Living with MN potholes we go through thrust rods every other winter.

I don't know if they are designed to fail to protect the rest of the system or what, but they seem pretty weak.

i have the same type of 'clunking' noise. it's not all that bad, but it's definitely apparent. i was looking at the service records of the previous owner and see that he had the thrust rod BUSHINGS changed about 6000 miles ago....JUST before i got the car. is it possible i just have sloppy thrust rod ball joints....or could it be the upper thrust arms and/or tie rods?

just found another link that said the clunking can come from the sway bar links. makes sense.

Of course I still have this baby. Going strong!! The shocks I purchase were the bilstein shocks. I think there is only one type that fits but the actual part numbers are:

Part # : VE3 A742 (Left)
Part # : VE3 A743 (Right)

The truck rides perfect with these shocks. A bit stiffer but not that much to notice a drastic difference. I find it cornering a bit better and taking potholes a bit better though. Dont hear or feel that "bankg" when going over a sizeable pothole. All in all, Im very happy with them. Good Luck!

i just don't trust sachs/boge to last for very long. i've pulled too many of them out of e30s and e28s that are completely useless....as in they will compress under their own weight. i put HD's on my old e36 and they were great. frankly i was surprised at how much i liked them. conventional wisdom says that sachs/boge craps out around 50k miles (or even sooner) on e36 cars. my OEMs have 110k on em. i can't help but thinking that a new front set would make a WORLD of difference.