For months I have been trying to find out what was causing a "CLUNK" in my front end when traveling over rough terrain at high speed(10-15mph that is). It was hard for me to diagnose because it started happening after I put in my new 4.8 gears, put in new ball joints, and increased my suspension lift. I am probably not quite as maxed out as Bansils "The Turtle" but getting close to the 5-6" suspension lift height.

The clunk I hear happens when I initially drop into a dip or pot-hole and right after I exit a dip or pot-hole at speed on the uptravel. I dont think it ever clunks during compression, only when the vehicle is hopping up. This only happens at speed and never happens at rockcrawling speeds. When this clunk happens it feels as if the driver side front wheel has just snapped off something and I feel solid vibrations in the steering. It almost feels as if there is a loose 5lb weight in the engine compartment banging against the steering column. Am I feeling the driver side suspension maxing out and clanging on the droop snubbers, or maybe the shock overextending? What do you think?

Thanks

Veronica

Could very well be. I know mine i sitting on the droop stops at normal ride hight. (My bro was driving in front of me and he said when I hit a big bump at high way speeds that my wheels hop off the ground a little). I have my t bars cranked to about 5 inches of lift though. What you are describing makes perfect since because at rock crawling spees the wheel drops out slow enough that you do not notice it but at higher speeds it drops out fast enough that it hits hard.

I have a similar noise and feeling in my 99 Rodeo. At first it only occurred when it was near freezing during turns where I encountered bumps, potholes and pavement irregularities. I could feel and hear it underneath my feet.

What I discovered (after sometime) was that my front shocks slip back and forth on the bolt and polyurethane pieces that connects them to the shock mounts causing a knocking noise and vibration. This is largely due to my custom fitting of the Rancho shocks to my Rodeo. I haven't done anything to correct it and I've been driving like that for ~6 years.

Good luck with yours.

The droop stop on a second gen is a little metal bracket, if you are touching that, it will make a clunking sound... no worries...


I bet if you look up the upper control arm, you will see where that bracket was touchgin the the UCA....

Chase

definatley make sure your tierods are not bottoming out on your rack at full droop,anything longer than stock length shocks can/will cause this.

If your hitting your bump stop than you are most definatley coming close to hitting the rack if you aren't already.