I know too much about cars (aka, how I outsmarted myself)

For the last two weeks, I've been noticing a bad clunking rattle coming from the back of my truck whenever I go over a bump.

Because I have been working on cars since before I could drive, I had a giant list in my head of all the things that it could be, I spent last weekend trying to fix it.

1. Checked the torque on all the suspension bolts. Test drove, still clunking
2. Pulled rear shocks, checked, reinstalled. Test drove, still clunking.
3. Checked torque on bed mounting bolts. Test drove, still clunking.
4. Removed tailgate. Test drove, still clunking.
5. Checked torque on bumper bolts. Test drove, still clunking.
6. Pulled rear wheels, checked brakes, test drove, still clunking.

Then I remembered that I had rented a trailer a couple weeks ago to move a non running motorcycle...right around when the clunking started.

1. Wiggled hitch reciever. Clunk.
2. Removed reciever. Test drove, No clunk.

So yeah, I pulled half my truck apart because I know too much.

 

Oof. I guess the more experienced you get, the more you forget about the little things that make noise. Glad it wasn't an issue!

 

Same thing happened to me, months of tearing my front end up, and the noise was my winch had unspooled a little and the hook was knocking the bumper...

 

Years ago, when I had an old '68 bug, it had started having what appeared to be a fuel issue (power drops and such). I opened the rear hood and stared at the engine trying to figure it out. I check the fuel pump, etc. I looked around for hours and then I saw it. Right in front of my nose. A little wire dangling down from the distributor... it was shorting out the ignition, as swung around.

 

reminds me of the time i changed the rear main seal on a 92 jeep wrangler because it was leaking. changed it twice still leaked ended up being a clogged PCV valve building up pressure inside the block and forcing oil out the rear seal. DUH.

 

Sounds like you need more Occam's Razor & less Rube Goldberg.

 

Learned that shit the hard way at my dealer twice. Once was a trailer hitch on a F150 and other time was spare tire loose in a escape or explorer. Took my like 30 minutes each to figure out and warranty doesn't pay that time. Now I have someone sit in the bed or backseats if I'm not sure what the noise is to check where it's coming from.

 

KISS!

Keep
It
Simple
Stupid

Don't go down the rabbit hole!

 

In order for it to be a true Friday thread, OP would have said:

Happy Frigg day!

 

Let's burn this shitshow to the GROUND!

 

Nearly any noise my truck makes is something rattling around that I forgot about. I had a recovery hook sliding around in my tundra that took a while before I remembered it was behind the rear seats and would slide and hit the supports.

 

Serves you right for thinking’.

 

I literally just realized it’s Friday the 13th...

Luckily I am not that superstitious!

When Friday the 13th falls in October, that’s when you’ve got to worry!

 

Chased a rattle around with our Subaru for a day before I realized it was a pine cone rolling around the roof between the rack bars.

 

I had the same thing, I know nothing so I checked my hitch receiver, removed it, test drove, suspension fell off.

JK, happy Friday..

 

I have a shackle in the back that clunks like mad but I live in Chicago so I keep it on in case someone taps my bumper parallel parking. Also being partially deaf on one side from machine gun fire caused me to blast my music so I can’t hear crap anyway