FOUND IT! Post lift clunking and knocking.

So no strut reassembly this weekend. TRDparts4U drop shipped my 887s...what I just received was a Dodge flex plate...

Amazon Prime has altered my online shopping/delivery expectations and they are clearly too high.

 

Been busy clearing out my entire garage (my family is a family of hoarders) so I can get enough room to really work on the Taco.

While cleaning, I got to thinking that maybe I'm having an issue with the UCA ball joints. Almost all the clunking happens on the driver's side, where I know my caster is not in spec. Could the UCA ball joints be knocking? I've got it down to a specific turn and my fiancee's driveway where I can reproduce the clunk. Anyone near Austin have a GoPro I could borrow for a few hours?

 

I've had the dreaded clunk for a while - never found anything loose, but I had always suspected the UCA ball joints. Yesterday, I adjusted my coil-overs. Reduced the pre-load on the springs quite a bit - actually dropped the front of the truck about 1/4 inch and a visibly better UCA angle. What do you know. Massively reduced clunk. Maybe not THE answer, but definitely part of it for my truck.

 

Add me to the list.

One in front, one in back. The one in front is only during low speed right hand turns where there is a bump/elevation change. I may look into the sway bar relocate, but my LCA cam bolts are definitely at the correct torque as I've checked them more than once. I only noticed the noise as the weather has gotten colder.

The one in the back has me stumped. I notice it the most when I back out over an offset bump. Doesn't make any noise over regular road bumps. I checked the U-bolt torque and they're all at 84. I will check the front leaf mounts and see if something is lose there.

I assumed I installed everything correctly when I did the lift, but I could have always made a silly mistake. I went nuts with my torque wrench tho and everything was put in to the FSM specs.

Glad to hear I'm not the only one with this issue.

 

Update. Nothing has been wrenched on at all, but I got under the front and quietly looked around. Here's what I found and what I think is my problem:

Driver's side (clunking side) outer tie rod:


Passenger's side (presumably good and normal) outer tie rod:


Previously I noticed that the driver's side one was covered in black gunk while the passenger's side was "clean", but I hadn't noticed that the actual joint was leaking. Might not have been leaking yet last time I checked. Anyway, it's leaking now. I'm not too familiar with tie rod ends, but it seems like this could explain why I get the clunk when the suspension cycles AND I'm turning.

Thoughts?

 

Install an aftermarket front skid plate and haven't had a clunk in the 2 days driving to work since. Might be coincidence or maybe that massive skid stabilized something that the stock brackets couldn't.

 

Good weather today in central Texas...

Shims to hopefully help the takeoff shudder:



887s to replace 886s because I don't have a plate bumper yet. Reassembling the struts may help with clunks, too. And Moog tie rod ends because I think that's really what's clunking...

 

Nice @jtweezy looks like you have a busy weekend. Let us know if you see anything out of the ordinary.

On my end, I made an appointment to see if my buddy at Toyota can find anything...

It's super random, I've gone over every bolt & nut in the front end nothing..! WTF..!!! Last week I had to hop a curb as I did, it was at a slight angel. One wheel at a time, when the rear wheels passed the driver & passenger sido bote poped/clunked. It's almost like if the body is slightly coming off the frame. All my bolts are torqued and tight.

 

Those body mounts have bushings that can wear out. Supposedly if that happens, no amount of torque will fix it. Might wanna check out the bushings.

So, had an unplanned interruption today and have only completed the axle shims. The good news is, the combination of no CB drop and 3 degree axle shims have rid my truck of take-off vibes.

 

I'm not sure if you checked your bed mounting bolts, they are known to come loose and it sort of sounds like the symptoms your having.

Mind you I could be completely incorrect, but try moving your bed up n down and then check the bolts in that mount the bed to the frame

 

@jtweezy ok, I'll check this out. My truck only have 21k could this be possible...? Do they sell any aftermarket ones..?

 

@Turbofed I checked my bed a few weeks back as some els mentioned this. Mine was in place and tighh no wiggle at all.

 

I wouldn't think so at 21k. I'm at 40k and mine are ok. Energy Suspension makes some I believe.

 

I have a very slight but noticeable shutter shake between like 5-10 mph when accelerating, is that what you were experiencing and did the shims fix it?

 

Yep. There's still a very subtle one every now and then with the shims, so I'm going to try and put the CB drop back in or rotate the carrier bearing 180 degrees. One of the theories I've read is the front half shaft (coming out of the transmission) needs to be perfectly level, and then the rear half shaft needs to have the same working angles at either end. So either my carrier bearing needs to go up or down now, I think.

Tomorrow the 887s and new tie rod ends go on to (again, hopefully) fix the front end clunk.

And in regards to the rear end clunk...I wanted to test my theory that the leafs were rotating and hitting the shackles (or collars, or whatever you call those things that box the leafs in every 8" or so), so I decided not to spray the leafs with the white lithium that I've been using to cure the squeaks. So far, rear end clunks...but the Dakars squeak and squeal like CRAZY. I'm going to end up doing the real fix, EPDM sheets or zip ties in the between the leafs.

 

After a full week (300+ miles), I'm pretty sure that my front end clunk when turning on a bump has stopped completely. Installing a skid plate fixed it. Something must have been able to move before and the skid is rigid enough to hold it now.

 

Nice. Might've been a loose stock skid?

 

nah. Stock skids had been plenty tight.

 

It could just be frame flex. I remember one guy wrote a thread all about urethane core support bushings and how much the frame flexes with stock stuff.

 

Alright, finally the real update...

Swapped 886 coils for 887 coils -- ride is a million times better, as expected. Lost SOME height in the front, not bad at all.

Installed Moog greasable tie rod ends -- no more driver's side clunking! Yes! Got a passenger side clunk, but I think that side needs more grease. I'll fill it up tonight and see tomorrow.

Rear axle 3 degree shims -- take off vibe is 90% gone. I'm going to let things settle a bit and try the CB drop and/or flipping the carrier bearing.

So far, for a weekend's worth of work, I'm VERY pleased with the outcome. Of course 2/3 of the work was for the lift I installed. I think ultimately the outer tie rod end was the cause of my front end clunking, and the leafs rotating side to side was causing my rear end clunking.