGE AND REMOVE THE CIRCLIP , NOW SPIN THE WHEEL AND SEE IF THE NOISE IS STILL THERE , THE AXLE SHOULD STAY PUT NOW , ONLY TAKE A COUPLE OF MINUTES TO ISOLATE IT FROM ONE SID E OR THE OTHER JERRY