Every now and then i'll get a slight thunk in my front end that I can feel through the wheel
happens when I'm turning and hit a bump.
what should I look for before I go buying parts?

 

sounds like bad BJ's get her on the lift take a hand at the top and bottom of the tire try to wobble them...wobbles, BJ's

 

Could also be a tie rod end.

 

control arm bushing perhaps. mine seems to do that too, i can very slightly feel it in the steering wheel and it kinda pops and creaks. a couple other people have told me it's probably ball joints or control arm bushings. I had my ball joints replaced under the recall but I dont know....

 

I have been having a similar issue with my 97 dakota...when I stop fast at slow speeds I get a loud thunk in the front right side and you can see the tire shimmy a bit. Thought it might be the ball joint. After further investigation, I was able to recreate the thunk by putting the truck in reverse and letting off the brake enough to where it wanted to move but didn't. I then turned the wheel all the way to the left and then to the right. When turning it back to the right, the "thunk" happened again and I can see the upper control arm move where it is bolted at the frame. Seems to be the bolt is possibly loose and moves when enough force is applied to the front end.

Have not been able to attempt a fix action yet, but hopefully it is a simple fix. I get the thunk all the time now, so the same problem might not be able to be recreated by others. I am by no means an expert at cars and there might be something else that I missed, but perhaps this will help someone diagnose a problem.

 

i might try recreating it just like you said tomorrow and see what happens. i hate it when you go to the dealer with a problem and they charge you 50 bucks to do nothing because they couldnt "re-create" the problem.

 

I've been told that the hub bearing is going.
would that fall under the "loose wheel" cause?

 

yesir, does it growl when turning one way or the other? gets louder and quiter depending on speed?

 

I tightened the bolt on the upper control arm and it made the thunk go away, but now I am going to have to get it alligned again. Looks like when I last had it aligned a couple of weeks ago they didn't tighten it enough, though in their defense, it seemed tight. Ive had bearings go out before and it can definitely cause those problems.