Radius arms..

[LeosCB7h22]

My accord has SOLID radius arms as in no bushings. i always hear sumthn clunk up there like rocking back and forth. sounds like a bad motor mount but not sure if it is or not.. is it suppose to do that if i have solid radius arms? thank you

[batever]

My accord has SOLID radius arms as in no bushings. i always hear sumthn clunk up there like rocking back and forth. sounds like a bad motor mount but not sure if it is or not.. is it suppose to do that if i have solid radius arms? thank you

Clunking means there is space, then no space, somewhere in the suspension. If you really have no bushing in your radius arm where it mounts at the lower control arm, then maybe the arm mounting hole is worn as well as the bolt shank that mounts is.

Depending on when you hear the clunk, it could also be (more likely would be) a hardened or deteriourated front stabilizer bar bushing (clunks over bumps or on some turns) or a worn lower ball joint or upper ball joint. (also clunking on bumps) I would suspect these before the radius arm but who knows.

Also, of course, the motor mount. YOu would tend to hear a worn rear motor mount on hard accelleration from a stop. As to the side mounts, you can test them by relieveing the pressure of the motor on them and then prying under the motor mount bracket to see if there is play there, then also looking at the bushings for cracking/tearing.

[tn_accords]

My accord has SOLID radius arms as in no bushings. i always hear sumthn clunk up there like rocking back and forth. sounds like a bad motor mount but not sure if it is or not.. is it suppose to do that if i have solid radius arms? thank you

ok.. you are supposed to have bushings... nothing else to be said. You need them because it holds your lower control arm in place and its also your caster adjustment. You NEED to get those bushings. Good luck.

[johnl]

Do you mean that your radius rods are not stock, but are aftermarket rods located at their forward ends with spherical rod ends? If so then the noise you're hearing is most probably caused by wear in the rod end(s). It only takes a small amount of spherical rod end wear for them to become noisy (rattley / clunky).

[deevergote]

An aftermarket traction bar would have solid, bushingless radius rods. I have one on my car. If something is clunking, and that's what you have (and it's installed securely), then you should take a look at your motor mounts.

[LeosCB7h22]

An aftermarket traction bar would have solid, bushingless radius rods. I have one on my car. If something is clunking, and that's what you have (and it's installed securely), then you should take a look at your motor mounts.

yes i put the car on the lift today, i have traction bars with no bushings. that is it. thanks all

[deevergote]

What bar do you have? And who did you get your car from?


There are very few CB7 traction bars out there, and as far as I know, the only ones made were by Collective Racing and Explicit Speed Performance. I know that the Collective Racing bar has a decorative "CR" design welded to it. Should be a black bar with brass-colored radius rods.

If you have a BLUE bar... there could be a problem. There was an issue with the blue ones breaking, and I believe they were recalled.

[LeosCB7h22]

actually the bars are chrome. dont know what kind they are....

[HondaFan81]

I think photos of relevant areas in your front suspension are necessary for progress on this thread. Make it happen somehow, borrow a camera if you have to if you intend to get helpful information. If this is too time consuming and this car is your DD, then I would take it to a reputable shop ASAP and get it looked at. This could be a very serious suspension problem that can cause an accident.

[johnl]

You need new spherical rod ends.

The best ones are teflon lined and are self lubricating / self wiping (i.e. dirt gets wiped off the ball by the edge of the teflon liner, helping to keep dirt off the working surfaces). Even so, they don't last forever, and as soon as some wear develops in the liner dirt can then get in and wear accelerates exponentially.

Some rod ends look similar to the teflon lined ones but the liner is some other plastic such as nylon. These don't tend to last very long in suspension applications because the plastic liner tends to get 'pounded out' reasonably quickly. These are good for light duty work only.

There are metal to metal rod ends (no liner between the ball and housing), but these require lubrication that attracts dirt (that then turns to grinding paste). These rod ends are typically 'steel ball to steel bushing', or 'steel ball to bronze bushing'. They tend to be cheaper than teflon lined, and can handle high loads, but need constant cleaning and lubricating, and won't last as long as the teflon lined rod ends (they become rattley quite quickly).

No matter what rod ends you use, for a road car it would be good if you can find some way to sheild them from dirt.