PTR13-35150 - Bilstein TRD PRO kit - Upgrade??

Good to hear.

I figured out part of my noise. The sway bar endlink is hitting the upright. I'm going to disconnect it and see if it gets away to confirm.

 

I too have the infamous clunk. Mine developed in cold weather and almost feels like a pop if the bump is right that can be felt in the floorboard. It used to be only if I hit a bump head on with both wheels, but sometimes I can get it to do it if I hit with one wheel. Mine is definitely from the passenger side. What is bizarre is that when the weather warmed up briefly the clunk went away but was replaced with a metallic rattle under low speeds.

@Lt. Dangle can you post pictures of the interference? I've rechecked all the lower bolt torques and checked the way bar mount near the skid for tightness but haven't pull the wheels to check the end links. I didn't see any indication of contact, but maybe I'm missing it.

@microman2006 Did you keep the cotter pin in place? It was loose enough to make noise but still within the pin?

I haven't checked my body mounts yet, so that might still be a thing. I was thinking when the weather got warmer of pulling the sway bar altogether along with the skid plate and see what happened. The change from a clunk to a metallic rattle and then back to a clunk with the weather has got me confuzzled.

I had the LCA clunk on my 2G and learned real quick about that one. I rechecked everything accessible with a torque wrench, so I'm confident it's not LCA or the lower shock bolts. My skid and sways are tight. The upright was factory assembled but I put a wrench on them to check.

 

i still haven't had a chance to look at the truck, had a last minute vacation... from what i can recall, i followed the Toyota official guide for the most part, especially the torque specs, so i would have to say the cotter pins are as they should be. It almost sounds like the shocks are blown, but i know they are not as they still work great, just the sound. Toyota had a look at everything when i first put it in and said everything is fine... though how in depth they looked we will never know. My truck is going in for service sometime in the next couple weeks so i will get them to give it a look over, especially those front mounts i have read about (Rad support mounts?) or whatever they are called.

 

I'm on it. Give me a bit.

 

??? thought the UCA bolt was to be torqued to 82 ftlb? if it was loose that would make be wonder what the installer was doing. Confirm?

 

Pretty sure you quoted the wrong guy.

For the record, my clunk should have nothing to do with my UCA's as I am still stock and did not mess with them on install.

 

Damnn! My bad. I plan on doing the UCA bolt removal on my install and leaving the LCA and alignment cam adjuster as is. Get those 4.88's yet?

 

I'm not in the market for new gears lol. This truck has gone about as far as I care to take it as is lol.

 

??? thought the UCA bolt torque is 82 ftlbs. ??? wonder how it got that loose if that was the case. Installer ?

 

Now you got it lol.

 

@MikeyMcFly
Ok so here are some pics of my truck on level ground side to side, but pointing downhill. Now I hear and sometimes feel my clunk clearly up front. I did have a cluck from my front flaps. I thought with my lift I would be able to go back and run the stockers, no, they still rubbed. Removed and have other clunk still present.

My noise clearly started on the driverside front and now I get it on both sides fairly easily. Even the slightest irregularity in the road gives me negative feedback. I can also get a clunk simply turning the wheels on what seems to be smooth pavement. If I turn and hit a bump it still clunks seemingly all the same.

I had to re tighten the end link mount driverside as it somehow came loose after 2-3 weeks, it too caused a clunk but was easily addressed. After tightening the mount at the upright (sorry, blanking on the parts name...spindle, hub, end with the tire...) no more problem for awhile.

As for the pictures, the silver endlink clearly is contacting the upright. I think that endlink at either end is causing my issue on dips and bumps as I think the link is sitting differently from where it was stock and is stressed somehow. If it were to ever quit snowing and or raining here I would spend the 5 minutes and disconnect my sway and test it. I can not leave my sway disconnected as I tow a lot and don't want to go down that road.

Ultimately my cluck is probably a 3/10 on the noise level and maybe even lower on the feel scale, but it is clearly there and it is super annoying hearing bumps and not feeling them...

Pictures are all taken with wheels not quite full lock left and right.

 

It wasn’t loose. I loosened it and retightened it. Maybe it was binding or had some crud in it.

 

Very interesting. That isn't an area that I would have immediately looked at for interference. I'll have to pull a wheel the next time the weather cooperates and take a look. I'll have to suck it up and roll down a window the next time it's not actively freezing and listen for the metallic rattling as well that I've got.

I'll keep updating this thread as I eliminate things. I'll have to cross-reference parts numbers later tonight to see if Toyota changed the bar / end links from 2G to 3G, because I definitely didn't have this issue with my 2G, although I wasn't quite as high in the nose.

 

It's funny because I was just at about to see what the part number for the 15 pro was. I'm also going to try and disconnect the sway tomorrow and see if that is even my problem. Something is funky though.

 

The only two other areas I can think is body mounts and skid plate. I didn't have this noise prior to adding the TRD Pro skid, although that pretty much perfectly coincided with the weather turning. From your photos you don't have one, so it's unlikely.

 

I’d be willing to bet the clunk is the pax side sway hitting the shock or spring. Check for rubbing. The eibach kit comes with a sway relocation for just 2 in of lift... I could have not installed it and under certain situations it would have rubbed and ultimately clunked. Remove the front sway to see if that solves it.

 

Yep no pro plate. The bar could be rubbing on yours though... That could cause a grinding sound.

 

I'm getting it on both sides. Disconnect the sway is my next move. It's just weird how it showed up long after install.

 

I have plenty of clearance around the actual assemblies. I have no indication of contact there. The spindle interference @Lt. Dangle showed is interesting.

I wasn't thinking of the sway hitting it, I was thinking more along the lines of the plate being loose, but I rechecked all the bolts. The rear-most bolts are slightly under-torqued compared to Toyota's recommended settings, but that's simply because I've been reading accounts of the rear nuts tacked to the frame spinning with the recommended torque values.

Let me know how pulling your sway goes. Maybe a relocate is the solution.

 

2nd gen pro, '17 OR and '17 Pro is all the same. Links and bar itself. So that's not it.