LCA moves on its mounts?!!?

After working retrieval at the Rage at The River Race in Laughlin NV I developed a new clunk. It happens whenever I go over bumps on a bad street (or offroading). It sounds like a metal on metal clunk coming from my front suspension. My 4x4 high and low both still work fine, it does not seem to affect my steering, accelerating or breaking. The only thing I have noticed is a small shake on my front end when driving which is much more noticeable when going downhill, even at 30mph.

There is no noticeable damage to the suspension other than the fact that my LCA moves on its back mount (closest to the cab) when I move my tries (in park). I also get a similar clunking noise when turning my tires which is only noticeable when in park. Here is the video.




I am hoping this is only a bad bushing and that it will solve my clunk noise.






I also get a clicking / clunking sound when breaking to a stop, most noticeable going from about 10mph to 5mph. It seems to be coming from under the truck toward the back, possibly where the drive shaft connects to the rear pumpkin? It sounds very similar to the noise I got when my drive shaft was "popping up and down" in the u joints right before my drive shaft fell off at about 30,000 miles (replaced under warranty). I have greased my u joints since this noise started and it did not help. Any ideas on this one?


Sorry for the long post.. Thanks in advance for all your help and suggestions!

 

Hmmmmm... You might need new LCA bushings and bolts.

 

cant see the video but it sounds like you need new bushings lca shouldnt move like that

 

Not sure what the clicking is

 

time to go LT...j/k

some play in the bushings is fine..they are made of rubber after all.. i think your bushings appear to be pretty worn out. is that where the noise is coming from?

hows the appearance of the bushing..are they cracked, torn, or ripped? is there anything obvious that might indicated they are shot besides from looking at the excessive play from the what the video shows?

 

silly question and i think you already mentioned that SDHQ's pit crew guys looked everything over..but have you had your b/f check the bolts to the upper and lower control arms recently?

 

Thats what Aaron and I are thinking..

Yeah it moves a lot

The noise when I turn my wheels is coming from the LCA for sure but I am not 100% sure that is the same noise that happens when driving over bumps and is not the same noise that happens when decelerating for sure. SDHQ tighetend almost every suspension bolt for me but it did not fix any of the noises. We can not see the bushings with out taking it apart which we have not done yet. But I will post pics when we do for sure.

 

i think the first step obviously is to replace the bushings since there isn't much involved. and go from there to figure out the other noises

 

i agree, i was just trying to see if anyone thought of anything that aaron and I did not..

 

Same problem I had after I got my truck aligned. The alignment tech didnt tourqe the LCA bolts correctly and it took me a long to figure it out.

Check to make sure the LCA bolts are tourqed

tourqe spec is 150 ft. lbs.

 

thanks!!

 

I also had at pop/clunk noise from the front. Same thing as 09Taco4x4, Damn LCA bolts were not correctly torqued after an alignment.

 

I've had a noise like that coming from my drivers side front suspension area for the longest time...this just may be it. I originally thought it may be my uni-balls on my Icon UCA's, but I had those changed and I still hear this clunking noise when I hit bumps. I'm pretty sure its coming from the LCA on the drivers side. Sounds like the video to....is this something that would be under warranty???

 

How do you address this? Do I just take my torque wrench to the bolt/nut that was in the video there? Would that change my alignment specs at all???

 

I am under extended warranty and unless I take my whole suspension off and put stock parts back on I know they wont cover it. They might also say that a bushing is an item that will wear down just like tires or breaks.. who knows. If it is just a loose bolt and a bad bushing it will be a cheap fix (assuming you dont have to pay someone to take the suspension apart). Try having someone turn your wheels for you when you are in park and check to see if your LCAs are doing the same thing. I have not had the time to fix it this weekend, we will do it next sunday. I will post to let everyone know the results. Hopefully it will fix my clunking noise!!

Good question... anyone have an answer? Not that my alignment matters right now as its so off I need one anyways.

Thank you! I will post after we work on it to let everyone know how it turns out!

 

Ugh. Dry steering!

 

I just torqued it down good and tight, and it went away. I am unsure if my bushing are shot though.. i feel like even with bolts being loose, there should not be as much play as i had. But torqued down, it all seems to be ok so far. that was about 4k miles ago? cant remember exactly but its been a while and remains noise free.

 

lol

nice!!!! I will try the same as soon as I can!

 

Check the printer cables. I'm pretty sure that's what it is ^_^