FOUND IT! Post lift clunking and knocking.

I think that if it matters at all, being on the ground is the best place to do it. Just like the leaf springs. If you torque them before they're under load, they will be in a constant binding state while the truck is settled on the tires.

 

Not the U bolts but the bolts in the front and back where the leafs springs attach to the truck? Mine were all torqued while in the air. Can I loosen them while it is on the ground and re torque them?

 

Drove over a speed bump yesterday at an angle pretty slow last night. It was quiet out so I heard the clunk in detail as well as felt it. Now it's got me thinking about the "traveling" clunk scenario again. The sound came from the rear, but I FELT the clunk in the front floorboard. I did a more general Google search and turned up a bunch of threads about pickup truck leaf springs clunking because they're rotating about the center pin. I found a fix on a GM forum was similar to the squeaky Dakar fix on TW, so I just did @OZ-T's leaf spring fix (with an old bike tube rather than EPDM sheets...it's what I had laying around). We'll see if that gets rid of the clunk AND the squeaking.

 

Hand tighten all the rear suspension nuts/bolts while the rear is in the air. Then torque to spec after it's sitting wheels on the ground.

 

You know. I've never really considered that before. Maybe I should take the impact to all my bolts and check them while loaded on the ground.

 

@Unchained 5150 -- go get the deep socket and fix your shit while the weather's nice! Sounds like you might be on to the cause of your clunk.

 

On my way out now to get them.

 

there's a bolt front and rear on the lca with the Cam's on each, but I can't remember what the factory torque spec is for those two bolts... Sorry.

The fishing trip was awesome! Freezing, but awesome!

 

I'd do this. If it was going to damage your bushings it probably would have by now but you never know.

 

Well I feel more confident that my rear leafs are the actual cause of my front end clunks. I did the rubber strips fix to the front of each leaf pack and the clunks have gotten fewer and quieter. I think now that I either need the rubber between the rear end of the leafs and/or between the 2nd/3rd/4th leafs. It's not hard to pry them apart and slip in the rubber bike tube, so I'll be doing the other suspect areas when I get a chance.

The Dakar squeak is gone though!

 

I hate my dakar squeak

 

So torqued the 2 backs of the cam bolts, gonna get the fronts tomorrow as I need to remove the skid plates to get the torque wrench on them. And torqued the lower shock mounts that go to the LCA, and went and hit a normal bump I usually hit that clunks, and no clunk as of yet. Gonna go through the sway bar bolts, cross member bolts and such tomorrow as well.

 

I had an alignment done days after I bought my truck a few months back, and never associated the noise with that because I hadn't driven it much before. They had difficulty on one side getting it aligned, so I assume he just forgot to torque that one nut down. The rest were all good. It was the rear drivers side cam bolt. The noise was really bad, pretty loud popping noise every time I would back up and turn slightly to the right. All good now though, feels a lot better to drive!

 

I have a few noises around the suspension area that I was always wondering about and looking for but could never find out what it is. I always wondered about the top hat that sits between the shock and coil bucket. Would it be possible that there could be noise coming from there if that top hat is worn/gouged in the middle?

This video shows the type of damage to the top hat that I'm talking about.
Skip to 4 min mark to see it.

To me it seems like it could cause some noise if that bolt is moving even a small bit inside that bushing.

https://youtu.be/5E6u7dC7EHg

 

https://www.tacomaworld.com/threads/help-with-front-suspension-noise-videos.420430/

 

Today I torqued all my Cam Bolts to 100 ft lbs, the lower shock mounts to 61 ft lbs, and the 4 sway bar bolts to 30 ft lbs. So far no clunk, but I will give it a day or two to see if it rears it's ugly head again.

 

Sweet! Let us know if that fixed it for you.

My remaining front end clunk, on the other hand, is from my Dakar leaf packs. I think the driver's side lower ball joint fixed the really bad clunk, but now the smaller one is actually from the rear traveling up the frame.

When I installed my axle shims (last time the U-bolts were off) I torqued the U-bolts to 89ft-lb. Read on the inter webs that guys with FJs and Dakars are getting the clunk from the leaves shifting side to side, which I think it what's happening to me. So I torqued the U-bolts to 100ft-lbs. Clunks are even fewer now, but I still get one coming from the driver's side leaf pack. Going to drive + torque + drive + torque some more before looking into a more restrictive way to keep the leaves from shifting.

 

Well a few days ago my clunk came back... Not not as loud sounding. A few weeks ago I swapped out all 4 of my LCA bushing. Today I crawled under my truck to find out that the front bushing (smaller ones) have came "unpressed) when I had them pressed in, they were flush. Now there is a 1/8 inch gap from where they have popped out. Both driver and passenger side. Where my finger is is where the gap is, and shouldn't be.

Iv actually thought about getting the bushing tach welded into place so it can't move.

Conclusion..... ROCA is a no go.

 

Has anyone tried these problem solving bushings?

https://www.ebay.com/ulk/itm/221490935484