loud bang under the floor

[Tedman]

Ok I have replaced the shift motor and the 4X4 is working fine now so lets try it on the beach.

perfect, lets try the dunes....

perfect again, or is it?

going up a dune a loud banging from under the car and you can feel it on your floor board!

scared me and the mrs, so back home we went in 2x4, at the house on the jack and looking under the car nothing to see.
everything looks like it should look like.
what could that loud banging be and where to look for it?

it only happened in 4x4 going up a dune, going down or going level it is fine.

and it only happens when im moving which makes it harder to look under the car

 

[roba226]

strap yourself under the car and let the mrs drive. that'll help you find it.
other than that i have no ideas. lol

 

[RiverRat]

I want to know too

 

[Glacier991]

Ever replaced your Radius Arm bushings? They can look fine but be bad... when they are bad the noise that can be produced feels like it is coming from right under your feet. (you are 1st generation, so this WOULD apply to your vehicle as they had RA bushings)

 

[Tedman]

sounds about right

ok what you say sounds like it, it does feel like it is right under my feet,
those radius arm bushings you called them.
Hard to do it your self ?
and maybe a picture of them?

 

[Glacier991]

Here is a picture from the front side. The back ends with a bolt. This is apicture of a bad one.... hard to tell by looking... but there is some space here. Oten the innards will be eaten up and nearly gone, and the outside can look "fine" to the untrained eye.

Hard to replace, depends. Do a search, you will find lots of info on it. The trouble is that there are rivets which muct be gotten out and replaced by bolts (grade 8 please). I drill mine and hammer the rivets out. Others have other methods. I plan to do a photo thread this spring when I replace this one....

Difficult? Depends on your level of experience and tools. For a competent DIY soul with tools, probably 2-1/2 to 4 hours for the first side, less for the other. Parts are about $30-40. One a scale of 1 to 5 in terms of difficulty I'd rate it a 3. Do that search and read up on it... it will help you check yours too.

 

[Tedman]

wow thanks for the quick reply, i sure hope this is NOT my problem, if it is I am looking at a few hundred to have it done. I am lacking the time and tools to do it myself.
So for my sake lets hope it is not MY problem, but if it is than i found it thanks to the quick responce today.
thanks again.

 

[smiley1]

Tedman,

Just a bit off topic, but I noticed you live in Santa Maria. I just got a transfer with my job and bought a house there in Orcutt. We used to live Arroyo Grande so this is like comming back home. I sure miss the dunes.

Dose this bang happen often or was it just once? I was at the dunes one day and felt a bang under the floor board. I stopped and looked under the X. I found that I ran over a limb that was partially burried under the sand and it just flung up and hit the bottom of the X.

Hope you get it all figured out.

 

[Rhett]

It could be radius arm bushings; or a tree branch or rock as was said;
another possibility is a dry slip yoke on the driveshaft, or a u-joint on the drive shaft. Slip yoke is an easy lube job. A driveshaft u-joint isn't too tough or expensive.

 

[Creager]

was it a bang like the hubs came loose? My original automatic hubs did that... they would work in 4wheel drive for a sec then BAANG the whole car would shutter and i felt it right under my feet.

It only did it periodically. It would run fine, then give out with a loud bang and go back to normal until it did it again; only in 4x4.

 

[Tedman]

yep thats what it sounds like

Ok with all the information i have now and armed with the haynes repair manual two or 3 days to take the front end off replace all whats broken fix all that needs fixing and another 3 days of putting it back together should do it.

Unless it was a rock, branch, ship wreck, mother inlaw burried under sand, or other things that jump up and hit the car several times a day.

hehehe back to the garage it is...thank you guys!

 

[monkeydude3]

well I went to do my radius arm bushings and with my given circumstances I gave up. I can't recall how much the kit was for all them and the washers, but it was under $50. I took it to midas and they charged me one hour to do it, and they did it perfectly.... mine was rattling/ clunking/ banging on the front right because one bushing was completely gone... now it's smooth.

 

[Creager]

two or 3 days to take the front end off replace all whats broken fix all that needs fixing and another 3 days of putting it back together should do it.

Thats if you plan on doing all the bushings, ball joints, tie rod ends, and you are painting everything (thats what i did!). 2 or 3 days is all you need just for bushings; takin it all apart and putting it all back togeather.

If you plan on doing more then just the Radius arm bushing you are going to need a couple of tools

1) The axle pivot bushing is gonna need something to melt it out. A small butane torch will do the trick. Also you are going to need air chissle to get the small housing around the stock axle pivot bushing out; Or a hacksaw, take the blade apart and assemble it inside the hole and saw that sleeve out.

2) A C-Frame press if you plan on doing the sway bar bushings. Free to rent with a $250 dollar deposit from NAPA, 20 bucks to own from Harbor frieght (great tool to have). You will also need this Tool for your ball joints.

3) a good ball pien hammer to get the knuckles off and a balljoint/tie-rod-end Fork to get the tie rods apart.

the rest should be easy.

If you plan on doing just the radius arms...

...The secret to doing the radius arm bushings is to take out the axle pivot bolt. pull that end out and the whole axle arm will come free; on the passenger side you can lay under the axle and man handle it, slide the radius arm out and *boom* swap your bushings.

the driver side i would recommend using a jack to handle the axle arm, so the pumpkin doesnt squash you; then free the axle pivot bolt. also make sure you unbolt that u-joint (its 4 small bolts) and be careful not to drop it or angle it funny; U-joints make a funny mess.

I found taking those bolts out to be the easiest way to do it, you will have to take out the coil and the shock but that only takes at the most (if you dont know what you are doing already) a half an hour.

The very first time i did radius arm bushings i tried doing it without taking the axle pivot bolt out; since i thought it was too difficult and i was being lazy. And i had a ***** of a time trying to get that radius arm out of the bracket, so i took my truck's small-sized tire-jack and put it between the frame and the axle arm and jacked the arm out long enough to get the bushing on and off. later when i decided i was gonna do all the bushings in my truck's front end i found it was a hell of a lot easier because i took the whole thing apart.