Help...When I press on the brakes, I hear a knocking sound

[WEMICHENER]

I have a 1997 D90, three days ago when I noticed that when I applied the breaks ever so slightly I heard a knocking sound coming from the front end of the car. Just yesterday, when I applied the breaks, it felt like the brake caliber came loose on one side and the whole assembly swang up and made a jerking feel to the pedal so to get home I quit using the brakes and used my emergency break to limp home. When I pulled of the front tires to check the calipers on both sides, everything was ok. I am baffled by the problem I have, I noticed some oil dripping from the front passenger side spherical housing(the round big ball). Anyone have any suggestions what is wrong? CV joint bad?

[WEMICHENER]

Is there no one out there that give me some incite, just a little?

[Neil McCauley]

Open the swivel ball drain plug. If all the fluid is gone, than you could probably f up the cv joint. Just in case, put the car on jack stands, see if you can recreate the sound with the wheels moving, might be something else. Good luck.

Neil

[woldd90]

How many miles are on the truck? Is it locked? Has it been off-roaded?

Probably is a bad CV. If it is, it is pretty easy to fix.

[Hans]

Like suggested by Neil, I'd start with a fluid check. And if there is fluid in there, look for metal pieces coming out also.

You may also consider jacking up one front tire at a time, and spin the tires both ways. In theory, if only one wheel is in the air, it shouldn't spin more than about a quarter turn at most.

If you do have to replace it, it's an easy fix as long as you have the hub wrench and a set of 12pt metric sockets to get the caliper off.

-Hans