Front End Knocking - driving me mad!

[Jimbo_Jet]

Dear all, I’m getting incessant knocking from my front end!
(No tittering at the back!)

My front suspension is knocking on both sides every time I go over an uneven surface or a pothole of any description. I presumed it was the drop links so had it checked at the garage but they said they were fine but instead said it was the steering rack which had some play at the universal joint on the pinion side – you could feel a slight knock when stationary and moving the wheel slightly side to side.

So, I’ve had the whole rack replaced with a lower mileage complete rack with new Universal Joint a low mileage track rod ends. That’s cured the play in the steering but the knock remains.

I’ve jacked the car up myself and tugged about on the drop links (while it’s on the ground also) and they seem to be tight. There’s no play in them at all. It’s doing my head in now and I’m planning to change them anyway on the off chance that it is the drop links. My question is, can it be anything else that’s causing the knocking?
I’ve so far had TRD top-mounts, new Knoi inserts and new Koni springs fitted along with the low mileage rack, track rod ends and universal joint. None of which have fixed the knocking. So, am I only left with the drop links and possibly the ball joints as a possible source of the knocking?

Cheers! - James

[Karl_T]

I take it you've ruled out the really dumb stuff like, loose bonnet catch, loose spare wheel, bonnet prop, jack etc etc.

It does sound like classic drop links, and they're hard to manually test on the car. The force you can load by hand just isn't enough to feel movement.
Swap em and see.

Karl_T

[WeirdNeville]

Another point to look at is the small plastic bushings inside the steering rack housing on the LHS. It stops the steering rack knocking about inside the housing. The bushings itself is only £3 from Toyota. I appreciate you say you have a re-furbished rack, but this could well have been missed! I had to talk the garage that did my rack through where it was on my car!
Once you've eliminated everything else it's worth a look.

[dopiaza]

Check that your ARB mountings are solid - had the same with mine, expected it to be ARB links but turned out one of the ARB brackets was bolted onto a rusty hole! Apparently a common place for corrosion.

If you're heading over my way tomorrow we can take a look (you have PM)

Cheers,
Graham

[alfiembra]

I would check that the nuts on the inserts are fully torqued up, it's quite difficult to achive the full torque when the insert is out of the car, easier when the struts are back in and the wheels on the ground.

HTH

Alan

[System-G]

Still possible it could be the droplinks.

But also check all the bushes, ball joints.

After replacing the droplinks on my car, I still had loads of knocking noises. I did the ball joints first and most of the knocking went, but there was still some rattling. Solved by doing the bushes (But I also replaced the shocks & top mounts at the same time so can't say for sure what it was.

[Jimbo_Jet]

I take it you've ruled out the really dumb stuff like, loose bonnet catch, loose spare wheel, bonnet prop, jack etc etc.

It does sound like classic drop links, and they're hard to manually test on the car. The force you can load by hand just isn't enough to feel movement.
Swap em and see.

Well I've emptied my frunk of absolutely everything and it's still knocking so it's not down to any furniture or fitting up front. So I'm guessing it must bee the drop links so am going to have them replaced.

I'm going to try and take a sound recording of the knocking to see if anyone recognises the sound

[Jimbo_Jet]

Another point to look at is the small plastic bushings inside the steering rack housing on the LHS. It stops the steering rack knocking about inside the housing. The bushings itself is only £3 from Toyota. I appreciate you say you have a re-furbished rack, but this could well have been missed! I had to talk the garage that did my rack through where it was on my car!
Once you've eliminated everything else it's worth a look.

Good point, I'll check that one. Is that the point where the track rods slide in and out of the rack and pinion enclosure?

[WeirdNeville]

Another point to look at is the small plastic bushings inside the steering rack housing on the LHS. It stops the steering rack knocking about inside the housing. The bushings itself is only £3 from Toyota. I appreciate you say you have a re-furbished rack, but this could well have been missed! I had to talk the garage that did my rack through where it was on my car!
Once you've eliminated everything else it's worth a look.

Good point, I'll check that one. Is that the point where the track rods slide in and out of the rack and pinion enclosure?

Yeah. There is a plastic bush that inserts in the Left Hand Side of the housing and located that rack within the housing. Its clearly marked on the parts catalogue.
Oh the irony, as soon as I gave this advice my car developed a worsening knocking! I'm in exactly the same position as you now!

[Jimbo_Jet]

Fixed!! It won't come as a surprise to anyone that it was in fact the drop links causing the knocking. I've had them replaced and the knocking has all gone!

However, my point to make is that I now know that you can't simply jack up your car and wrestle the droplinks with your hands to see if they're loose to determine if they are the source of the knocking.

I did so to my car on two occasions and my garage did the same. As far as we could all tell they were rock solid and didn't need replacing. On the off chance I had them replaced anyway and the knocking has now vanished.

Result! ygUzs