[THISISWEIRD]

So, I just picked up a 99 Jeep yesterday to join the club. (not sure I actually was invited to join the club, or know the name of said club, but anyway...)

It seems to be in great shape with only 59K miles and has virtually no rust.

Driving it home last night it was great, but today at slow speeds on the way to work, it makes a noise in the front end when I go over a bump. It may be the way a Jeep is, but it reminds me of lose struts, or struts going bad.....sort of a clunk.

I've pulled on the coils and shocks as well as the lower arms, and everything seems fine. Doesn't look like anything has ever been wrecked or even replaced on the front end.

Any ideas?

[balloo93]

Disconnect the shock and cycle it manually. Could be a simple as a bad shock. Other things to look at are:

Sway bar bushing on the bar mounts.
Sway bar bushings at the end link.
Shock bushing.

[THISISWEIRD]

Just went out there to shake things around a bit to see what was loose. Those bushing mentioned seem to be fine. The bumpstop on the passenger side has dry rotted and is laying inside the coil.

I guess I need to figure that out.

EDIT:

I can't afford to lift it quite yet, but I need to get the bumpstop fixed. Any suggestions on the best item that will work for now and later on?

[balloo93]

Start looking for shiny metal spots as well on the sway bar end links and the coil springs.

[THISISWEIRD]

The shiny spots are metal to metal contact?

What are you thinking here?

[balloo93]

Yep. If the bar has shifted over it may be contacting something as the suspension compresses over a bump. That would give you a thud noise. So would wore out Bar pin bushings on the shocks.

The shock problem is fairly common. The sway bar shifting is not as common.

[THISISWEIRD]

Thanks a bunch. I'll look over all of that stuff again.
What about the bumpstops? They appear to be welded into place (99). Can I replace those?

[balloo93]

Yes, they pull out and push in.

[THISISWEIRD]

Thanks again!