I've got a mystery issue involving play in the front end. If the vehicle is on the ground and you grab the top of the front wheels (on both sides) and pull, you feel play and get and feel a 'clunk' like you would with a bad wheel hub and possibly a ball joint. Jack up the front end by the frame and then the lower control arm and you have no play/clunk. The ball joints, CVs, wheel hubs, U joints, transmission check out. The 'play/clunk' is detectable on both sides.
Now here's the kicker. When you put the car in gear you get a loud 'click', not a clunk, but a click randomly. On the ground with the ball joints and bearings in the hub loaded there is play if grab the wheel at 12 o'clock and give it a stiff pull. Lifted for the various tests, no play of clunk. The tie rod ends are good that the steering rack is good. I had the vehicle aligned about 3k miles ago and took it back to the shop that did the alignment and they said they can find on wear that would account for this issue nor could they explain it upon examining the vehicle. I took it to a seconds shop at the first shop's recommendation and they couldn't figure it out. We even threw runout gauges on the hubs and nothing. But the play is there and it clicks loudly when you put it in gear in reverse or forward (had the transmission checked to preclude that and nothing). Yest the play is still there.
That said, there is no unusual wear on the front tires or back tires, no drift when you go down the road or brake, nothing unusual. Both wheel hubs are new (one had about 15k miles and the other about 7K miles) and everything is torqued properly. I'm leaning to concluding both hubs spontaneously failing in a bizarre way, but I'd rather not have to unnecessarily go through changing them.
The only other thing that I did was to replace a welded in bracket for the front stabilizer bar, but the weld is good and nothing out of order in that department. This started after I had the bracket replaced but that wouldn't explain the symptoms. Any thoughts? What am I missing here? I mean, other than my marbles.
Now here's the kicker. When you put the car in gear you get a loud 'click', not a clunk, but a click randomly. On the ground with the ball joints and bearings in the hub loaded there is play if grab the wheel at 12 o'clock and give it a stiff pull. Lifted for the various tests, no play of clunk. The tie rod ends are good that the steering rack is good. I had the vehicle aligned about 3k miles ago and took it back to the shop that did the alignment and they said they can find on wear that would account for this issue nor could they explain it upon examining the vehicle. I took it to a seconds shop at the first shop's recommendation and they couldn't figure it out. We even threw runout gauges on the hubs and nothing. But the play is there and it clicks loudly when you put it in gear in reverse or forward (had the transmission checked to preclude that and nothing). Yest the play is still there.
That said, there is no unusual wear on the front tires or back tires, no drift when you go down the road or brake, nothing unusual. Both wheel hubs are new (one had about 15k miles and the other about 7K miles) and everything is torqued properly. I'm leaning to concluding both hubs spontaneously failing in a bizarre way, but I'd rather not have to unnecessarily go through changing them.
The only other thing that I did was to replace a welded in bracket for the front stabilizer bar, but the weld is good and nothing out of order in that department. This started after I had the bracket replaced but that wouldn't explain the symptoms. Any thoughts? What am I missing here? I mean, other than my marbles.