I'm trying to identify a random clonking noise in the front suspension of my 2002 XJ8 and suspect that it may be the upper wishbone bushings.

There is about 3/16" lateral movement in the top bushings on both sides but no up and down movement that I could detect. How much lateral movement should there be?

How difficult is it to replace them for a reasonably competent home mechanic?

So far I replaced: lower ball joints, tie rod ends, sway bar links, wheel bearings, shocks.

Many thanks for your help.

Andy

 

I have done it, and I am not too bright....
Once you get the wishbone off, and it looks like you know how to do that if you did your ball joints, the trick is to get the old bushings out and the new ones in. I sawed the old ones out with a sawzall, after I burned out the rubber with a torch. Pressing the new ones in was tough. I used a 12 ton press and heat with a press kit from harbor freight. I would recommend taking the wishbone to a machine shop with the new bushings in hand. As long as you are at it, it would be a good time to do the upper ball joints and check the subframe mounts. My problem, which sounded like yours, ended up being front subframe mounts. They are tricky to test.

 

I read your thread with a keen interest. I am also trying to tighten up the front end of my 2000 XJ8. It doesn't wander on the road, but rather some clunking can be heard when going over bumps. I started with the upper shock mounts, but after disassembling the shock towers and removing the shocks I was able to eliminate this as the cause in my case. My next thought was that the wishbone bushings may be the culprit, but after reading your thread on sub frame bushings, I'm now not so sure I was looking under the right couch. You said that the sub frame bushing are rather difficult to test, so I'm curious if you changed yours and if it was a success? The hardest part appears to be getting the car several feet in the air to afford the room.

 

Hi Jaghag00, I have not replaced the upper wishbone bushings because after the reading the responses decided that the lateral movemnt was probably normal and it was probably not the source of the clonking over bumps (sometimes). I have replaced the bottom ball joints, sway bar bushings, sway bar links and bolts, front shocks, front wheel bearings and still have the clonk but it doesn't seem as frequent. I have not done the upper ball joints. I have tested them with a pry bar and there doesn't seem to be any movement but will probalby do those next just to rule them out. My 2002 has 110,000 miles so they could probably do with replacing in any case.

Andy