Suspension Clicks, Pops, and Squeaks. But only with a Passenger?

EDIT: Audio file now available, post #14.

Ok fellas I'm a wrencher so I know what I am doing. But this has been a very elusive sound to find. Seemingly from front right suspension.

It only makes all this noise (yes, there's three separate noises) when there's a passenger in the car with me. By myself, no noise.

Noise #1 is a distinct, sharp pop or clack. metal on metal.
Noise #2 is a squeak. like light metal rubbing on something.
Noise #3 is a nasty rattle, like a metallic part about to just fall off already.

They all happen together. With two people. They won't happen with just the driver. And they won't happen with three people. So it needs about 300 pounds in the cabin. Not 150 (1 person), or 450 (three), only at 300 (two people).

It's not the seat, as I replicated a passenger with weights on the passenger floor board.

I found the three strut bolts all lose on both sides. I was very pleased to see this. But the noise remained. (it has a spacer lift it came with that I want to remove) I replaced the sway bar end links but because I bought the truck with them shot last week. Wheel studs are tight.

Jacked up truck on lift and front bearings, ball joints & tie rod ends all seem tight. U-bolts out back are all tight.

I can't find any tell tale rusty spots, loose items, or bad bushings. So after a week of trying to find this one, I'm here looking for ideas.

The truck is an 02 reg cab prerunner with 98k miles. No rust or corrosion underneath, florida car all it's life. No leaks, so no oil anywhere eating at bushings.

Body mounts seem ok but maybe thats the culprit? How do you check those?

Any direction you may have, please share. Lol I'm about to lose it. The fact this is still happening after all my investigations and searches is driving me mad.

Thanks, all!

 

bump--interesting
????? no idea here???

 

I was doing some more investigating... I had my wife drive while I was listening under the truck. I'm thinking it's the rear passenger body mount. I can feel the clicks on it with my hand on it.

Do these things go out this easily and with such a racket? Good lord. I'm off to search and read up on these....

The tranny mount flexes a bit but I'm sure that's normal and it's just doing it's thing. You can replicate the noise by braking sharply in reverse at 1mph. Does it every time. More evidence for rear body mount, perhaps...

 

Checked the bolts on the mount in question and they are TIGHT. So it's not loose.

Do these usually fail and need changing periodically? Has anyone ever had a noisy body mount on here? Wondering if they are like engine mounts where at some point you just gotta change em.

Thanks, all!

 

Never heard of the mount being a problem. I do know that the gaskets between leaf springs wear out and make a lot of noise.

 

Hmm... My leaf springs do have some rust dust on 'em. You know, the orange coat metal parts get when they rub. Is that normal or a dead giveaway?

I could spray it all with WD40 or similar and see if it helps?

But man, it damn sure sounds like it's frontish/middle part of the truck.

Looks like more driving with my head hanging out by the passenger nerf bar.

Thanks, all! Keep the thoughts flowing.

 

Broken spring in the pass seat?

Rear shocks are tight? Sometimes those lower bushings in the shocks can wear, and the shock will pound on that lower mounting bolt. Usually, that is a constant noise, but it could happen they way you describe.

 

I'll give that a look.

I ruled out the seat (bench) because I can replicate the sound with gym weights on the floorboard and only me on the seat.

So if it's 150 pounds of plates on the floor, or 150 pounds of human meat in the seat, it does it all the same.

Thanks!

 

Suspension pics from another thread for reference:

https://www.dropbox.com/s/k42gspez2ew27jn/2014-04-09 18.32.15.jpg

https://www.dropbox.com/s/g7jnmrx80j01646/2014-04-09 18.32.35.jpg

https://www.dropbox.com/s/3r85h9o5ia54l2e/2014-04-09 18.33.10.jpg

 

If you think it's body mount,you could hammer plastic shim to take up slack. If that works,you know what it is . Did you access rubber plug under carpet to tighten? The truck could have a broken leaf spring also.

 

Yep, and all bolts from the bottom as well. VERY tight. I'll try your shim idea and see what I find. Good one, thanks!

 

Cool, hope that's it. Let us know, we like hearing results.

 

Check your leaf spring eye bushing. Mine drove me nuts till I found it.

 

Okay I got sound. Here's a quick rundown of what you're hearing:

:02 pop
:04 rattle
:06 my keys hitting the dash from bumps, ignore
:14 squeak
:16 squeak
:18 LOUD gym plates hitting each other on bump, ignore.
:19 squeak
:20 squeak
:20-26: the rattle
:28-29: three pops
:30 weights again, ignore
:33 the pop
:36 squeak

You can stop there. Rest is uneventful.

lol this is driving me insane.

Click for sound:
https://www.dropbox.com/s/eal3cm3zxw9hmay/Voice 004.m4a

Thanks for listening.

 

Spots:

I looked at the eye bushings and they look great. Like brand new great. This truck has only 98k on and the bushings for the most part look immaculate. The steering rack has a tiny bit of flex but doesn't make any noise or anything.

The front shock lower bushings are not centered, so the the bottom bolt on the lower control arm is a bit higher than it should be. Usual behavior for a bushing getting tired but I don't see anywhere where there's contact.

Thanks for the tip. The search continues.

 

Is this a clue? See pic. The cab is lower than the bed. Is this normal on tacos? Or proof I have dead body mounts?

The character line doesn't line up between the bed and the cab.

https://www.dropbox.com/s/yt5yiw9qfr27rul/2014-04-14 19.23.32.jpg

 

have you tried to tighten the sway bar endlinks? they can be loose but show no sign of it and rattle under specific conditions.

 

I have the squeak. Mine makes a racket. My leafs are shot, and they squeak bad. I have a new squeak now though, bits mines a suspension, as I bet yours are too. I'm gonna replace all my suspension. I have a feeling that spacer lift is causing some problems as well. And please, whatever you do, DONT SPRAY YOUR TRUCK WITH WD-40. That will rust your truck out faster then anything. Contrary to popular belief, WD-40 is not the go to product, nor is it a lubricant. What it is is an awesome cleaner and water displaced(Water displacement #40)

 

10-4 on the WD-40. Lots of good spray lubes out there.. Hey op,did you try shims? Between frame rail and cab? Did you check bed mounts on front?

 

To many fat chicks?