Hello All-

My stock '97 LSE with 115k has been getting louder and louder when rolling over bumps. Some rattling and some clunking, most likely coming from the front left. Steering seems a little loose. Crawled under un-jacked truck and tapped the suspension bits with a hammer and didn't see anything out of whack and couldn't make it rattle. I know this isn't nearly enough information to make an informed call but is anything jumping out as a likely culprit? Tie rod ends? Hub?
I'm probably going to move my D1 along shortly (anyone interested??) so don't want to dump a ton into it, and frankly I can see someone moving to at least a mild lift. IIRC the rubber boots on the ends looked OK.

So...anyone want to shout out a guess and recommend a next step to narrow it down? I'll take on anything but haven't really mucked with suspension yet.

 

shock bushings, radius arm bushings, panhard rod bushings

 

None of Walt's suggestions cost much in dollars, but will take some time and the right tools. Lots of Youtube guidance.

Boge stock shocks are not expensive either, and plenty good.

 

Upper and lower shock bushings are common rattle points. Worth a look

 

Thanks All. Is there any good way to diagnose these to narrow it down? As much as I'd want to get all of these replaced regardless, I'd prefer to focus on the specific issue.

 

There's a guy on Youtube who fastened his camera (phone) to view the suspect part, then recorded as he drove.

Other than that, lots of prying and shaking.

Bon chance!

 

haven’t looked yet but drove it to the local watering hole and by gum it sounds like a shock mount! Here’s hoping…

unrelated: got to ride in a Rivian yesterday. No rattles, no knocks. Its almost like paying 200x what I paid gets you something!

edit: went out and bounced the front end. The left-side shock has 1/8" of travel. Eureka! I'll get a set on order and do the swap. Thanks for the assist, all!

 

Just for yucks, posting pics of the old shock. Let’s just say it was overdue…


and the shock is in no hurry to like, you know, extend. At all. I look forward to seeing what a difference this’ll make.


just got the cheapie KYB’s but can’t imagine it’s not going to be an incredible improvement.