Dropping the truck off to one of 3 Ford stealerships here in ABQ tomorrow. I figured I'd ask on here for some input on what some of you more experienced/edjoomacated might think.

So here goes...

Before I was lifted, just running 33s I had an ever so slight clunk that was VERY infrequent. Upon lifting with the RCD kit, this went away for some time (can't think of how long exactly). It returned and I just lived with it since I couldn't get Ford in Las Cruces to duplicate it. The clunk appears to be in the front, driver's side. It happens when having been parked, starting up, and then turning left. I also get it at times when coming to a stop, particularly when parking in the garage. As of recently (last 2-3 weeks) it has gotten worse/more frequent with me hearing it at times while merely driving and hitting bumps.

As some have followed, I've done pretty much a complete R&R of my front suspension due to the awesome (no not really) bilstein coilover shocks and my passenger one failing back in July.

I have replaced the following on the front suspension, all within 1500 miles, possibly even 1000 miles, or less:

• DS & PS outer tierods (MOOG)
• DS & PS upper control arms (MOOG)
• DS & PS lower ball joints (MOOG)
• DS & PS inner tierods (MOOG)
• DS & PS CV axles
• DS & PS FOX remote reservoir coilovers
• DS & PS hub assemblies
• PS caliper bracket & caliper...compliments of PS hub failing and seizing, causing rotor to eat into said items

I also have a cyclic (vibrates for 5-6 seconds, smooth for 2 seconds...approximately) vibration at 77 mph and above, but I too have a good hum (not sure if I'd call it a howl) from 15-40 mph. My bfg 33/10.5/15 muds are getting a little long in the tooth, but I don't think it is them. They are balanced and both tires and wheels appear to be in round via Discount Tire. I have greased my, now old, rear driveshaft but that did not rid the clunk. I've also recently installed the RCD 4° pinion shims. The greasing was last summer and done while I also replaced the u-joints on both the rear driveshaft and my superlift driveshaft. Hum and vibration are present with or without the front driveshaft installed. Both are also present with the pinion angle adjusted (I'm now within 2°). I also had my old OEM rear DS balanced, which slightly reduced the vibration. I then tried a rear DS from a junkyard, found a shaft with I think 15 or 20K miles on it. Vibration and hum present with it installed. Both front and rear shafts are properly installed per marks on the flanges...though initially I was told it didn't matter when installing the superlift shaft, but I did note its orientation with a paint pen after I installed it.

Currently my thoughts are front and rear gears going for hum/vibration, though when I changed my rear diff's gear oil earlier this year I saw no metal in the old oil). My drive side caliper, though bolts are tight, does move by hand. The passenger side does not. DS caliper assmebly is my 04 OEM coupled with a 2002 rotor for RCD fitment. Clunk thoughts are rack & pinion or a busted engine/tranmission mount.

Other fears are rear wheel bearings, pinion bearings, t-case flange (there appears to be some play).

And on top of this all, I'm jobless since May 30th.

So besides the, blow up your truck (which I owe a whopping $1400 on), trade it for a toyota, get a chevy (gf's father and grandfather there), or some other sarcastic comment....any heartfelt, genuine thoughts of what could be going on?

Oh, I can get more specific on dates and mileage if need be. I'm going off the top of my head here. Getting specific will require some digging though as I'm in the process of trying to get all my non-ford related repairs and maintenance work organized into a spreadsheet. Sometimes I hate being an organized biologist/perfectionist.

 

mud tires, no matter how good they are balanced will make noise.

 

thats a tough one... especially since you just went through almost the entire front end with Moog replacements.

My guess is it might be your swaybar end links as those seem to be the only thing left that can go "clunk" although that doesnt explain the noise while turning...

 

Not doubting their contribution to the noise, but feel pretty confident in ruling them out.

what swaybar

 

lol! well im at a loss then other than myabe you got a defective part from moog. did you install all this stuff yourself?

 

Sticking brakes? Loose caliper bolts? Bad body or bumper mount?

 

My drive side caliper, though bolts are tight, does move by hand.

Can you explain that a little more.

Is the caliper moving back and forth on the pins?

Or is the capiler bracket moving?

 

so its a click? or what is it exactly?

when i had my superlift on i had a horrible issue with my calipers making a ton of noise, its was awful, new pins and calipers did help for a while but i still had this click/clunk

 

Caliper bolts are tight, I too was thinking possible bad mounts other than engine/tranny. However, I didn't see any visible damage/wear of the body or bumper mounts, but not to rule them out either.

The caliper is moving. I can grab it down by the lower mounting bolt and generate play in the caliper.

Driving and applying brakes it at times sounds like a simple click, akin to what I'd assume might be a sticking caliper piston or the actual play I have in the caliper. The clunk is heard when the vehicle is "cold" or "hot". What I mean by that is it's typically heard when only making left hand turns, initially out of the garage/driveway. It's heard after I've stopped and shift to 1st, do the appropriate pedal work and start to roll forward/cut right to straighten out. This is "cold". The same happens if I'm parked for 5, 10, 15, minutes, 1 hour+ after shopping or going wherever and get it to again turn left from initial stop/start roll. It can also be heard cold or hot when parking, particularly if parking in the garage where I gently roll forward to the 4 inch lip in the garage telling me I'm forward enough for the door to close. At this point the clunk happens when braking, but typically not braking gently (not exactly braking abrupt or hard either). I can "force" the clunk in braking if I'm stopped and the roll forward, say a foot, and then apply brakes semi-abruptly. The clunk can also be heard, but not often, in day to day simply stop-n-go traffic under normal driving (no hard brakes, etc). I can also heard either a click or clunk when applying or letting off of the brakes. The pads are new, as are rear shoes. They were replaced back in June when my PS hub assembly crapped out.

 

caliper pins/bushings are worn.

 

so, ignorant question...

replace the caliper and/or entire caliper assembly? Or is it even easier than that. My Haynes/Chilton manuals are buried.

Now to figure out what the hum/vibration is.

 

well, i know i dealt with the same issue on my truck but its been so long i cant remember what i did to fix it, seems like i jsut bought new pins and bushings, (fairly inexpensive) but then still had some issues and i just replaced the calipers.

 

I'm a goober....possibly. Got a phone call, lower control arm bolts were loose = clunking. Funny thing is I checked for play (apparently not well enough) when I had the suspension apart a couple months ago doing the bjs, tierods, and cv installs. The service advisor was able to duplicate the clunk while the tech listened, and then upon tightening the bolts the clunk disappeared.

Unfortunately, they couldn't duplicate the cyclic vibration at 77 mph and above, but I'm wondering if that was due to the a-arms being loose. I'm waiting for a call by from the courtesy driver so I can head over there. I plan to take the service manager out at interstate speeds to see if I can duplicate the vibration. The tech did tell the service advisor that he heard vibration due to tires, but we shall see..........being optimistic here - I hope.

 

Glad it was something simple and not a costly repair. Good luck with the vibration.

 

maybe someone put zipties on your driveshaft.

 

Just do what my wife does, turn the radio up, the bad sound goes away. haahaa