Clunk and Rattle from front wheel well area

*UPDATE*Clunk and Rattle from front wheel well area

I have a clunky sound coming from the front wheel wells that baffles me. It is a loud clunk and rattle heard stronger in the pass side and can be felt through the foor boards. This sound is heard mostly at low speeds when traveling over almost any uneven pavement.

This sound is beginning to concern me because at times it sounds as if the wheel is gonna come right thru the floor.

My rig is still under warranty and in the last 2 weeks I have had the drivers upper ball joint and arm replaced, the sway bar bushings and end links replaced and an alignment done. Slip Yoke was greased and all tires were just balanced Sat. I only get a slight vibration around 65 but it goes away by 70 at 75 the driveline seems much louder and far less smooth than it was say 3 months ago.

My rig has 85K miles on it and this clinky rattle noise started off very faint about 2 months ago and has gotten very loud in the last 4 weeks.

My concern is that the shop says that every looks okay and they cannot see anything .... but when we ride we can hear it.

Tonight I removed my front bumper just to rule out that as the culprit.

I can feel this thru the floor .... please any ideas are greatly appreciatted ... I drive alot for my biz and often have clients in my rig so safety is job one and then the annoyance factor.

Do you think if I take it to the dealer they might have more pull with the warranty co. or should I just demand the warranty co send an adjuster to the shop to hear for himself .....

I am at my witts end

TIA

I'd try to re-tourque the end links. This is usually the problem. Could be the radius arm bushing as well.

Thankls for the reply...

end links are torqued and re torqued. In fact the noise was still there on a 10 mph drive without the sway and endlinks on the truck.

I do not have a raduis arm as I am the same as a 2nd gen explorer

Today I am gonna set the 2 week old rancho 9000's to 9 and see what I notice ... if anything

I shall post back

TIA

Since you said it was on uneven terrain, i'm thinking it could be your inner tie rod ends. A quick fix most people have done is to cut a small hole into the boot, then spray it with wd40.
If it fixes it, there's two things you can do, seal up that hole with something, when it starts doing it again, just spray it again OR you could just replace the inner tie rod ends(I replaced me inners and outers with moog chassis parts).

I may just try that warform.

I am due to go back to the shop for the third time tommorrow to ride with them again.

Today I set the rancho 9000's to 9 and the noise all but went away. The only trace was a clunk when I hit larger bumps, but it was not the clunk with the rattle sound.

The truck rides like poop on 9 but for diagnostic puposes it tells me that the problem definately has something to do with one or a combination of the following:

ball joints
tie rods
control arm bushings

When I dismounted the wheel I get about 1/3 inch of up and down play when I pull up and down on the lower control arm along with a clunk sound that is noticable yet not overpowing... is that normal ???

I am gonna set the shcoks to 1 and do some driving and see what I get I will also pull the wheel with them set to 1 and see what sort of play I get.

To me the fact that the clunk goes away with the firmer shock setting, I am lead to believe it has to be limiting the travel or opportunity to travel of whatever it is that is loose. The shock is doing it's job and absorbing the impact.

I had a rattle in my front end too. Turned out to be the sway bar bushings where it connects to the frame. Pick up some Energy Suspension ones. They come with new, stronger endlinks, along with all sway bar bushings.

Pick up some Energy Suspension ones.

Click to expand...

Where from and how much are those?

Originally posted by IAmTodd
I had a rattle in my front end too. Turned out to be the sway bar bushings where it connects to the frame. Pick up some Energy Suspension ones. They come with new, stronger endlinks, along with all sway bar bushings.

Click to expand...

Thanks for the reply ... energy sway bushings have already been done ... even tested it without the sway installed still rattled and clunked...

Since the sound seems to have gone away on the firmest setting, take a look at and around the torsion bars, it's mounts, and near the adjuster.

thanks etc ... last night I remove the torsion adj cover so I could see the whole unit. Everything looked good and seated. On my model year their are no kevlar pads on the adjuster but rather a rectangular seat thingy and the rubber looked good around the edges, I guess the on way to tell would be to remove the whole thing and drop it out because I cannot see the top portion tapping the torsion bar with a rubber mallet yields no strange sounds...

on another note as I was driving it tonight I am now developing a groaning squeky sound as I brake that happens say the last 4 feet prior to full stop ... if I let off the brake and reapply the brake it will groan slightly. It is not a metal groan but rather a rubbery sort of groanish squek, or squekish groan ... I am thinking a bushing of some sort

I removed the wheel and inspected the brakes to be certain as it got new pads and rotors turned about 2 weeks ago...all was well and pulling up and down on the lower contol arm still yields a clunk and about 1/3 inch of play

Still get a vibration between 65 and 70 not sure that is related or not ...

ahh tommorrow cannot come soon enough

pulling up and down on the lower contol arm still yields a clunk and about 1/3 inch of play


This sounds like lower ball joint. You say you did the upper BJ - why did you not do the lower at the same time ?

Originally posted by superchef
pulling up and down on the lower contol arm still yields a clunk and about 1/3 inch of play


This sounds like lower ball joint. You say you did the upper BJ - why did you not do the lower at the same time ?

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I am 90% certain it is the lower ball joints. I think the tie rods ends could prolly use a switching to. When I had the wheel off tonight and the front up on jack stands the clunky sound I get when pulling up on the lower control arm seems loudest by the lower ball joint.

Only the one upper was done because that was all the shop tought needed to be done 2 weeks ago. They tell me everything is tight and what not yet I still have this clunk. I didn't make it in this morning but am scheduled for mon am.

The shop doesn't want to keep replacing things and contatacting the warranty co and telling them ooops that wasn't it let us try this instead.

To me it makes more sense to just do all the ball joints at once along with the tie rods then an alignment rather than piece meal over the next year and have to align it ever time they fix one thing. If it were me paying that is how it would get done, but seeing it is the warranty co .... well oh well

The sound is getting worse and the play was even more noticable with the jack stands under the frame instead of the jack on the control arm
I also greased up the inner tie rods with spay white lithium and found no difference as a result.

I think I eliminated my brake groan by re greasing the caliper pins.

I think I to have pi pointed my minor vibration and shimy at 65 to 70 as well... It appears as the inner balance weight on the pass front flew off ... and iI do recall hearing a thud in front well as I was leaving the tire shop last weekend ... so I will be going in first thing tommorrow to have tha tire balance checked ...

Took her in this morning and rather than go for a ride I said let's pull the wheel so I can show you the play it has ...

3 minutes later ... oh my the lower ball joints are shot ...

SHould have her back tommorrow night and we shall see ...

hopefully that takes care or the rattle and minor vibration I get at 65 and on bends & curves....

fingers crossed

How much would it cost to replace the ball joints, i believe i have the same problem

Sounds like a loose nut behind the wheel. Fix that and you will fix everything. Or well, at least that is what I tell all my customers no matter what the problem

Originally posted by Nicaraguense
Sounds like a loose nut behind the wheel. Fix that and you will fix everything. Or well, at least that is what I tell all my customers no matter what the problem

Click to expand...

Not sure what nut it is that you refer to??

Please advise

Replacement of the lower ball joints seems to have eliminated the clink and rattle ... although I only drove about ten miles as it has a deathly shake at 65 and going around bends or curves .... appears they didn't realign her or they botched it good ...

as far as cost goes I have no idea ...extended warranty picked it up ...

Just a thought, have you looked at your wheel bearings. I never had that problem with my Xplorer but, I have the same noise coming from my bike, it ended up being shot whell bearing and because of that the wheel hubs went out.

HAHAHAH the loose nut would be you (the owner / driver. Any problem can always be related back to a loose nut behind the wheel (steering wheel) thats why I tell all my customers that.

Well.. I thought it was gone but ......

It is still there....the rattle that is... and my vibrations seem worse and getting worse

After they replaced the lower ball joints the clunking sound is gone and I have no play in the control arm at all.

The only problems left are the rattle which only seems to occur now when I go over any series of pavement that is bumpy ... single bumps no noise 5-10 or a stretch of uneven pavement = rattle rattle rattle ....

and my highway vibration that at times going around the right curve seems like the shake of death although I have only driven her about 50 miles since I have had her back

Going back first thing thursday to have alignment checked as the toe seems off

I am starting to loose sleep and am starting to ponder a new ride

Mine has been doing this off and on for the last year or so. Sometimes its very bad and very noticable.. then it will just go away. But it is the exact same thing you are describing. I was hoping it wasn't ball joints because I only have 10k on my truck.

Hopefully you get this problem figured out!