Clunk sound sometimes when either first accelerating or braking...strange

[dingo]

Actually, more money for upgraded dampers.

UHMW sleeve will only introduce stiction and guarantee there is wear. 

Some have eliminated the red "helper" springs all together and it appears that although doing this
requires adjustment of the spring seat, there is less bowing \ rubbing on the damper threads when there is only the main spring in play and each end is seated correctly. 

[positron]

[quote="dingo"]
Actually, more money for upgraded dampers.

UHMW sleeve will only introduce stiction and guarantee there is wear. 

[/quote]
I was hoping this would center spring assy and minimize bowage and/or having an incredibly low coefficient of friction it would glide across rather than jump..

jumping threads doesn't sound very appealing.. Kathy Ireland.. yes..

[rfmarz@frontiernet]

I have, on several occasions, heard that the "bellcrank geometry" is a problem. Please forgive my ignorance , but isn't the bellcrank merely a means of tranferring motion from one direction to another? Also, by comparitive lengths on each side of the rotation point, a means of creating more or less resistance through the shock/spring?

[DarthChicken]

I didn't think there was enough room on the passenger side to invert the shock?  Did you just do the drivers side?

[DarthChicken]

I can't imagine it would be anything good.

Do you have the honda engine?  I just looked at my ecotec... I can't see how you could invert the shock 

[rfmarz@frontiernet]

I've never looked closely at the angle of force but it seems that someone in engineering really missed the boat!

[FourFather]

[quote="maverick1"]
I was wondering if any of you have experienced a kind of clunking sound like something is shifting in your Atoms. This usually happens at the time I first gently accelerate from a dead stop or when I am braking. The clunk sound usually happens when there is some kind of weight shift in the car. Really strange.
cheers
[/quote]


I finally found the source of mine! It was the (rocker arm) end of the shock moving a few thousandths of an inch side to side!
I'll try to show the shock all the way over to one side, and then the other.





Taking the shock by hand, and giving it a good firm push, and then pull, parallel to the bolt, replicates the noise mine was making.

The outer housing of the ball joint was loose enough in the shock body, and had enough play- maybe .010" or so -between it and the circlips that retain it, that the clunk I was getting was when it moved from one side to the other. When applying the brakes. Or starting off, from stopped. Randomly. Intermittently.

I fixed it.

Eddie

[DarthChicken]

By torquing the crap out of it, or putting in spacers?

[FourFather]

Neither. The outer race for the ball joint was a slip fit inthe shock body, and there is a bit of clearence between the outer race, and the snap rings that locate it.

I just wicked some blue loctite between the shock body and the outer race-- haven't heard the noise since!

The fix was as easy as the diagnosis was hard.

Eddie

[rfmarz@frontiernet]

Eddie, thanks for that report. I just knew the noise wasn't coming from the brake pads... but I didn't know where else to look.

[FourFather]

[silver]

[quote="FourFather"]
Neither. The outer race for the ball joint was a slip fit inthe shock body, and there is a bit of clearence between the outer race, and the snap rings that locate it.

I just wicked some blue loctite between the shock body and the outer race-- haven't heard the noise since!

The fix was as easy as the diagnosis was hard.

Eddie
[/quote]

can you please take pics of what you did, I don't konw what ball joint your referring too, or what exactly a "race" is, sorry Im dumb

[rfmarz@frontiernet]

A race is where two or more of something try to go faster than the other(s).

[Marcus]

you rule - clunk finally found!

[FourFather]

[quote="silver"]
[quote="FourFather"]
Neither. The outer race for the ball joint was a slip fit inthe shock body, and there is a bit of clearence between the outer race, and the snap rings that locate it.

I just wicked some blue loctite between the shock body and the outer race-- haven't heard the noise since!

The fix was as easy as the diagnosis was hard.

Eddie
[/quote]

can you please take pics of what you did, I don't konw what ball joint your referring too, or what exactly a "race" is, sorry Im dumb
[/quote]

The bolt in the center of the picture runs through the ball joint.


If you take hold of the shock and twist it back and forth, in the direction you would tighten or loosen the shock spring adjuster nuts,you can see the ball joint work. It will allow a few (maybe 10?) degrees of twist. The bolt goes through the ball.
The part that surrounds the ball is the outer race.
The outer part of the ball joint, the outer race, was (on mine, anyway) slightly loose in the body of the shock.


The outer race is retained in the shock body by circlips, but there was a little clearance, or play, between the outer race and the clips.
If, when you push, and then pull, FIRMLY, on the end of the shock that is in the picture--in the same direction you would push in, or pull out, the pictured bolt-- and you hear the clunk sound, then you can repeat, and see what's happening. The outer race is a bit too loose in the shock body, and has a tad too much clearance between it and the clips. A few drops of blue Loctite wicked into the space between the outer race and the shock body, and between the outer race and the retaining clips, stopped the shock body from clunking from one side to the other.

The Blue Locktite bonds the parts together, eliminates the play/clunk, and is service removable.  The Red locktite is stronger and more permanent, but some small bolts will break before the Red bond will let them unscrew. Blue is probably plenty for this job. Don't let any get into the ball joint itself, where it has to pivot, just on the fit between the outer race and the shock body, where you want to stop movement.

Does this help?

Eddie