Old Man Emu Front End Clunk

Or, look at it as so many people have this “problem” yet it doesn’t cause any issues, so it’s not a problem at all. You should be relieved!

 

How are your LCA bushings and ball joints? Have you cycled the suspension with the truck on jackstands? Did you torque the control arms at ride height or when the vehicle was off the ground still?

The swaybar can contact skid plates if you don't have a relocate (along with contacting the coils).

 

I would think the lca bushings are fine , is there any way to check them? The alignment tech has never had an issue. Ball joints are all good. No play what so ever

 

Have you checked the sway bar bushings for play? Grab the bar near each bracket and try to yank it back and forth.

 

Seems tight

 

I have the 5100's/885 setup also with a front end clunk on the passenger side also and it's driving me nuts. Checked all bolts for tightness and sprayed silicone on all rubber parts to no avail. Hopefully someone has a solution.

 

5100s don’t have internal bump stops. He’s only running OME coils - OME shocks have the “clunk” issue caused by the internal bump.

Could still be noise from rapid extension of the shock, but the famous OME suspension clunk is from OME shocks, anyway.

 

A sway bar that does not have a relocation bracket will hit the coils themselves when you have larger than stock coils, like OME.

My LCA bushings were completely seized by the time I had 60,000 miles on my 2012. I had to completely replace them and all the associated hardware.

 

When I was running 5100s and OME coils I had UCA contact at full extension. It wasn’t particularly visible without looking for it - but I had some noise on one side and that was the source for my truck.

 

Which UCAs do you have? If they hit the coils, it will be during the course of travel and should rub off some paint or dirt.

 

I have lifted the frame on the front to allow full droop of the front suspension, i still have about a 1/2” gap between the coil and uca

 

Which UCAs?

 

I had the thunk noise on the passenger side with my 5100/885 when going over speed bumps. Always thought it was it topping out but maybe it was my stock UCA hitting the coil. Either way, it was annoying.

 

Freedom offroad