Last week, I replaced the CV axles, ball joints, tie rod ends, and struts on my '87 Subaru GL 4WD.

 

For some reason when I apply a lot of (engine) torque when the wheels are turned hard to the left, there's a huge clunk as soon as significant torque is applied. This baffles me, because I've taken it apart to inspect (again) and could find nothing wrong. The CV axles, ball joints, struts, etc., are brand new. The ball joints, strut mounts, hub, axle nuts, brake calipers, sway bar mounts, etc., are tight. I took the wheels off today and re-checked all this stuff. The wheel lug nuts are torqued properly and everything, and I also checked the strut mount screws and the nut that secures the end of the strut into its top mounting plate.

 

The wheel bearings also looked good. They were smooth and tight, and I packed a bunch of grease in there before putting the axles back in. The car makes no weird noises whatsoever when I'm running down the road at 75 mph. It's only when I start a sharp left turn.

 

At this point, I'm standing around scratching my head. Other than the clicking the old axle did (because the outer boot had a rip in it and a bunch of grit got into the CV joint), it didn't make the big CLUNK when I was turning. Anyone have ideas?

 

Thanks! 

What kind of axles did you replace it with. I just had two remanufactured axles from napa that were bad out of the box.

I'm having the same issue and I also just replaced my pass. CV shaft. I got mine from rockauto: cardone select # AA1 66-7008 to be exact. I just bought new bushings for my control arms to eliminate that possibility.

could check your inner tie rods.  I had a clunk in reverse real bad and that was the culprit.

Radius rod bushings?

 

Or maybe the radius rod plate itself shifting?

The hub splines might be starting to wear out, you might not be able to tell just by looking yet.

I got the axles from autozone, and have had good luck with their parts in the past. I was thinking that it could be the top rubber bushings on the left side strut mount. I replaced the front struts, too.