Steering Clunk

davamb · Postby **davamb** » Thu Mar 20, 2008 12:40 pm

Hi All,

Noticed yesterday whilst crossing a railway line that the steering clunked quite harshly. I cross this line every day and hadn't noticed this before. I stopped and checked both front wheels were bolted up properly as I did a pad replace a couple of weeks ago - both fine. Turning the wheel whilst stationary or moving reproduces this clonk - as if the rack had lost a bolt. There is no vagueness in the steering, just a clonk as it moves of centre to the right. So I don't think a ball joint. It seems something has failed in the last day or so, but I haven't hit anything on the road.

Any ideas as to where I should start looking?

(Yes, I did do a search on this one in this forum, but only found references to the rear end.)

Thanks in advance.

manga_blue · Postby **manga_blue** » Thu Mar 20, 2008 4:31 pm

Maybe the rack HAS lost a bolt ... or else ...
Worn tie-rod end?
Loose steering rack mounting bolts?
Loose coupling rack to steering column?
Loose joint in column?
Excess pinion play in rack?
Excess play in rack bushes?

davamb · Postby **davamb** » Fri Mar 21, 2008 1:39 pm

Well it's amazing what you can see - when you can see!

I only need glasses for reading but when I had them on this morning to start trying to find the problem I found the Alan screws on the steering wheel were loose - not enough so the wheel rocked, but enough to give it a couple of mm of rotational slop. 2 minutes later problem solved.

Thanks for you input MB anyway, appreciate it.