Clunk Noise Rear End of Truck When Suspension Flexing

@TNTramair Did you install the OME bushings?

 

I installed these...energy suspension. forget where i purchased them from though.

 

Don't blame the Dakar springs just yet. I've been struggling with the exact same issue on my pretty much stock 2014 TRD Sport for months now. The worst part is that it comes and goes. Sometimes it's loud as hell while other times it's fairly low key - and then it goes away for days at a time. Although I have a set of Timbrens installed on top of the leaf packs, my suspension is otherwise stock. I've been all over the whole rear end of the truck and have checked / tightened everything including the shocks, the Timbrens, the trailer hitch mounts, the lug nuts and the spring hangars. All to no avail.

I too was leaning towards something shifting around in the leaf springs and haven't totally ruled it out yet. I do have a tiny bit of play - depending on how level of a surface the truck is parked on - in the bed / box attachment bolts. As soon as the weather improves up here I'm probably going to be adding some rubber bushings between the box and the frame to see if that takes some of the clunking away. I hope that helps someone.

 

I have yet to try torqueing down the bed mount bolts. It's definitely a thought now, since the clunk definitely is coming from that area.

 

I changed the bushings on leaf springs where they bolt to the shackles, but I didn't change the bushings where the shackle bolts to the frame. I believe those factory bushings are pressed in.

 

Change those too

 

So my clunk is the bumpstops. Guess I am retarded.

When I upgraded my suspension I also put 300lbs of sand in the back for winter, to get better traction. It has worked with the traction, but it sinks the rear quite a bit and its riding pretty close to the bumpstops all the time. The Timbren Active Off-Road bumpstops are pretty tall.

 

I know what my clunk is. Its the Dakar leafs shifting and clunking. In wet weather it does it easily, in dry warm weather its harder for the leafs to shift. I could fix it by installing something indetween the leafs, maybe i will when i get motivation and report back.

 

I have the same noise with the all pro standard leaf springs. Been searching forever and even added a budbilt traction bar thinking it was axle wrap. That didn’t fix the problem either.

 

I have a 3rd gen but have the same problem where my truck makes a clunk sound when turning and shifting weight, seems to be coming from the rear. I took the truck in to Toyota under warranty thinking it could be coming from where the bed mounts to the frame (already had a rattle from this area that my off road shop fixed with a rubber bushing). After over a week of troubleshooting and starting a case with Toyota corporate they called me today to tell me that they had isolated that it was coming from the leaf springs and then reverberating though the rear of the truck and bed. They said a technician was able to tightly hold they leaf pack while they shook the truck back and forth and make the sound go away. I'm going to check the isolators on the leaf spring packs when I pick up my truck tomorrow but I will be disappointed if the sound is coming from the leaf pack shifting. I already had ARB warranty my CS047R leaf pack and replace with the EL096R. Has anyone else had this specific issue with Dakars? Fix?

 

I have the same noise Goin on it sounds like mine is coming from driver side leaf pack.

 

A while back, I had a clunking noise coming from the rear end area. It only occurred when I was backing down the twisting sloped driveway where I park everyday. It turned out to be a warped brake drum, funny, it only did it in reverse.

 

Mine does it randomly in both forward and reverse. I haven’t looked into the brakes yet.

 

Any solid update on this? My clunk is getting annoying and I'm starting to check off things on the list that dont work...tighten U bolts, tighten bed bolts, tighten shackle bushings, tighten shocks, the spare tire and I'm still clunking. My next step might be to go to some new shackle bushings, what do you guys think?

 

Remember, tightening the bed bolts might not do the trick. I had to shim one of them to solve my clunk. To see if this is required, go to each corner of the bed and shake it up and down. If you feel play, shimming is required.

 

interesting! where would i shim? underside of the bed where it attaches to frame?

 

That's where I placed mine. I think I even have some of the shimming material left someplace if you need it.

 

what shim material did you use? And is your clunk 100% gone?

 

I used a thin, white polymer (plastic) material available in sheets and cut it to size. I actually got it as a result of a post I saw here somewhere on how to fix the clunk.

 

hey OP did you ever find cause of your issue?