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Sun Apr 22, 2012 6:46 pm

I have a 67 bug and there's thump on the driver side when I hit a bump. looked under the front side and noticed the lower ball joint rubber is pretty crushed up and figured this may be the thumping noise I've been hearing.
Jacked the car up and grabbed the wheel at 12:00 and 6:00 and rocked the wheel back and forth but no play at all. Then I grabbed the wheel at 9:00 and 3:00 and got some play and heard a clicking sound and noticed the sound was coming from the tie rod and steering arm connection.
Could this be the thumping noise I hear when I hit a bump?and is it an easy fix? Want to try and do this myself

Mon Apr 23, 2012 2:17 am

Your problem sounds more like a bad shock than a ball joint or tie rod issue. Is the car lowered or stock height?

Mon Apr 23, 2012 7:58 am

X2 on the bad shock probably being the cause of the clunk. It may just be the rubbers on the top or bottom mount are wasted.

But the play in your tie rod end isn't good either.

Sat Jul 07, 2012 12:25 pm

Replaced all four ball jonts and had it aligned and the thump has gone away and rides much smoother. I had changed the outer tie rods as well and noticed the inner tie rods seem to be loose when wheels are rocked at 9 and 3. I'm thinking this is not good and should be replaced as well.
Correct me if I'm wrong but there shouldn't be any play in all four tie rods, correct??

Sat Jul 07, 2012 12:58 pm

muck wrote: Replaced all four ball jonts and had it aligned and the thump has gone away and rides much smoother. I had changed the outer tie rods as well and noticed the inner tie rods seem to be loose when wheels are rocked at 9 and 3. I'm thinking this is not good and should be replaced as well.)
Correct me if I'm wrong but there shouldn't be any play in all four tie rods, correct??

You want zero play in your steering system ( steering coupler, tierods, steering box, pitman arm), you want zero play in your balljoints ( as little as possible, the factory has a spec of whats acceptable), you want no play in your spindles and control arms, you want no play in your wheel bearings, inspect the bearings for wear, if bad replace, if good then clean and repack them with grease and replace seals.. You also want to make sure shocks are good, steering stabilizer is good, all bushings are good ( sway bar, shock bushings, stabilizer bushings) make sure your beam is greased and the seals and bearings for the control arms are good. Grease all balljoints and tierods if they are good. Everything needs to be tight to not only be safe but to have a nice tight steering and suspension system that performs as it should and rides nice .

These are 30, 40, 50 etc year old cars. The first thing you should do when you get one is inspect every component mentioned above (plus the rear suspension, brake system and fuel system) before you even drive it. Also upgrading to dual circuit brakes is a good idea to protect you and others in the event of a brake failure.

Sat Jul 07, 2012 4:51 pm

OK I'll replace the inner tie rods and re-align. Repacked the wheel bearings a few months ago and gresed the front end. Everything seems to be snug with the exception of the inner tie rod.
Another thing on the steering. I have play when I grab the coupler when the car is raised and the box centered. Will the axial adjustment on the steering box get rid of this play? I'm going to try this before I replace the tie rods.