Suspension clunk/rattle

When I go over imperfections in the road, I hear like a clunk/rattle in my front end suspension. I recently installed JBA UCA, OEM LCA, rack & pinion. My suspicion is that it’s the sway bar links since that’s the only thing that wasn’t changed. The JPA UCA are a little different than OEM. The ball joint comes through the top of the spindle. So that may also be causing it. Is there anything else it may be?

 

If you had 4wd I'd say front diff hitting skid plate due to worn out diff mount bushings. With a prerunner though, I'd definitely be keying in the sway bar end links. I'd remove the sway bar entirely and if the noise disappears, you've found the culprit (before you throw money at it).

 

Having replaced all those parts doesn't run out installation error. Before you remove the entire sway bar, just remove the end links to test that out. Otherwise get a pry bar out, lift the front end off the ground, and see if you can make things move.

 

A loose sway bar link will rattle like crazy. So it's definitely possible. Had a customer have that issue.

 

What coil overs are you using? Several people, me included, have experienced intermittent clicking with 5100s and OME coils paired together. Doesn’t happen all the time but when it does, it’s the coilovers in my case. Spring seat and coils aren’t a perfectly happy union 100% of the time with that combo.

In my case to rule out sway bar links I had my entire sway bar removed for about a month and the noise when it appeared was the same.