Rear end clunk hitting bumps and potholes OME suspension

Check out this thread if you haven't already:

https://www.tacomaworld.com/threads/change-the-front-bushings-in-your-dakars.479071/

I know you mentioned replacing the front bushings with Toyota rubber, but you might be seeing the same symptoms that people discuss in the thread. I had a rear end leaf spring clunk that went away after replacing the preinstalled Dakar rubber bushings with poly bushings from Wheelers.

 

Thanks for the info, I wasn’t aware of that post. It’s a lot of reading but I will look it over closely. I can tell you that I like the fitment of the Toyota bushings better. I may even swap out the rear shackles and bushings with Toyota rubber, the EL springs are compatible for that I think. My springs used to squeak horribly! I had a friend jump up and down on the rear bumper to make the springs squeak so I could find out from where. Problems that can be duplicated with the vehicle stopped are so much easier to diagnose. My squeak was coming from the ends of the springs where the plastic bushing between the springs are, drivers side spring eye end. I used a small chisel to open the spring with my truck on the lift. I then applied marine “water proof” grease in between the leafs. It worked, so I said to hell with it and did it to every spring on both sides. Not a peep out of them since….unless I hit a big bump…and I still haven’t verified that noise is actually coming from the spring.

 

I don't know if it's just the angle, but it may be worth checking your shock bushing, looks like it may be degraded on one side.

It certainly would match your symptoms and I can tell you from personal experience that the OEM shock bushing I had would degrade slowly and work basically well until I hit larger bumps.

 

That’s a very good point. The bushings are as new as the shocks, but new parts don’t always equal good parts. Come to think of it, I’ve only tried to wiggle the shocks with my truck in the air. Of course their going to be tight then, all the weight of the suspension is pulling on them. I’ll set it up tonight and lift my rear axle with my transmission jack, and see if there is any play or looseness. Couldn’t see anything in the videos that I made.
Thanks to everyone for their input.

 

Mine had a clunk every time I pulled into a angled driveway entry or went over speed bumps (rear only). I thought it was the spare bouncing so ignored for a quite a while but then when I replaced my center bearing realized I could not push in the driveshaft yoke, it just compressed the trapped air. So I cleaned the yoke and lightly greased it and problem gone.

 

Welp! I’m dreading this post, because I found my problem. I’m very glad I found it, but it was something stupid, and should have been obvious, and I feel very foolish for overlooking it, and overthinking this entire problem. My instructor in diesel college always had a saying to just remember the word KISS.
Keep
It
Simple
Stupid

Well I definitely feel stupid, because it was simple, but anyway I’ll get down to how I found it. I was still insulating everything that moved, and made any type of noise. Most of the time problems like this come from a part that is designed to move. This part is also designed to move and I did look at it and touch it, but I never hit it with my fist until last night. It’s the damn driveline dampener hanging off of the back of the transfer case. I wiggled it, and it was pretty loose, so I hit it with my fist, and heard a smack! The rubber inside the dampener is cracked and is able to hold itself fairly steady until you really jar it. Then the weight moves to the side and smacks the mount. Shiny contact points were there and everything. I cut two pieces of rubber and slid in the front and back of it to see what happens. No noise, waited until this morning to be sure because there is a rough driveway that I have to go through. Here’s a photo of the part that nearly drove me crazy…..with the extra rubber installed.

 

Awesome! No need to feel stupid over this...we were all convinced along with you that this was suspension-related. FWIW, my truck doesn't seem to have one of those dampeners, so I never would have thought to suggest checking it.

 

What does that component do, exactly?

 

Dampens vibrations

https://www.tacomaworld.com/threads/what-is-hanging-off-my-transfer-case.332600/

 

Yeah, like the other guys said it dampens vibrations. It’s basically a 5lb weight hanging by a piece of rubber in the middle. That allows for it to wiggle around and counter act a vibration, canceling it out. Evidently mine has been working some overtime….if I pulled on it, the rubber would rip apart. The funny thing is that my truck has always vibrated its ass off, I just went a few weeks ago and got a new set of tires from a local discount tire store. This truck has never ran this smooth in the last 200k miles. The discount tire that I stopped at must have a wheel balancer that is spot on, it was a fairly new store. Got the same tires as the last 3 sets, so idk?

 

Btw, what makes me feel stupid is I’ve been doing this kinda work for a living for 22 years, and piddling with it when I was younger comes very close to 30 years total, if not more. I’ve seen some of the craziest shit in my career. It’s really easy to overlook the simple things when you get comfortable with what you’re doing. I’ve seen it happen to techs that are sharper than I am. I’ll stick with the saying “whoever doesn’t make any mistakes, obviously doesn’t do a damn thing.”

 

Was your issue fixed?

 

Yes, it was. It was a combination of the driveline dampener and my front shock bushings. I was going over everything making sure all of the bolts were tight, and put my wrench on the top shock mounting bolt, and turned it. It was tight, as in out of threads, but you could still turn it fairly easily. I took the nuts off and added a few washers to tighten the rubber down more, no noise since.

 

@wesb1023 how do you like the OME suspension? I'm considering the same for my DCSB. I'm curious about the ride. I go off road frequently but it is a daily driver to work in the city.

Did it require you to do a diff drop? I don't see that you had to relocate the rear brake proportioning valve.

 

I did the diff drop, but it wasn’t required. I used a longer rear brake hose and adjusted the proportioning valve to the new ride height. The ride is definitely firmer than before, but I like it. If my truck wasn’t so heavy, it would probably ride very stiff. I’m running 883 coils up front, because that’s what wheelers off road recommended after I explained my set up to them. My truck is also a daily driver, see’s way more asphalt than dirt, but I do wheel with it as well. I’m very happy with the way mine turned out.