[Decsr]

Well here is how it started, some time back I had a very very loud popping noise (that you could even feel in your feet when they were on the peddles) was coming from the front right wheel well area. It only made the noise when I was backing up and turning the wheel hard to the right. It didn’t do it all the time and when I would take it somewhere, of course it wouldn’t make a sound most of the time. The mechanics that did here it said it might be an axel but it wasn’t acting like an axel at all, some said it was a strut mount. Most didn’t have a clue, not even the Chrysler dealer who wanted to tare it down anyway. I could just picture the bill they would have given me. As time went on I kept looking at all the front-end parts and did see that a ball joint boot had started splitting. It still had plenty of grease but it needed to be addressed. After getting sticker shock just on the labor cost I decided to do the job myself and replace both ball joints. The control arms had to come off and after removing them I could see the rear isolator bushing was going too, so I bought two of them too. As I looked more at the outer tie rod ends I decided it wouldn’t hurt to replace them as well. So I purchased them also and if I am going to replace that much why not replace both axels while I am at it. Heck that might even stop my popping noise. Its not over, today I was looking at my steering knuckles and the left one had a very small amount of play in the hub. I had the bearings replaced a few months ago so I took the knuckle back to the garage where the bearings were replaced and he put in a new bearing. That didn’t solve the problem so I went to the Chrysler and purchased a new hub then went back to the garage and he managed to remove the old hub and put in the new hub without messing up the new bearing that he put in earlier in the day. Now all I have to do is put all the new parts in and reassemble my front end. Sounds like a fun Saturday doesn’t it?