FOUND IT! Post lift clunking and knocking.

I had a clunk in my truck I chased for more than a year...I would have put money on it having been something in the front driver side suspension, because I could "feel" it in the floor board and pedals. Finally gave up finding it. Only to discover I had a blown rear shock on the driver's side when I installed my 5100's...So, yes noise/problems coming from the rear can and will resonate through the frame and make you think they are coming from a completely different area.

 

Experiencing similar front end clunk/pop at random times. Definitely sounds/feels like it is coming from the driver side. Usually when parked and turning front wheels slightly... Very frustrating! I'm running 887s, dakars, OME shocks, and LR UCAs. I was contacting the coils, so I added a swaybar relocate, helped with some of the clunking... But still experience the random slow speed clunk!

 

It's enough to keep a man up and night....

Thinking of putting up a camera under there and trying to catch clunk red handed

Something to take to Toyota

 

ammo

 

Yup, sounds like my experiences.

Had one thought on my drive home tonight, what if it's the play in the CV axle? I have the infamous front diff vibe from the crappy needle bearing. There's obviously play in my driver's side CV axle, so what if it's binding at low speeds and moving the axle in/out of the front diff? Seems to make a noise when I shift it in and out by hand. At high speeds the thing is spinning so fast it's probably not moving laterally.

Does anyone here who has the random/mysterious front end clunking ALSO have the ECGS bushing? This could also explain why non-lifted guys are experiencing the clunk. There are some stock Tacos with the loose CV. Am I trying too hard to make this connection?

 

Did my ECGS bushing at the same time.

 

Bah!

 

For those of you with Dakars...

Did you use OEM bushings or ARB bushings? When you pressed them in, was there ANY gap between the lip on the bushing and the side of the leaf pack?

When I pressed my bushings in, I put some white lithium grease on them and pressed them in with my palm. They went in easy, but they didn't end up right against the side of the leafs. There was probably 5mm of space. I thought this was OK since the front bushings (pre-installed) were the same. If the rear clunk is from the leaf packs shifting, could this be the cause?

 

Attempting to post a video, first time..

But I've managed to film a series a clunks in a short film, the wheel barely turns 1/4 so that rules out steering bump stops.

Im hoping to go back to toyota with ammo, because it will be my 5th time in for this sound.

What do y'all think?

 

Sounds very similar, but worse than my clunking. Mine is almost predictable now. Anytime I hit an incline at an angle (forward or backward) like backing out of a slanted driveway with the wheels turned, clunk from the front left.

Anytime I hit an incline at an angle where one rear wheel engages the incline first, clunk from the rear.

I was able to recreate the rear end clunk while it was sitting still ONCE tonight. I grabbed the top bed rails on the driver's side and shook the truck as hard as I could, violently side-to-side. Got one audible "clunk!" out of it...then nothing. I'm going to drop the spare tire and leave it in the garage, remove EVERYTHING from the cubbies, remove everything from behind/under rear seat storage and see how it goes tomorrow.

I read over at ToyotaNation that someone was having an issue with their y-pipe banging against the frame or the crossmember, so I plan on checking/torquing that as well.

@patbegley -- let us know how it goes at Toyota! Hopefully they can figure it out or at least throw out some suggestions for folks here to try.

 

Sounds pretty similar. At least the very last chunk

 

Mine sounds like something is getting caught and then finally gives way. Happens pretty quick. Rather than a clunk like when you go full lock really fast and the steering bump stops hit.

 

Reading through the thread, I'm experiencing this same "clunk" problem. It's driving me insane as well.
My truck's specs:
- ome rear springs, eibach front springs, bilstein shocks, SPC uca's
- new front end. steering rack, rods & rod ends, bj's, etc. everything gone over & tightened.

Not sure where else to look / try. With the new parts, the truck drives great,.. but there's still a pop / clunk noise just as this thread describes that I can not resolve...

 

Ok, so this morning I...
1. Backed out and retorqued the rear shackle and rear leaf spring bolts.
2. Checked the spare for any signs of movement...nothing.
3. Torqued cab mount bolts...not loose at all.
4. Checked exhaust piping for possible contact points...all very solid, little movement.
5. Backed out and retorque carrier bearing bolts.

Result? The clunk from the rear is LESS, but still there. The clunk in the front is still there...and now I'm starting to think it may be the LCA bushings. I don't have a GoPro, and I'm not ballsy enough to rig up a mount for my phone under there, so I'll have to figure out another way to diagnose. Tried driving in a figure 8, didn't clunk.

I did, however, find this on my driver's side leaf spring pack. The rubber sleeve is missing on one of these shackles:


A view to the rear of the truck:


I have a hunch that lateral force applied to the rear axle is causing one or more of the leaf springs to rotate and hit this shackle. And without the rubber sleeve, it's making a clunk from the metal-on-metal contact. I'm going to try and find something to wedge in there to see if that's really what's happening. I did start greasing my Dakars with white lithium spray a couple of weeks after install because they started to squeak. That may explain why they're shifting around now.

 

THIS!!

I have posted this several times. These, and the cab mounts, both need to be re-torqued from time to time. I did it and my clunk went away. Any time the frame is flexed/twisted whether it be from turning or going over elevations laterally it would pop/clunk and I would feel it at my feet.

If you are having a clunk, tighten these crossmember bolts and cab mounts.

Removing the sway bar will limit or eliminate the clunk, just because removing it will remove the stress on the frame and allow more suspension travel instead.

 

Thats what I did. I thought my UCAs were the cause of my clunking, but it turned out to be bad LCA bushings....
Long and boring video, skip to last 20 seconds.
https://youtu.be/GZ0Uprg7UxE

 

Don't know about the other folks here, but I checked my crossmember bolts and they're at or above the 30ft-lbs they're spec'd at.

My front end clunk happens even on level ground.

 

LCA bushings bad at 40k miles? The truck has only been aligned once since I bought it...so those cam bolts have been untouched except the alignment.

 

I only have 30K.

 

Hmmm...now I'm starting to think it's my LCA bushings.