Clunking noise when truck flexes - help

Brand new TRD Sport... only trim with access cab and manual transmission. Got some TRD Off Road oem bilstein suspension take off's for $150, thought I'd swap them out for a softer ride off road.

A buddy came over to 'help' with the swap and hang out. I have never done any suspension work before, so I was just kind of blindly going step by step as shown online, not really thinking about why I was instructed to do what I was doing, just doing it and it was working fine. When it came time to re-torque the LCA & lower shock mount bolts, I went to put the wheels back on and lower the truck onto it's own weight when my buddy berated me with "you don't know what the f**k your talking about, that's a waste of time, so on so forth". Thinking well, he supposedly works on cars and knows what he's talking about, I listened to him.

The suspension felt great on little bumps, but I noticed immediately when off-roading, whenever the truck would flex a good amount, there would be a creak followed immediately by a loud clank! right around full travel of the suspension.

I checked everything I could think of: coils oriented the correct way (proper coil on proper side of car, end of coil facing rear of truck), sway bar making contact with coils (shouldn't happen on OEM set up), and of course, loosening the LCA and shock mounting bolts, rocking the car back and forth, and then re-tightening them (130 ft-lbs). Still have the same noise when truck flexes.

So, I read on a thread that there can be damage to the serrations, or teeth marks, on the two mounting tabs where the LCA bushings are squeezed together by the cam bolts. Took the LCA off to inspect, and it appears some of the teeth marks have been stripped, and are off center. Likely because they were tightened with the car on jack stands, and then slipped out of place when the truck reached full travel.

Took the truck to Firestone to get it aligned, and explain the problem to them, they tell me that 130 ft-lbs probably isn't enough to keep it from slipping, and that it should be good after they torque it down with the impact. Didn't seem to understand my concern that the teeth marks are off center, and would cause the bushing sleeve to walk back into the wrong spot.

Sure enough, tried it out after the alignment and it did not solve the issue. Am I screwed? These mounting tabs with the teeth marks in them are welded straight to the frame. If I were to re-surface them, I'd permanently remove material. I was thinking maybe trying to fill in the screwed up teeth marks with jb weld, clean it up with a razor blade and get a flush surface for the teeth to bite down into again. Not sure if that's a dumb ass idea though. I figure it can't make the surface any worse at least.

What do you guys think? Does it seem like this is even the problem to you, given all that I've said above? Thanks in advance for any knowledgable input.

 

If I understand correctly, one of two things is happening:

1) The metal sleeves with teeth on the outside of the LCA bushing are slipping against the steel ears they get squeezed in

or

2) the metal sleeves with teeth are not slipping, and the rubber bushing inside has been damaged and that is what is causing the noise

Anyone have any opinion on the more likely cause?

 

This thread might help

https://www.tacomaworld.com/threads/cam-bolt-question-now-with-answers-and-writeup.502084/

From my understanding if you installed everything correctly and it is your lca making the noise, the lca shouldn't move unless your camber tabs are broken or bent.

 

What do you mean by "those teeth aren't the only thing keeping your arms in place"?

And the cam bolts are slightly higher than 130 per the service manual. I made sure everything was torqued to spec with the suspension loaded. rocked the car back and forth several times to get it to settle before tightening. Didn't fix it. Only thing that is now out of spec is the cam bolts, I would assume, as they told me they usually torque them down even tighter.

Cam bolt tabs flat? they seemed pretty flat to me as is, you mean the oval shaped washers that you would mark with a sharpie to try and keep alignment?

Excuse my ignorance. I may end up having to remove the LCA again to inspect the bushings. they were covered by those metal plates with teeth in them.

 

The oval shaped washer fits inside the tab. The thread I posted has some very good photos of what I'm talking about. The oval washer ( cam) is turned to get proper alignment. The purpose of the teeth is not to hold the lca in place but it is there to make sure your alignment doesn't change when you drive down the road.

Cam tabs often get flattened. If you look up total chaos cam tab gussets it might help you better understand.

 

@CGoss yea I know what you mean, the tabs are fine. So, building on that, once those teeth marks are imprinted in the mounting tabs for the first time, is it intended that the teeth on the outside of the LCA bushing fall back into the same grooves every time you get it aligned? Or is it possible for the the cam bolts to get tightened down with the teeth in a slightly different positioning than the existing grooves?

 

They will adjust with your lca camber setting. If your tabs are fine and everything is tight, I would start looking at other things. In your pictures I don't see the indication that your lca is moving. If it was I would think there would be paint scraped off by those teeth as the control arm suddenly moves inward toward. You can always mark your bolts with a sharpie and when you have a chance to flex again get out and visually inspect everything to see if anything has moved.

 

OP stated the truck it brand new. Frame still looks new as well. So I doubt it is bushings.

What was included in the 150$ suspension? Was it just shocks and struts? Was it a complete front strut assembly with top hats and coil springs? Upper control arms?

 

@CGoss @whatstcp what about a torn bushing in the LCA? do you think this could make the noise I described? It makes sense to me that if the suspension was drooping all the way down when that bushing was tightened, a lot of strain would be placed on the rubber when the suspension was at opposite travel.

Like I said, I didn't actually look at the rubber bushing when I took the LCA out, cause I was more concerned about slipping of those metal teeth, I didn't really understand the rubber bushing strain until further reading after re-installing. Also, the bushing was covered by those metal covers w/ teeth.

I want to check the rubber bushings, if that sounds like a likely culprit. Like I said it's an OEM set up, and only like 5 bolts per side were even messed with. I don't see where else the issue could be coming from.

 

I got the complete coil over assembly (spring, shock top hat and all) and the rear shocks. In theory, a quick bolt-right-up swap. They were off a '19 TRD off road with about 2000 miles on them

 

Immediately after torquing the suspension while up on jack stands, I took it out off road and flexed it all the way. Couldn't this tear a bushing even if it was brand new?

 

A bushing that is excessively worn or torn usually makes noise on speedbumps and potholes. It could be a torn bushing but it sounds like something is binding and not just loose or torn. An CV axle will compress under suspension compression. If it was not put together correctly or it was pulled apart it can bind under compression. Another thing it the sway bar, when you flex it is fighting to keep the the wheels parallel. You can see if this is the problem by removing it.( I haven't had one on my truck for a while but I do go off-road more than just a few times a year and I don't expect my truck to handle like a car). Last and least likely is the spring is not set properly.

 

It's pouring rain outside and a bunch of puddles around/under my truck. I will try and look through that tiny gap for damage tomorrow. Also, I like the idea of marking with a sharpie and flexing the truck to see if the LCA is indeed shifting.

Okay then, any other suggestions if you don't believe it to be teeth slipping or LCA bushings? I don't see any sign of metal on metal contact, and just really can't think of where the hell else it's coming from.

I understand if I were to lift something or go out of OEM spec how anything could be possible, but that's not the case.

 

@CGoss Thanks for the tips, the frustrating thing is it didn't creak with the stock suspension I had in it, only after I swapped the suspension. Far as I know I never touched the CV axle, and if it were an issue from factory I would have heard it on my first off road trip I reckon.

I figured no way in hell the sway bar was the issue, cause everything is OEM, but maybe that would be a quick one to try just to cross it off the list of possibilities.

 

LOL I understand the tab thing, they are still there. The noise I am encountering started before Firestone ever laid a finger on the truck. I have been trying to resolve this for a couple of days now after the swap, just took it to Firestone to get aligned today.

 

Went ahead and marked up everything with a sharpie, went out to a loading dock with two friends determined to figure out what was moving or striking and making the noise.

From inside the truck to me it sounded like it was coming from the front but both guys on the outside said it sounded like it was coming from the middle almost directly under me. I kept going at different angles, going up the side of the loading dock with the back wheels first, which also made it pop, but then suddenly it just stopped making the noise. Tried a couple times from different wheels and couldn't get it to pop, flexed the truck out fully.

Makes me think maybe it had something to do with some frame or bed or body flex and unrelated from the suspension. Bushings looked good and all the sharpie marks lined up still

 

Thread revival... Ever figure out what the issue was?