The infamous click up front…GOING DOWN!

In reality the bolt shouldn’t matter all that much if the torque spec is high enough. The way it should work is that the torque of the bolt being tight enough essentially “fuses” the strut sleeve to the lower control arm which would mean the sleeve should not ever move at all. Meaning assuming the bolt itself could be much smaller than the sleeve so long as it was strong enough to hold ample torque on the control arm and sleeve.

Now, there certainly is nothing wrong with changing the bolt to the full length thickness, but so far it did not fix my issue with clanks on bumps and it didn’t for everyone else either. It might sometimes be the problem, but the bolt should be tight enough that the bolt size doesn’t really matter at all.

I’m not super convinced that the torque spec is high enough to prevent noise, but maybe it is. I do think the suggestions offered by @nd4spdbh are intriguing and well worth looking into. It would explain why I didn’t have the noise at first but eventually did (as the glue on the stock spring seat cracks and stops holding the seat firm in place on the strut body).

 

They have a welded in clip but the lower spring seat slides over the body and is glued in place.

6112's use the same clip style and lower spring seat methodology as the 4600/5100's and the stock TRD OR bilsteins and sport/sr5 hitachi's

 

There is truth to your findings. Clunk on a 2018 Sport started at 40K miles and I replaced the struts with nearly new TRD take off struts using my original bolts and the clunk went away. I did not “add” extra torque to the bolts.

 

Good to know. I have a feeling that is my problem. Maybe I should disassemble mine and wrap with electrical tape.

Did you happen to snap a photo or two of where you put the tape?

 

Literally just above the clip (say 1mm above the clip) around the body of the shock. A TINY bit of grease on the inner lip of the underside of the spring seat so it slips over the electrical tape easy and doesnt smush it down in the clip is key. You need metal on metal on the top surface of the clip and bottom side of the spring cup, you cant have electrical tape bunching up in between those surfaces.

You are simply reducing/removing slop between the inner diameter of the spring seat and the outer diameter of the shock body.

 

Makes sense, thanks! When I get some time I will for sure be investigating that. Didn’t even think to consider this could be the problem because I really thought the seat was fixed to the strut. Toyota parts diagram even seem to show it all as one piece (which makes sense if it’s glued) but I’d still think you’d able to buy them separately. Yet the way they were shown made me think it was all one solid metal piece.

Great info to be aware of.

 

Update: Been 4k on them and no more clicking!

 

My '18 Pro with 50k miles has started to give me a clunk from the left front suspension if I take a sharp low speed turn, not on the road but for example if I'm turning off the road onto dirt, something uneven. I've noticed it for maybe the last 5k miles or so, but only under those specific circumstances.

Was going to ask Toyota to take a look during the next service but anything I can look for to identify the cause?

 

Mine turned out to be the Miller Cat shield. Something about it in combination with the TRD skid was causing the clunk.

The thread that convinced me to give it a look,

https://www.tacomaworld.com/threads/clunk-up-front-fixed-check-skids.793965/

 

My 2018 TRD off-road seems to have the same, if not similar issue. Driver front click/pop sound while driving over a speed bump or through unusual dips in the road. It made me feel like I had a suspension bolt or something similar out of torque specifications.
At my last service appointment with the dealership, they mentioned I needed a new power steering rack and that was installed today. (68k mi.) I mentioned the pop/click from the driver front while going over bumps and the mechanic determined that my front right/left body mounts are deformed and are abnormally worn. They are working on how to submit it for warranty repair. I’ll update y’all if/when that issue is resolved for me. Ooof. She said it was kind of a big job.

 

Shed lied its not a big job or uncommon the cab out of the factory is normally misaligned and it wipes out the front rad support bushings, sadly without breaking loose all the body mounts to shift the cab and replacing the front bushing it will keep wiping them out.

 

Did they say what caused it? I'd love to hear why they think it happened.

 

The service writer mentioned that in rare cases, the body mounts were installed misaligned from the factory causing them to become deformed and abnormally worn.

 

It’s not rare cases, it’s almost all of them. When I changed my front mounts, the left one I had to really crank on a prybar to get the grille in place to get the left one installed and bolt holes lined up. That is pretty standard from browsing around here. Unfortunately that is what kills the mounts.

I changed mounts and my noise did not change at all. I highly doubt the body is moving enough to make any noise. The bushings crack from the pressure of the misalignment but that doesn’t cause noise because the sleeve and bolt are still inside a bushing and keeping things lined up.

 

Anyone finally got this fixed?? because i sure didn't, changed shock bolts, tightened everything and damn click is still there.. only does going thru a dip or bump..

 

Mine does it when turning and going through a dip in the road, but it sounds more like the skid plate binding. More of a ping metal sound.

edit: it's only on the left side of the truck and on left turns.

 

I think we determined earlier on in the thread that the spring perch is glued to the strut from the factory and eventually that glue can break loose and let the perch rattle. The bolts ain’t gonna fix it. I just let mine clank at this point. Does it on most medium or harder dips.

 

Maybe it's about time to swap in the fox elite 2.5's then.

 

Those of you that did not swap bushings, and just swapped bolts, are having the same issue because although the bushing appears okay, it is not. Trust me. And the aftermarket bolt has a longer shoulder. Just mentioning.

I’ve been wheeling a lot since this post and still click free.

 

Even if I changed the shcocks, I changed coils too, to bilstein's 6112.. noise still there..