Front Suspension Clunking...help!

Waterfowler41 · April 10, 2019

Alright, currently have Eibach Pro Truck kit set at 2.5" up front and +1" rear blocks in the rear on my 2014 Sierra SLE using stock UCAs. Over the last week or so a knock has developed in the front driver side wheel well. I hear the knock inside my cab when I am driving at slow speeds and seems to correlate with road vibrations. Sounds like a thud every time I hit bumps no matter the size. Sound is clearly coming from the drivers side front wheel area. I hear it at high speeds as well but road noise makes it hard to hear. Truck has to be moving down the road to hear the noise.

Work to date:

Replaced sway bar end links and bushings. Inspected sway bar for bar to frame impacts. No dice.
Re-torqued wheels.
Visual inspection of everything under the truck. Everything checks out, no obvious issues.
Removed wheels and pushed at 6/12 o clock and 3/9 o clock positions to see if I can feel play. No play noticed.

Is there another way I can verify if my ball joints (upper and lower) are shot before going gung-ho on replacing everything. Anything else I should be looking at in the wheel area? The Eibach struts use a lot of the OEM strut parts, could something on there have failed? Would a wheel bearing cause this issue?

Thanks folks!

Lsgun1 · April 10, 2019

Check to make sure the strut it tightened down to the strut mount. Also to check ball joints what you do is jack the truck up under the lower control arm and then place a pry bar or piece of wood under the tire and lift up on it slightly, you'll know if something is wrong. If you have a helper you can put your hand on the ball joint while they pry up to get a better feel. Don't go crazy and try to pry the truck off the jack.

Snowcamo · April 10, 2019

Check your top strut mounts and the bolt for the strut piston in the center. Sounds like what our old strut do when they go bad.

Waterfowler41 · April 10, 2019

7 minutes ago, Lsgun1 said:

Check to make sure the strut it tightened down to the strut mount. Also to check ball joints what you do is jack the truck up under the lower control arm and then place a pry bar or piece of wood under the tire and lift up on it slightly, you'll know if something is wrong. If you have a helper you can put your hand on the ball joint while they pry up to get a better feel. Don't go crazy and try to pry the truck off the jack.

Will try that if my crown nut work (see below) doesn't resolve the issue. Thansk!!!!

6 minutes ago, Snowcamo said:

Check your top strut mounts and the bolt for the strut piston in the center. Sounds like what our old strut do when they go bad.

I checked those yesterday. Cranked the hell out of them BUT I didn't check the crown nut. I saw some old posts on how Bilstein nuts would loosen up over time. Hoping this will resolve my issue because the sounds seems to come from the strut which is less than a year old. The spring were a bitch to install and I installed the crown nut on the ground with compressors holding on for dear life before installing back on truck so might be my issue. Going to run my drivers side up a ramp and tighten.

Snowcamo · April 10, 2019

I checked those yesterday. Cranked the hell out of them BUT I didn't check the crown nut. I saw some old posts on how Bilstein nuts would loosen up over time. Hoping this will resolve my issue because the sounds seems to come from the strut which is less than a year old. The spring were a bitch to install and I installed the crown nut on the ground with compressors holding on for dear life before installing back on truck so might be my issue. Going to run my drivers side up a ramp and tighten.

Really hope it does the trick for ya bud.

kickass audio · April 10, 2019

Ball joints are easy to check. Just jack up the truck from under each lower control arm enough to get the tire barely off the ground and then get under the tire with a pry bar and see if you hear clunking or see movement in the ball joints. Grab your cv axle to make sure they aren't toast from your lift if you have 4x4.

I had an issue on the rear of my truck where I was driving around for 3 months after taking it in to the dealer for warranty work on my axle seal. For some reason the dealer removed the brakes on the passenger rear and my drivers rear was the culprit but anyway the passenger rear had 1 of the 2 bolts holding the brake caliper mounting bracket to the hub so it was banging around on the backing plate and I only heard it bang when hitting bumps and when I finally took off the wheel it would clunk when I barely tap the brake pedal.

Waterfowler41 · April 10, 2019

Really hope it does the trick for ya bud.

Thanks dude! This makes complete sense to me because of how hard it was to get any leverage when tightening the strut bolt on the floor.

Praying to baby Jesus this is the culprit however I already jumped to conclusion twice on this clunk search so not getting my hopes up.

Waterfowler 41’s Youtube channel: https://www.youtube.com/user/brittmork

Waterfowler41 · April 11, 2019

Well I got 3/4 of a turn out of my drivers side strut nut, zero turns out of my pass side nut which is promising. Took the truck for a test drive and didn’t hear the noise but in all honesty our roads were repaved last summer so not too rough.

Real test will be tomorrow on my way into work.

I jacked up my truck by the LCA and tried to pry the tire every which way but no movement.

Crossing my fingers the strut nut was the culprit. If some I’ll remove it and replace it with a new one and some loctite.

Waterfowler 41’s Youtube channel: https://www.youtube.com/user/brittmork

Waterfowler41 · April 11, 2019

Welp, issue still unresolved....

Going to remove the wheel tonight and see if there’s anything else moving that shouldn’t. Not too long ago I was getting a high pitched squeak from the front left. Maybe my hub/bearing was going out. Squeak has gone away, knocking started shortly after.

Waterfowler 41’s Youtube channel: https://www.youtube.com/user/brittmork

Waterfowler41 · April 12, 2019

Update: last night i removed the wheel and popped my UCA off. No slop in the UCA. They could probably benefit from replacement but I think I’ve isolated the issue to my lower ball joint.

When I load the lower control arm (jack up truck from LCA) I can here a metal to metal noise every time I lift the hub assembly straight up. Had my wife keep moving it and saw the Lower ball joint boot moving a bit.

Going to purchase some Moog ball joints (if i replace it on one side, I’m going to do both sides) and see if that solves the issue.

I’ll keep the updates coming as I’m sure I won’t be the only one running into this issue.

Waterfowler 41’s Youtube channel: https://www.youtube.com/user/brittmork

Waterfowler41 · April 13, 2019

Spent the night fighting to get the stock lower ball joint out. Finished this morning, took it for a test drive and.....still have the knocking... on a plus side I have a new lower ball joint and was able to inspect everything including my wheel bearing and CV axles.

Waterfowler 41’s Youtube channel: https://www.youtube.com/user/brittmork

langston1726 · April 16, 2019

Any chance it could be your headers or y pipe hitting somewhere over bumps. I know you’ve had them on for a while but maybe you have warn motor mount allowing the motor to sag. Seems like you’ve gone through every possibility on the suspension.

My TSPs were hitting when I first installed them but a quick y pipe adjustment took care of it. Don’t know just a thought. I know these noises can be super frustrating trying to find.

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Waterfowler41 · April 18, 2019

On 4/15/2019 at 9:37 PM, langston1726 said:

Any chance it could be your headers or y pipe hitting somewhere over bumps. I know you’ve had them on for a while but maybe you have warn motor mount allowing the motor to sag. Seems like you’ve gone through every possibility on the suspension.

My TSPs were hitting when I first installed them but a quick y pipe adjustment took care of it. Don’t know just a thought. I know these noises can be super frustrating trying to find.

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Actually, I came across a video where the guy had a suspension knocking and it turned out to be a bad mount. I checked the exhaust and pretty much everything in the general vicinity of the front suspension, no obvious impact areas. Pulled the skid plate off and checked up there too. Haven't had an opportunity to dig too deep into the mounts, hopefully tonight.

Brought the truck to Firestone twice this week for them to look it over. They confirmed UCA, tie rod ends, hubs, and CVs are in good shape and not cause of issue. They can hear the sound but say its not related to the usually suspects.

I cannot replicate the sound by bouncing the truck, I have to drive and hit small sharp bumps to hear it. Also, have to drive less than 20 mph so I am wondering if its the strut. I put in a call to Dave Cortez at Eibach. I saw a brief post on a Colorado forum about a front end knock which sounds similar to mine.

I joke with my wife that fic for this issue is trading in the truck because I am beyond frustrated trying to find this noise. Its so loud and obvious, I can't believe its taking me this long to find the source.

Waterfowler41 · April 20, 2019

While changing my oil I was looking around a little more, found that if I hang from my lower control around and rock up and down, I can hear/feel knocking from the strut.... removed and retighted the lower mounting bolts still hear knocking.

Waiting for a call back from Eibach. Starting to think it’s a strut issue...

Waterfowler 41’s Youtube channel: https://www.youtube.com/user/brittmork

Snowcamo · April 20, 2019

While changing my oil I was looking around a little more, found that if I hang from my lower control around and rock up and down, I can hear/feel knocking from the strut.... removed and retighted the lower mounting bolts still hear knocking.

Waiting for a call back from Eibach. Starting to think it’s a strut issue...

Waterfowler 41’s Youtube channel: https://www.youtube.com/user/brittmork

Awe man that sucks. So its definitely not coming from the strut mount area? There are a couple threads out where using the factory strut rod bolt stopped the knocking.