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Front suspension repairs at home...

I'm not a mechanic, but with my son's recent acquisition of a '79 Mustang, I'm going to be doing repairs and fixes I never would have considered before. Amazing what's online for these things.

So, my '99 OBW has that classic left-front rattle when I go over bumps at low speeds and right turns. The Mustang had the same thing, and $18 of parts and a few minutes later we had that fixed. (the connection between the sway bar and the lower arm) I had the son do it.

Is it possible my front end rattle is the equivalent part on my Outback? That part looks quite a bit different, but just as simple to replace. I'd like to do it myself, if possible. Good idea?

-John O

Reply to
JohnO
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The Mustang doesn't have CV joints, nor does it have any driving wheels in the front, so you've got a few more things that can rattle up front. Obviously, anything can be fixed yourself, assuming you can diagnose the problem and have the tools to do the job. Certainly can't hurt to jack it up and have a good look.

Turn hard left and right and drive slowly in circles. If you get a clicking sound it's probably a CV joint.

Reply to
Sheldon

Nope, no clicking, had that with a car once before. That's an expensive repair, one I absolutely cannot do myself...in less than a week, anyway. :-)

Just banging when I hit bumps and worse on corners.

Thanks!

-John O

Reply to
JohnO

Maybe your struts or strut top mounts are worn out? I dunno. What does dealer's service dept says? I won't recommend going to an independent repair shop for this. They'd probably replace waaay more parts than needed.

Reply to
Body Roll

Is that something I can do without many specialized tools?

Dealer? Heh, 35 miles away.

That's the opposite of what I might have imagined.

My local garage guys are real good with labor, so that might make up the diff even if they do get a bit parts-crazy. They are pretty good mechanics, too, and I trust them completely. (The owner's kid is on the baseball team I manage, so I have leverage :-)) I've seen a couple subies in there recently so they know about them, at least.

But if this is an easy one, I want to give it a shot.

-John O

Reply to
JohnO

Look for a broken anti-sway bar. Not unheard of in soobs. Could be severla things I guess.

Carl

Reply to
Carl 1 Lucky Texan

I haven't thought of that. The swaybar mounts could be trashed also. Or so would the aftermarket would like you to believe to buy beefier replacements. Did you look under the car? I don't need to jack up my OBS to look around and you should have at least one more inch of ground clearance on OBW, so why won't you inspect the front end?

Reply to
Body Roll

Yeah, I've been peeking under there. I need to jack up the front one side at a time and start shaking things looking for something that seems looser than it ought to be. True, it could be just about anything, and there's no way to troubleshoot this on usenet :-) but your advice so far gives me some directions for looking. Sway bar is easy to check, and if the mounts have gaps then they could be replaced easily anough.

I'm stuck home while most of the family goes out of town this weekend, so maybe I'll try a few basic rubber parts. Can't hurt, eh? Maybe I can get lucky. Just had to pay taxes, and I need some cheap luck. ;-)

-John O

Reply to
JohnO

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