: Hi Everyone,
: I have been chasing down a mysterious 'rattle'
: from the front end. After checking and going
: through all possible causes, I have come to
: the conclusion that it must be coming from
: the drivers side torsion bar. Question...is
: it possible that the front bushing has gone
: bad and could cause an indiscriminate rattle
: as the car is in movement ? I have adjusted
: the torsion bar bolt (height adjustment) and
: this has no effect on the rattle. Is this a
: common effect with worn out bushings ? Any
: advice is appreciated. Thanks
: Matt

: usually a bad bushing will cause a squeak or
: groan over bumps. i think if the bushings
: are bad enough to rattle then you really
: would have a hard time keeping the car
: straight going down the road. look closely
: at the radius arm bushigs for wear as they
: are under as much load as any other part of
: the front end. when these go bad the car
: will usually dart left or right under
: braking.
: on disc brake cars a rattle can come from the
: front calipers and will go away when you
: apply the brakes. with a swaybar you need to
: look at the end links and bushings there.
: to check the ball joints/steering linkage, just
: jack up the front of thae car and try to
: wiggle the left or right tyres vertically or
: horizontilly while you or a friend watch the
: front end parts. if you find excess play in
: the vertical motion look close at the ball
: joints, wheel bearings and upper/lower
: control arm bushings. if there is a bunch of
: play on the horizion, look at the steering
: linkage. anything that squirms around shoud
: be adjusted or replaced.
: now for some bad news (and some of you guys
: know it!) let's say all the bushings and the
: steering linkage and ball joints look ok. a
: real common trouble spot is the mounting
: points for the lower control arms at the
: "K" frame. quite often the welds
: break there and things move around and make
: noise. the tyre may move about like there is
: a bad ball joint or bushing but look closely
: and you will see some movement of the nut on
: the frontside of the k frame. beyond that
: look for play at the sector shaft of the
: sttering box, but wear hers is usually
: marked by a massive fluid leak.
:
: -james

: James,
: Thanks for the response and your thoughts. I
: did go through all the components you
: mentioned and all check out. The front end
: was rebuilt two years ago except for the
: torsion bar bushings, and lower control arm
: bushings. Brakes (drum), sway bar
: connections, tie rods, ball joints, shocks,
: pitman, idler, steering box, ....all check
: out o.k. I will look closer at the k-member
: connection. The 'rattle' does not relate to
: tire rotation, engine speed, driveline,
: etc... Any small bumps will create the
: rattle. Everything under the dash and around
: the firewall also checks out o.k. At this
: point, I am stumped. I may have to just
: totally rebuild the front end again when I
: switch out the front brake system and
: upgrade to larger torsion bars..!! Thanks
: again..

: You did not specify what year car. My 1976
: Valiant had / has some little klunk-rattle
: in the front end. I could find no problems
: with ball joints and related parts either. I
: rebuilt the front end anyway even though the
: car only had about 67,000 original miles on
: it. I replaced ALL rubber bushings in upper
: and lower control arm ($5 each from JC
: Whitney), all ball joints. After rebuild it
: had the same noise. Finally I was led to the
: lower shock absorber mount that was loose
: where it clamps between the plates of the
: lower control arm. Try tightening the $%^^&*
: out of that lower shock mount bolt and see
: if that cures it. Then let us know the
: results.

: Hi Everyone,
: I have been chasing down a mysterious 'rattle'
: from the front end. After checking and going
: through all possible causes, I have come to
: the conclusion that it must be coming from
: the drivers side torsion bar. Question...is
: it possible that the front bushing has gone
: bad and could cause an indiscriminate rattle
: as the car is in movement ? I have adjusted
: the torsion bar bolt (height adjustment) and
: this has no effect on the rattle. Is this a
: common effect with worn out bushings ? Any
: advice is appreciated. Thanks
: Matt

: Hi Everyone,
: I have been chasing down a mysterious 'rattle'
: from the front end. After checking and going
: through all possible causes, I have come to
: the conclusion that it must be coming from
: the drivers side torsion bar. Question...is
: it possible that the front bushing has gone
: bad and could cause an indiscriminate rattle
: as the car is in movement ? I have adjusted
: the torsion bar bolt (height adjustment) and
: this has no effect on the rattle. Is this a
: common effect with worn out bushings ? Any
: advice is appreciated. Thanks
: Matt