Clunk noise of small ledged bumps. CV's or sway bar end links?

The noise I couldn't figure out for quite some time, which drove me nuts, turned out to be nothing more than the brake pads rattling within the caliper as the pads have worn a down a little.

Easy to tell if it's this, drive over bumps without brake pedal pressed - you'll hear it - then drive over bumps with brake pedal pressed - sound goes away.

It doesn't hurt anything if it turns out to be the brake pads. Next time they are changed, just need to use the red goop that helps keep them tight in the caliper.

 

This^

 

My wife's car had the same issue where it would clunk but only when turning and hitting a bump at the same time, usually pulling out of the driveway. It took me a while to figure out that it was a lower control arm bushing because everything felt tight. Finally I stuck a pry bar between the subframe and each bushing and when I applied just a bit more pressure than I could by hand, I found a bushing that was sloppy. I also had the front of the car raised with jack stands on the subframe so there was no weight on the front suspension. Hope this extremely boring story helps...

 

Similar issue... I could hear it only when I hit quick impact type bump at a moderate speed. It had me looking everywhere in the front end, hitting the tire with a mallet and pulling on suspension parts looking for play. It turned out to be my seatbelt mechanism in my door. I always have the windows down, which made it sound like it was coming from the driver front wheel area and it was a subtle clunk which made me think it was outside the cab. If you find yourself at a standstill with other diagnose options, try checking panels or your door.

 

Well, it's not the sway bar end links. I replaced them today and the sound is still there. I'm just about to give up and take it to Toyota to look at. I've gone over EVERYTHING, and still to no avail! Is there any way it could be a wheel bearing, even with no give when you shake the wheel while the truck is off the ground? Anything? Getting quite pissed that I can't pin point and fix this myself.

 

Have you confirmed that it's not the brake pads rattling in the calipers, it's common.

 

^ I'll check it out. I did new brakes about 10k Kms ago, and used the "goo" on the brakes. I'm thinking at this point it's either the start of a wheel bearing starting to go, or my CV clunking around.

 

Well, after some more trial and error I seem to have found my problem. I bought a big pry bar, and checked the lower ball joint- nothing. Tried checking the wheel bearings- nothing. Read something about a guy having the upper ball joint on his light racing UCA's shit the bed, so I stuck the pry between it and the tire and gave it a tug- exactly the noise I've been hearing!! There must be about 1cm of up and down movement, which is scary! Also checked the one on the drivers side and nothing. Happy to have found the issue, but also disappointed as I just put these UCA's on two years ago, and less than 20,000kms. I don't wheel, I take good care of it, should these not last longer than this, or am I crazy?

 

good to hear you found it. I have a terrible clunk too in my front driver side only while hitting bumps and turning. Same as many have described in this thread. Im getting just as frustrated as you are at this point now. Can you explain exactly how you went about testing the ball joints upper and lower using a pry bar? Did the upper BJ actually make a pop sound when you moved it? Have you replaced it it yet and did it work?

 

+1!

I've got a click in my left wheel/suspension (I think anyway). Took it to a shop and they said everything is tight but I'm not exactly sure what all they checked?

 

I checked my upper ball joint by having the truck on the ground, and pry bar under my SPC control arms, and on top of my tire between the Duratrac treads, and just pulled down on the bar. Didn't take much force for it to move on the side that was shitty. SPC sent me new ball joints, and I just had to pay a core charge which will be returned, plus the shipping costs. Drives like new again.

In regards to the lower ball joint, I jacked the truck up, put it on jack stands, then jacked up under the lower control arm to take pressure off of everything. Then I found a way with the tire turned to pry off the spindle and the ball joint area...no movement whatsoever.

Truck drives like a new truck now that I went over every nut and bolt on the damn thing...not one squeak anywhere.

 

Glad to hear you found it. I had to go out and check mine after reading this. No play whatsoever. My clunk went away after I put my lift on. I'm not sure if it was a loose LCA bolt or what, but it's gone none the less.

 

Thanks!

 

Oh God, just searched this and it sounds like its exactly whats my issue, going to test it....

 

Is there suppose to be any movement up and down whatsoever?

 

Bump

 

If you have been struggling with a clunk, shake, or vibration felt in your steering wheel that is most pronounced at slow speeds on rough roads and trails, then this fix may work for your truck. I bought my 2014 back in November of 2013, and within 300 miles I felt a clunk in the steering wheel driving on the icy roads in my neighborhood. It was much more pronounced in the spring when I took the truck off road, so I did a lot of searching on the web and first tried the zip tie mod. In the 12,000 miles since, I have tried zip ties in varying thicknesses, numbers, and positions; the elimination of the rubber disk in the rag joint by rebuilding my upper intermediate shaft with bolts, spacers, washers, and nuts;adjusting the tilt and telescoping of the wheel away from the extreme points/stops; the TSB intermediate shaft; adjusting the steering rack guide screw; lower tire pressure; replacing the sway bar bushings; and even the building my own custom rubber damper for the shaft using hose clamps and the rubber from bicycle grips. None of these ideas has produced the kind of result I discovered when I did the fix documented below. I got the idea from a 4Runner thread that seemed to recommend making the opposite adjustment (pushing the yoke and shaft up), which I tried and determined it only made the problem worse. Shoving zip ties/other stuff in there or welding/taking the rag joint out, in my opinion, creates a conductor for vibrations to travel up between the rack and the wheel.

But to first understand why this particular fix works, you need to know that the either the soft rubber bushings that hold the steering rack to the frame and/or frame and body flex are allowing the steering shaft to be pushed towards the steering wheel by 1/4” or more on bumps. Just look at the grease spot below the bushing on your rag joint to see evidence of this. The only thing taking up the slack and preventing you from feeling this is the rubber disk of the rag joint (also called steering coupler). Replacing the steering rack bushings on a brand new truck seems a little ridiculous and is a rather extensive project, so this fix seems like the next best thing. I am also concerned that replacing the steering rack bushings with harder ones would subject the rack to harsher impacts and more wear, so I’ll stick with this for now. I would, however, be interested in hearing from anyone who replaced the rack bushings on a low-mileage Tacoma to learn how it improved their steering.

Next, it is my belief that the driver feels the clunk when rubber in the rag joint compresses enough that the steering shaft has nowhere else to go and then moves laterally. The fix I have discovered unloads the rag joint and gives it more room to absorb impacts. I think the shaft pushes up towards the driver more than it pulls back down, so setting it a few mm more against the direction it moves gives it more space before it bottoms out. In some rough off road driving, I would estimate it has taken out 90% of the clunk and vibration on climbs and level ground and 70% of the same on descents, when the front of the truck and steering rack have more weight on them. I have been told by folks at two dealerships and even an independent Toyota service center that all of these trucks clunk. I have read similar remarks on other posts on Tacoma World and elsewhere. I hope this helps some of you relieve your clunk and reduce it to more livable levels of vibration. To do this, you may need a helper to assist you in holding the rag joint down under the dash while you tighten the upper bolt on the yoke under the hood/over the wheel. You are essentially shortening the shaft slightly as you move the upper shaft closer to the lower shaft in the yoke, and the best results may be seen with a brand new TSB shaft with a tight bushing, but I have not tried that yet. Please let me know how this turns out for you and how much it improves your steering.

 

Mine was the ball joints. Changed them and it's fine now

 

I'm still getting a fucking click from somewhere when going over speed bumps or uneven pavement

I took my sway bar off thinking that might have been it... nope.

Here is the list of bolts that I've tightened the shit out of (to spec):

Upper Control Arm Bushing/Bolt
Lower Shock Bolt
Both Lower Control Arm Bushing Bolts
Both Front Lower Ball Joint Attachment Bolts


However, I didn't bother with the actual lower ball joint bolt as it has the cotter pin in it so that shouldn't need to be tightened??

The only thing I'm not sure about is how to tighten the center Shock Top Nut as it spins with the shock?

I've tried to clamp it down while using a open/through wrench but I can't get enough leverage or the clamp slips so I haven't had much success... Do you think that could be the cause?

I'll see if I can take a video and record the sound...

Does anyone have any ideas?