annoying clunk

fishtank

fishtank

NAXJA Forum User
Location
harrisburg, nc
I have a clunking noise somewhere in the front end that's driving me crazy. It's very erratic and I dont always feel it in the floorboard. Seems to be on the drivers side but I'm at a loss right now.

So far I've checked for play in the control arms and checked to make sure the bolts are tight. The bushings on the uppers look wore out but there is no play in them. Trackbar is all nice and tight. These are thee only things that have recently been replaced...

Sometimes it seems like it's coming from the suspension other times it seems like it's in the engine bay. Noise is always the same though.

Thanks in advance for any suggestions
 
Shock bushings?
 
When does it do it? Mine had a clunk but it would do it all the time. It turned out to be the exhaust hanger had broken and the exhaust pipe was sitting on the crossmember banging around.
 
Thanks for the suggestions guys!

It seems more noticeable when going slow and hitting a bump. It still does it on larger bumps at speed but is not nearly as noticeable
 
Definitely check the shock bushings. I've been through quite a few on mine...
 
Might be the springs. I'm having the exact same issue with mine, that only recently started. I made sure all the control arms are tights, shocks and spring clips are tight. However, even with the spring retainer clips bolted down, the spring still shifts around a little on the perch.
 
The first time I had a flexplate start working lose it sounded exactly like an issue with the front suspension. It couldn't hurt to check, anyway.
 
i thought you guys were talking about me in here...

but then i saw it said "clunk" and not "drunk"

my bad...




just check every "pivot" point on the front end.

you could have a control arm bushing that has disintegrated, i have gone through a set of upper shock bushings.

some complain of the noise that the stock bar pin makes at the bottom of the shock.

do you notice it more when stopping or does it do it all the time. like acceleration and normal cruising speed.

is it a softer thump noise or does it sound metallic

does it sound like big parts hitting together or small parts.
 
I recently have a few clunking noises in my front end the list of issues they were is as follows:
1. track bar mount bracket on the frame side was slightly loose would pop when turning the wheel, also track bar mount on the axle side would loosen up and pop at that point.
2. axle u joints were bad, one was about to break and i could hear it clunking on the drivers side.
3. shock bushings all of em were bad mostly herd it in the rear unloading but i could hear it in front driver side at times.
4. front drive shaft, im not sure exactly what its called but there is this ball and socket type connection in the ds but i was and am still getting a rotational clunk at low speeds.
5. my d rings on my front bumper i leave them on most of the time and they bang around.

Hope that helps you out a bit I know noises like that drive me crazy, to me if its making a noise that its not supposed to make its not functioning like its supposed to so it bothers me to leave it that way as well. But some people it doesn't bother, either way good luck to you and if you want ill be in Harrisburg tonight picking up my jeep I can come give you a hand looking at it if you want.
 
Thanks for the suggestions guys, went through today and still haven't found anything that seems like the culprit. I would bet a million bucks its on the drivers side and from the sounds of it it is a big part moving around but doesn't really sound metallic. More of a dull thud or clunk
 
I haven't checked the tranny mount yet but the motor mounts appear fine, although I'm not quite sure how to check for play in something like that...haha
 
hahaha! sounds simple enough

we messed around with it some tonight and I seem to have a wheel bearing that's bit the dust...but from what I figure that would be a rotational clunk?

From what I can tell what I have going on is a "my suspension just cycled and it f'in hates me" clunk
 
Do you have a stupid friend? Zip tie him to the bottom of the truck (Use black zip ties, the white ones just look bad) then have him put his hands on different suspension components until he finds the clunk as you drive 60mph down the road where it makes the clunk most often. :)
 
I have had basically the same clunk/thud coming from my front end for years. I used to only notice it when I would ride in the passenger side and I could hear it and feel it in the floor board. In the past couple of years it has gotten worse I have done the same thing checked the control arm bushings no sign of excess dry rot or missing material, tightened up trac bar mounts at both ends, checked and replaced motor mounts, checked transmission mount with no dry rot or tearing, checked ball-joints and they don't appear to have too much play, shock bushings seem to be fine. I am at a total loss and have been for a long time. Since I first noticed the noise I have added a JKS trac bar, JKS lower control arms, been through two sets of shocks, replaced both front unit bearings, replaced the drivers side motor mount, and I have had a few different shops look the whole front end over.

The only ideas I have left on what it could be is maybe the upper control arm(s) have bad bushings but since they are under pressure with the suspension loaded from the weight of the Jeep, the slop can't be seen by grabbing it and just trying to wiggle it. I could be wrong but that is what I have come up with. Another idea I had was maybe the ball-joints have gone bad and I just couldn't tell. That is pretty much where I am at now and I plan to replace a few things over time as money allows here in the near future addressing first the bad axle u-joint that has recently showed itself. Then probably replacing ball-joints next since the Jeep has 200,000 miles, has been lifted since 75,000 miles with oversized tires since then, and they have never been replaced. Probably will still go ahead and replace the transmission mount since it too is original. After that, if it is still there then I will keep my fingers crossed that when I go long-arm that it will go away after losing the stock upper control arms.
 
Ben824 said:
I have had basically the same clunk/thud coming from my front end for years. I used to only notice it when I would ride in the passenger side and I could hear it and feel it in the floor board. In the past couple of years it has gotten worse I have done the same thing checked the control arm bushings no sign of excess dry rot or missing material, tightened up trac bar mounts at both ends, checked and replaced motor mounts, checked transmission mount with no dry rot or tearing, checked ball-joints and they don't appear to have too much play, shock bushings seem to be fine. I am at a total loss and have been for a long time. Since I first noticed the noise I have added a JKS trac bar, JKS lower control arms, been through two sets of shocks, replaced both front unit bearings, replaced the drivers side motor mount, and I have had a few different shops look the whole front end over.
Click to expand...

Have you been driving my XJ? This is exactly the problem I have.
 
Ok so I did some more exploring underneath the Jeep and found that the passenger side of the sway bar had a lot of movement from worn out bushings in the JKS disconnect I had and the sway bar bushing at the frame. The sway bar bushing at the frame on the driver side also had some movement so I replaced both sway bar bushings and replaced the disconnect bushings and so far I haven't heard the noise. I noticed a few years ago that those sway bar bushings seemed like they had some extra space in them around the bar but never thought much of it. When I removed the sway bar bushings they were very worn out and the rubber was so soft compared to the replacements I got at Napa.
 
I didn't think about that... Hopefully that will fix the problem.
 
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