Hi all, I have a slight rattle on certain bumps from front wheels.... only things I did not change are ball joints. Is it a consensus they can cause suspension noise? I had them apart when I changed all my flanblocks and they looked fine; I greased them and put new rubber seals... Maybe I should have changed. I have new flanblocks, new shocks bushings, new sway bar bushings, sway bar ends. Thanks
The joints can have vertical play in them. Rock wheel fore and aft with hand at 12 and 6 position and then try to both elongate or compress the ball joint with the pry bar and/or very large wide jaw pliers. There should not be any vertical play. Google how to test ball joints. I recently found that 3 out of 4 of my 360 joints were bad.
Thanks; I did that by hand and I had no play noted... I might have to look for a long bar to try to move the arms up and down.
What ever it takes to extend and compress the joints. A medium sized prybar or big screw driver will work. As I recall, the vertical movement was easy to see.
No, battery is fully secured and tightened; I can clearly listen for the metallic "clunck" on some potholes... right and left wheel. I will do some pulling now on wheels. I have tool case and tire pump in frunk like usual, but both tightened?
so, using a long lever to pull the lower arm up with leverage to the chassis body, I feel a knock on the upper shock mount. So I think that big rubber bushing on top is gone. Now, 100$ question: how much play should there be in the ball joints? In my case it is >0 , but infinitesimal. Put your finger on them and you feel a bit of movement of the arm up and down related to wheel hub, under a mm for sure...
I can't help you on how much play is too much play, but man, you replaced an upper shock bushing not long ago and its already making noise? What brand did you use?
I had the sound a while back and it was my ball joints on one side so I replaced them on both sides. When taking the assembly apart you could clearly tell the joints were to blame and were failing. You may be able to look at the positioning of them without doing too much removal. If the shoulders of the joints are sticking very far above or below the wishbones or you can see a wavy washer/spacer sticking up it may be time to re-do them. It's been so long I can't recall the details. I think I made a good thread at the time to help others. Good luck! Found it. https://www.ferrarichat.com/forum/threads/clunk-in-the-front-right-side.512950/
Ah, got it. Hassle removing the old ones as I had to do some cutting to get the cups to fit right, in order to be able to press it out. Good luck!
Here’s my .02: Molykote UN Paste on the lower shock bolt. ————-> I knew my LBJ’s needed to be replaced when I bought the car, so after a few years of tolerating the clicking, I replaced them. Still had knocking. Replaced the upper ball joints, as they had minor play. That eliminated some knocking, but still had some left. Found minor play in 1 of the sway bar end links, and replaced both. Improved, but much to my chagrin, still knocking over certain surfaces. After doing more research, I found a very-little-discussed TSB about applying Molykote UN Paste to the bolt that attaches the shock to the lower control arm and sway bar end link. I had to get it from Poland on EBay to get the real deal, and sure enough, perfection! My front end has not been this quiet in the last 3 years of owning the car! Every time I go over old familiar bumps and surfaces, and hear nothing but induction and exhaust, I grin from ear to ear. MOLYKOTE UN PASTE
Make sure your windows are rolled up when you test for clunks…. Took me a while to figure out my noise was just the glass in the window tray.
Hey, where do I get that Hysol 9466 or loctite 9466... I only seem to find 9460, is that similar enough? For the ball joints... I found this on amazon, I think it should be fine reading the specs: https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B000WSKPL4/ref=sw_img_1?smid=ATVPDKIKX0DER&psc=1
This is what I used. I believe I got it on eBay. Also, don’t forget the MOLYKOTE UN Paste on the lower shock bolt. I’m telling you! Image Unavailable, Please Login
All I can say is that the aluminum chassis very readily conducts sound, making it difficult to find the source of rattles. I had a major noise that sounded like it was coming from the front or windshield header. It turned out that the insulation on the charcoal emissions canister had perished, allowing the canister to knock against the bracket. That, of course, is in the engine compartment, nowhere near the front of the car. Sent from my iPad using FerrariChat
Guys, how do you clean the Hysol off the arms after removing the ball joints... nothing seems to remove it, acetone, alcohol... short of sanding it off what else can I use ? All tutorials say "clean off the old glue"...but nobody specifies how to clean it.
Thanks, the 9460 seems to have almost identical technical data sheet to the 9466 which is no longer available... so I'll go with that. It cures at 90% of strength in 24 hours room temp. I can leave arms out a day, no worries.
I just had a look, and that Molykote UN is just high temp lubricant, used for bearings and such. Why not a modern quality synthetic grease like Mobil 1? They did not have the synthetics back in the day... What would be so special about Molykote.
It's just what the WSM says to use so I use on parts, so that's why I use it. The main thing is that bolt being set to 80NM (if I remember right). I'll get that exact same knocking sound you are talking about, lift the car up, re torque the nut and bolt, and the sound will be gone. Every single time. It's super annoying really.
I always torque that bolt to 80NM, I just did it again minutes ago as I finished front ball joints and shock bushings... Raining so can't test drive right now, I'll post back tomorrow. BTW, it is mentioned in the 360 manual, but not in the 430 repair manual (using lubricant on bolt).
