FOUND IT! Post lift clunking and knocking.

My truck is basically brand new and I have it so I am lost. It doesn't happen over speed bumps, only seems to happen if I am going slow and the wheel is turned a little. Doesn't bother me much bro, but what will driving in a figure 8's do?

 

I just went and did a ton of figure 8's no noise, no clunk

 

The LCA bushings are pressed into the LCA. They can and will wear, sometimes they will become loose and separate from the LCA, when that happens, the LCA will move back and forth, producing a knocking sound. Driving in a figure 8 should help expose the issue.

 

Hmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm on to the next test?

 

Well, a bit of a long shot, transmission crossmember?

 

Yeah as I said above in the other post, I tightened the cab mounts and the transmission crossmember and I don't know which one was too loose but after tightening all of them, clunk is gone. That was months ago now. Simple and easy fix.

 

But how could the cross member or cab mounts become loose just after putting a lift in?

 

I too have random clunks after lift.

Sub'd

 

Appreciate all the suggestions and comments, keep 'em coming!

I have not removed the sway bar yet. Will do that today or tomorrow. I'll also check the crossmember bolts. Anyone have a torque spec on those?

I need to give the figure 8 test a try. I feel like that'll mimic the "lateral forces" that I feel are causing the clunks.

I'm hoping it's not a steering rack issue, which crossed my mind because I was getting a clunk/crack sound when I was turning the wheels while the truck was sitting still in P.

I DO get the OSBGC from the 886 coils, but it's not the same clunk I'm chasing here. This one you can feel in the floorboard/steering wheel and happens sometimes when no bumps are around.

 

Haven't had time to remove the sway bar completely, but I did get under the back today and torqued down the 2 19mm bolts that hold the front of the leaf springs on. I was getting a clunk when I'd pull into my driveway and catch the sloped part of the curb. Like pushing the rear axle to the side abruptly. It happened every time, and the only bolts on the rear that I haven't put an actual torque wrench on is those front leaf spring bolts because of their position. I need a torque wrench adapter.

I grabbed a 19mm box wrench and just cranked down on them. Seems to have solve that problem, but I still want to get 89 ft-lbs for peace of mind.

Now the front is still clunking, but less. I've read some posts about rear end clunks traveling to the front and appearing to come from the front. I think SOME of my front end clunks may have actually been from the rear. I'll give it a couple more days before I close the book on that theory.

Still waiting to pull the front sway bar, and still hoping it's not an internal steering issue. Although the steering wheel intermediate shaft might be the cause of some clunking for me. I'll have to jam some zip ties in there to see if they go away.

 

I have the same clunk when i pull into my garage from the rear, i will torque the rear leaf bolts like you did and see if i have any luck with it, as for the front, i put on the sway bar relocation brackets on that basically moves it forward like 2 inches, so my swat didnt hit my coils.

 

@Ztextreme where did you get your sway bar relocate kit?

 

It came with my icon lift, i would recommend putting them on with any aftermarket coil assembly because they are generally larger at the bottom than oem setup

 

Tonight's update.

After going out and grabbing the sway bar, removing the skid plate and looking around, I felt like the sway bar may actually be contacting the shocks. I haven't had time until tonight to actually mess with much, but I ordered the sway bar relocate kit from Wheelers and some Energy Suspension greaseable sway bar bushings from Amazon. Both went on tonight and so far no clunking. I suspect the sway bar was moving side to side and contacting the shocks. There's much more room between the bar and the shocks now, so we'll see after some more driving.

FWIW, my sway bar looked like it would contact the spring seat on the OME NitroCharger Sports, not that actual shock body (yellow part) itself.

 

Had a feeling that would fix it and add some room between the two

 

Well, it turns out it fixed some of my up front clunking.

I still get clunks when something applies lateral force on the front wheels. Usually the side that the force is coming from exhibits the clunk. I'm still not sure WHAT is clunking, but I can feel it in the floorboards. Like someone giving a good tap with a wooden bat. The rear end is still doing this as well, with the lateral forces.

Not sure what it could be in the rear, but could the front be a rack & pinion issue? I can't move the inner tie rods at all when grabbing/shaking them by hand.

 

I have a clunk in the rear end as well that I haven't been able to locate, I've replaced ubolts, greased it up an still have it, I've heard that re torquing the leaf to frame bolts have cured the problem so that's my next step, as far as the front goes I've put on the sway bar relocate bracket and still had some noise, so I greased my uca bushings and added wheelers super bump stops to the front and it's quiet as a mouse now, the factory bumps are kinda hard and when it makes contact with your lca it could make that sorta sound,

http://youtu.be/YRmK_NkU8Rs

 

How did you install the

When the lift was installed did you make sure the little nipple/sleeve of the bottom bushing on the top hat was seated correctly? If not, the shaft stem can impact the top hat. Just throwing out ideas.

 

@jtweezy Question, did you assemble the Old Man Emu's..? I ask as from what I know the 2886 coil is very stout, you need a heavy spring compressor to compress them. You're noise may be that the shock & spring aren't seated and the top hat bushings are slightly moving. I had a similar noise and had my old 2886 removed and re-assembled this helped solve my problem. Also as metioned above by @xJuice make sure you get the bushings right. Hope you find the problem.

 

@xJuice & @mouse007 -- I did assemble the shocks myself with the 886s. I used a coil spring compressor and an impact wrench to turn the compressor bolts. I don't remember which bushing/washer was new or old, but basically I used every new part that came with the new shocks, and reused whatever wasn't provided new. The only one I remember 100% is the nylock nuts that hold everything together.

To answer your question, I slid everything onto the shaft, but aside from trying to get the spring seated in the existing indention under the top hat and in the spring seat, I didn't pay super close attention to everything else.

I will be swapping the springs to 887 springs soon, so I'll be taking the struts apart and reassembling. I will pay much closer attention this time around.

Question about reassembling the strut...

When you torque the top nylock nut, do you leave the spring compressed so much that it's not pushing up on the top hat? In my head this seems required to get proper torque, otherwise you could be torquing against the resistance of the spring pushing up on the top hat.