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CHECK YOUR BALL JOINT BOLT!!

Fiestig

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#1
Went and changed drivers side control arm because I had a random clunk over bumps (2017). However, I went to remove the ball joint bolt and it was hardly tight at all which makes me think that the noise was actually carrying from the ball joint and resonating to the rear of the control arm. My stock removed control arm actually looked pretty good, bushings were still pretty stiff and seem to be intact. Stock control arms since new, never touched.

I will be driving tomorrow to make sure the noise is gone.

But if you get a chance, make sure your ball joint bolt is tight. Just tightened mine to stiff until I can get a torque spec from ford
 


LilPartyBox

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#9
I found mine on ebay years ago.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
 


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#10
Don't see anywhere if tightening the ball joint bolt fixed the clunk? My 2017 has the exact same issue! Was looking at new control arms, thoght I'd look here first?
 


OP
Fiestig

Fiestig

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Thread Starter #12
Hey @Fiestig did tightening the lower ball joint fix the clunking issue for you? Thanks.
I had put in a new control arm and the noise was gone for a couple days and came back so it was more than the loose bolt. Ended up being the sway bar bushings. They became soft enough that the sway bar would hit the subframe. With that said, the ball joint pinch bolt was still loose which is where the og post came from
 


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Fiestig

Fiestig

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Thread Starter #15
Energy Suspension 9.5125G 21mm Stabilizer Bushing. I have a 2017, so I have the larger diameter front sway bar
 


TyphoonFiST

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#16
Energy Suspension 9.5125G 21mm Stabilizer Bushing. I have a 2017, so I have the larger diameter front sway bar
Where did you buy it? I know the 14-15 have a different bar....Did you re-usue the mounting strap? How hard were they to do? i haven't even looked at them to judge the difficulty.
 


TyphoonFiST

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#17
Where did you buy it? I know the 14-15 have a different bar....Did you re-usue the mounting strap? How hard were they to do? i haven't even looked at them to judge the difficulty.
I just bought 19mm Street Version from Whoosh in Powerflex*
 


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Surrey
#18
I had put in a new control arm and the noise was gone for a couple days and came back so it was more than the loose bolt. Ended up being the sway bar bushings. They became soft enough that the sway bar would hit the subframe. With that said, the ball joint pinch bolt was still loose which is where the og post came from
Tell me more about this clunk? One side more than the other? Over small fast bumps or only slow big bumps? Could you manually make the clunk happen? Crawl under car and yank on swaybar to make clunk?
I've replaced endlinks suspension control arms with no luck eliminating my clunk.
What's involved in replacing the sway bar bushings? Huge job that requires a lift or easy job i can do in driveway?
 


OP
Fiestig

Fiestig

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Thread Starter #19
I just bought 19mm Street Version from Whoosh in Powerflex*
That's what I started with and was not a fan. I had both the pre and after 2017 bracket plates that hold the bushing and neither fit right and ended up majorly deformed on torque down. Started knocking again after 5k.

Tell me more about this clunk? One side more than the other? Over small fast bumps or only slow big bumps? Could you manually make the clunk happen? Crawl under car and yank on swaybar to make clunk?
I've replaced endlinks suspension control arms with no luck eliminating my clunk.
What's involved in replacing the sway bar bushings? Huge job that requires a lift or easy job i can do in driveway?
You can force the clunk on turning into an incline, like pulling into a driveway with only one of the wheels going in first. This torques the entire body because of the angles and would produce the knock

Pretty simple actually. Remove from wheels, endlinks, subframe to body connectors ( you can undo 1 bolt on each and swing them out the way). After that you can get to both mounting points from your choice of under the car reaching from behind to the top subframe where the sway bar is secured. Or you can do it mostly through the wheel wells. I have done it both ways without issue. Get yourself a swivel head socket wrench. Its a huge time saver on this job. I have done it enough that it only took me 35 minutes last time I did it. First time around took about an hour. Keep in mind that I am in Cali, so rust is not an issue which I am sure made it much easier.
 


OP
Fiestig

Fiestig

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Thread Starter #20
Where did you buy it? I know the 14-15 have a different bar....Did you re-usue the mounting strap? How hard were they to do? i haven't even looked at them to judge the difficulty.
Amazon. Was a whole 21 bucks or so and you use the provided bracket. Just make sure you use an ample amount of the bushing lube. You would have to find the right bushing inner diameter for the smaller swaybar. I went through a couple in trial and error. You can find most all on the energy site
 




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