Under the car when starting out. And when backing up with wheel turned each time. Have checked suspension real well took pry bar to under tires while in air 3-4 inches nothing on ball joints. Have climbed under and checked really well all suspension and no play at all for gear box. Tried both backing out and starting out turned wheel even with brake applied to see if might have been sticky caliper or piston no such luck noise still there brake on or not. After starting out with the clunk seems to go away when out for more then 15 minutes. Wiggled the new shocks but seem to be real snug. Just replaced both engine mounts brake pads hood bolt and mounts. Just am so far lost have tried everything thought it may be to no avail does anyone have any suggestions or similar clunk noises and if so what did it turn out to be.

 

sounds like a control arm bushing to me

 

Thanks for the control arm bushings answer but have checked and even tried while sitting still. Turning the wheel back and forth but no noise at all. The odd thing is it does it when you start to roll and have tried with brake pressed to see if it might have something to do with the brake pads or even the caliper but no luck. One thing even though the rims are torqued to 100 lbs I wonder if the rim could slip a little as it starts to roll. It will take some time and persistence but eventually I will find and fix the problem. But it is one of those persistent and difficult to find. As when jacked up cant here it at all its a rolling at a start and then mostly only when you first start out. Don't here it except first time out in the day or sometimes a few more times but not always. That's why I am leaning towards a rim shifting at real slow speeds and only then. Is that a issue with the slotted aluminum rims on the blazer.

 

I have no clue what you mean by a rim shifting but I doubt that's your issue. Have you checked your sway bar bushings?

 

Yes have checked all bushings and front end seems to be in good shape. And what I was talking about rim shift like if bolts were loose and the rim shifted each time you started out. But this noise is more elusive then that. Its a noise I cant duplicate on jack stands and as I said it clunks when you take off the first time in the morning. And first time you park in a parking space and back out with wheel cranked to the right. But most of the time after it warms up you don't here it.

 

This has been a real challenging noise to locate. Thought when located the broken engine mount that problem was solved. Have replaced both engine mounts and both hood hinges and new bolts. Have tested the ball joints and control arms with jack under control arm to make it as if car was on the ground. Have tried four high to test the cv joints that looked fine and the noise isn't one of a bad cv joint. After replacing the mounts drove out of the garage and first thing heard the clunk like from the suspension lower left side. The only tricky thing from this illusive clunk is it dose it every time you take off for the first time each day and then a couple more times such as parking at a store then leaving the parking spot wheels cranked to the right and as backing clunk, brakes on forcing the car to push through them eliminates caliper and pads. So guess its back to searching the suspension one inch at a time to see if I missed something. Will let all know once it is found since its so illusive even I am anticipating finding it and repairing it.

 

Sounds to me like the upper control arm bushings; are they the original ones? Only takes a small split or chunk missing out of those rubber bushings to cause the sleeve to hit the control arm when wheel is turned.

The bushings themselves are pretty cheap, a pain to replace though.

Good luck.

 

i have the same problem myself, i have gone through just about the same amount of work as you but, not as in dept. i was told that it could be play in the cv joints, possibly pulled out when i did the ball joint, i did the pitman arm thinking it was that, which was broken but not the problem, the mechanic told me i have play in the torsion bars. upon crawling underneath i found my passenger barely holding on by a thread and my driver side bad, but not as bad. tighten them up to level off the front end and removed the tire rubbing. all that done and still clunking. now i myself am beleiving in the control arm bushings and heading that way next, they are all original, and on a 99 they are shot lol. text for that, im really hoping u dont have to pull apart those dam ball joints for the third time!

 

OK found the noise there is a link hooked to the pasanger side of the tie rod end and is bolted to the frame as well. So it looks as if the control arm bushings are still OK. But the link that connects to the frame and tie rod end is called what.

 

That's your idler arm.