Hey Guys

I have an ‘06 LR3. So I went large and replaced all the control arms at once. I got Atlantic British’s firm upgraded green poly bushings. And new tie rod kit. It was a great switch out. The ride feel and steering are much tighter, though the green bushings are a little too firm for my area (I have a ton of crappy roads and cobblestone) I would not recommend green poly bushings for anything other than highway and tarmac. But I digress.

One thing I am noticing now, is that when I engage the air suspension, lifting the truck up, or going over large bumps, I’m hearing what sounds like what can only describe as a *crunchy* sound coming from the back air struts. Like the crunchy sound happens continually while the rig is lifting into off-road height or back to road height. I didn’t notice the sound before. And I don’t think my mechanic messed with the air suspension system. I’m not losing air pressure overnight. It’s just a crunchy sound when they’re being filled up or the air is let out. I’m not even sure it’s coming from the air suspension, I just thought I’d check in and see if anyone has heard anything familiar coming from their suspension.

If it had to guess, I’d say maybe it’s humidity here right now and the air system needs more desiccant? So the crunchie sound maybe just be the rubber folds rubbing against each other with not enough desiccant.

Or, could be that the new control arms just need some grease and what I’m hearing *is not* the air suspension.

Ideas?

 

Did you lubricate the bushings as required? Did you check for damaged suspension arms? Poly bushings are notorious for breaking arms at the welds. Not sure what you mean by rubber folds, there are no rubber folds that would rub or such.


edit: It could be your rose joints maybe. Usually creak not crackle or crunch. Rear arms have two each, top and bottom. Get a needle and inject used motor oil into each side of them all and put a dab of RV sealant over the puncture. Generally within a day the sound will be gone.

 

I didn't do the work. my mechanic may not have lubricated the bushings. I dont think there's any breaks, the ride is solid. Rubber folds in the air suspension boot covers.

 

You could try spraying in some silicone lubricant on the bushings maybe? The boot covers are just covers and in no way connected to the compressor or its desiccant. I am leaning more towards bad rose/ball joints in those rear knuckles. The only thing is those usually have their bolts rust-welded in and thus require replacement when doing the suspension. So either they were not rust welded and you lucked out or maybe they are new.

In any case, this who thing is moot until you get under and look around. Ideally with a friend that can work the suspension height as you listen around. Or just take it back to the mechanic? I mean if all this work was done and now this issue presents?

 

My first thought was to ask if anyone had heard anything similar. Yes, I need to just get under there and I'll pick up silicone lubricant.

The rig has no/very little rust (!) The arms came out fine (no rust on those bolts). I did not replace the knuckles, so if lubricant doesn't work, I'll have the mechanic take a look at it. thanks for the advice. i'lll report back with an update.

 

Thats awesome. The bolts can be a huge pain and when pain someone, a big part of the labor. I would not expect one to replace the knuckles, rather expensive! But those joints do have a finite life and are replaceable. There is a specific procedure for them but they are not hard to do. Just if you get them done, you and the mechanic need to know they get pressed out/in a certain way and the lower has a retaining clip! If one is not aware of the clip then damage to the knuckle can happen when forcing them out.

 

That'll be the poly bushes creaking (crunching) , worst thing you can do to a D3 is inflict poly bushes on them, as you said way too firm for anything but bitumen cruising.
If it gets too much you can re-bush your original arms and swap them over.

 

Which ones (control arms) do you suggest then? In the US.

 

Lemforder or Meyle would be my choice, cant help with supplier apart from UK based.

 

OEM is still an option in the US. Lemforder is great and often OEM anyway. You can usually get parts from the UK shipped to the US for cheaper than buying in the states. That is what I did. All OEM suspension arms, uppers, lowers, fronts, rears with associated hardware from LRDirect. Shipping was a lot, but I still came out way ahead and appreciate having OEM parts. LRParts.net is also a good supplier and as of late have beat LRDirects pricing by a large margin. The parts are cheaper from them because LR is of course UK based and pricing is lower because VAT sorta forces competitive pricing. But since we do not pay VAT, we get a "deal" in parts. Also they are technically considering you, the buyer, a "trade" so you are sorta buying wholesale. But the ram savings is buying OEM parts that lack the LR stickers. Same part but without the LR brand market stamped on them or the box. The arms I got, some still had LR logos on them.