Hello,

I was getting some noise in the front end recently and replaced the sway bar links and bushings on my 1995 Dodge Dakota Sport. Now when I go over bumps, accelerate from a stop and brake I get creaking and popping. I first installed the sway bar upside down so I thought that was the problem. However, after I flipped it right side up I am still geting the problem. I torqued the center bushings to 40 ft-lbs and the links to 25 ft-lbs and everything feels tight. Do you know what this might be? Any way to troubleshoot whether it is in fact the links or bushings? The sway bar doesn't look like its close to touching anything.

Its driving me fricking crazy. Shocks are Bilstien and relatively new. Could it be ball joints? Any way to test or isolate?

 

It can be anything. The best thing to do is lift up the front tires. Push and pull up and down sideways in and out all directions, see what has play and what doesn't, see what moves.

 

Believe I have found what the problem is. I did the following:

1) Jacked truck up and placed on jackstands located on the frame rails
2) Removed both front wheels
3) Placed a jack under the lower control arm and raised it slightly to remove the vehicle's weight
4) Rocked the steering knuckle back and forth

When I rocked the knuckle laterally across the vehicle (in and out when staring straight at it), there was an audible clunk and some movement on the lower ball joint on each side. There was no movement on the uppers. Also, on the drivers side tie rod end, I could move the end link up and down significantly.

I suppose this means both lower ball joints and drivers side tie rod are shot?

Is there any movement allowed? Or am I correct? Will try and post some videos

 

Also, to remove the lower ball joints, the Haynes manual says I have to remove the lower control arm. Is this true?