I love it when a plan comes together...

[Squatch]

I've been chasing a deep sounding knocking noise coming from the front end of my '01 Mazda Protégé forever. I bought it as a wrecked car with low mileage, and I did all the repairs needed myself. I drove it for a year, then my son drove it (into the ground) for a year and a half. I bought it back off him to rescue the poor car a second time. Anyway, it's always had this clunking sound from up front. Never affected handing or braking, so I never felt it was a safety issue. I've spent hours prying on things, shaking things, looking for both the obvious and the hidden. I finally eliminated everything but what I couldn't see. It had to be something within the strut assemblies. So, I ordered new "loaded" assemblies (complete units, with springs, struts, and all) at around $240 for the pair. I installed them in roughly an hour and a half Saturday, and voila! Noise has vanished! Suh-weet! But of course, this means I need an alignment, so I take it in this morning to get that done. Technician comes back in and reports to the manager that all the numbers are well within range, and that no adjustments are needed. Manager doesn't charge me, as they had nothing to change. Just saved myself $80, plus tax. Very cool! Interestingly, this is the second time this has happened. I did a full suspension rebuild on a Ford Fairmont wagon a few years ago, and took it in for an alignment. The guy said he couldn't have hit the numbers any better if he had tried. So, no charge. Awesome!

I hope things go as well when I start wrenching on the TJ.

 

[Kiwi TJ]

 

[Kiwi TJ]

The car gods are smiling upon you mate....well done.

 

[BendLarry]

I had a similar experience 2 weeks ago with my TJ. Took it in to the alignment shop and found i had seriously low caster. I decided not to have anything done at that time because I wanted to do some research on what I should do because of my lift. He didn’t charge me anything, he said he didn’t do anything. Took it back a few days later and had him adjust my upper control arms. He got it where it needed to be and he only charged me $100. For his labor for the adjustment but nothing for the alignment. I was happy.


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[Squatch]

The car gods are smiling upon you mate....well done.

Thanks, buddy. It's always nice when stuff just goes right, ya know? Gotta love it!

 

[Mike_H]

Knocking noise on a strut? Almost always the upper mount is broken...you can change them without changing the shock portion, but its a pain. There is typically a clevite (or rubber) bushing there that the shock rod goes through. Very similar to the front upper shock mounts on the TJ, except its captured in that triangular mount.

 

[Squatch]

Knocking noise on a strut? Almost always the upper mount is broken...you can change them without changing the shock portion, but its a pain. There is typically a clevite (or rubber) bushing there that the shock rod goes through. Very similar to the front upper shock mounts on the TJ, except its captured in that triangular mount.

Yep. Broken upper mount is what I figured. But it was only through a process of elimination that I was able to narrow it down to the noise coming from the strut. So, I opted to go with complete assemblies for a number of reasons. First, the time savings. An hour and a half (may have been a little less, actually) to swap out both sides. Secondly, I wasn't 100% sure it was a mount. If I did replace only the mount (at about $40 per side) and the noise remained, then I'd have gained nothing, and would be a little annoyed, to say the least. Thirdly, the noise was there when I bought the car, and my family has put 24,000 miles on it since its purchase. Whatever was happening may or may not have done further damage to another component of the strut, so it just seemed prudent to replace the entire assemblies. And lastly, while I have used spring compressors on a dozen or so vehicles, I have been witness to at least one "Oh, shit!" moment where my boss sent a Camaro's big block coil spring sailing within 12" of my ear when I was working in a brake and suspension shop in my youth. It would surely have killed me, had it made contact. With the recent drill incident, I just decided it wasn't worth the added risk, especially when all the other things were factored in.

 

[Mike_H]

Yup...I get it. I HATE spring compressors...with a passion. I try to not take struts apart if possible.

 

[lowranger]

It was your "skill"...... all those years of wrenching on cars. And maybe a little luck thrown in.

 

[Squatch]

It was your "skill"...... all those years of wrenching on cars. And maybe a little luck thrown in.

Whatever it was, I'll take more of it, thank you!