Clunking noise coming from front passenger side

So I have replaced the following so far:

Both front coil overs
Both inner and outer tie rods
Rack and pinion
Both Stabilizer Bar Links
Both front Calipers and brake pads
New Cooper AT3 tires
Had an alignment done

The noise is still present. The truck has 145k miles. At 76k miles the truck had the lower ball joints replaced by the dealership under a recall for the lower ball joints. The truck has been moderately offroaded on the weekends (not rock crawling, more like trails), nothing too crazy, but with 33x11.50 A/T tires. This noise has annoyed me to the point I am about to replace any and everything I can think of on the passenger side. So this is what I am ordering:

Upper Ball Joint (Moog)
Lower Ball Joint (Moog)
Front wheel bearing/race/inner & outer seals (Timken)

If that does not fix it, the only thing left could be the front cv shaft, but I doubt its that because I have cracked and broke those before on my Tacoma back in the day and I know what they sound like. This sound only happens on bumps or cracks in the road. It sounds like something in the suspension is hitting metal on metal almost... like maybe something is "loose". We have checked all bolts, nuts, etc to make sure everything is tight and even applied lock tight to everything over there. Noise still continues. If anyone can think of anything else beside the parts I am ordering above that might cause this noise, please let me know. Thank you.

 

Steering rack bushings were loose on my 1st gen and caused a clunk. But I assume you replaced those when you did the r&p.

 

I’d bet it’s a sway bar end link. Check those and your sway bar mount bushings.

 

Yes I did replace those. I will definitely check them again though as they are an aftermarket part now, never know.

I did not think about those. Never had to replace one on a vehicle before so I have never heard if they make a noise. I will definitely replace those as well. Thank you!

 

Good! I’ll eat my hat if that’s not your issue. I had the same thing on my 2006 accord and it drove me batty. New end links and everything was right as a drum!

 

So I actually just checked my Amazon account, and I did have the stabilizer bar link on both sides replaced, I had forgot about that. I will update my 1st post with this. I did not however replace the bar mounts.

 

For shits and giggles take your skid plate off and drive it around, that may be making the noise you’re hearing.

 

I thought the same thing and I took it off. It has actually been off for the last couple months. I need to put it back on but I wanted to wait until I get this noise sorted out.

 

It was worth a try, I’ve read in here about wire bundles rubbing together and making noise so your problem may not be suspension at all just something moving when you roll over it.

 

I am pretty sure its metal contacting metal. I have had my buddy ride with me who is a mechanic and he said its clearly coming from the front passenger side, but he just looking around in there couldn't figure out where it coming from either. It doesn't sound like something that has a large gap or distance smacking each other... it sound like if you had maybe a 1/4" of slack between two heavy pieces of metal and hit a bump temporarily allowing the upper heavy part to separate from the lower part that 1/4" and then smack back together.... if that makes sense.

Also I've tried to see if it is suspension flexing or something like that, by articulating the front suspension through a ditch and on a oil change ramp, both allowing it to hang, and stuffing it up in the wheel well, and that doesn't cause any popping or anything. Its just when you drive down a poorly paved road and there are pot holes or large cracks in the road and the faster you go, the more noticeable it is when you hit these imperfections in the road. On a smooth road, you do not hear it at all. Its basically sharp quick short up travels of the suspension that causes it. It made this noise also before the new coil-over and still after it was replaced, so its definitely not that.

 

A arm bushings? Check anything else besides suspension like radiator mounts body mounts loose exhaust hanger etc.

 

Where its coming from, we are about 99% sure it wouldn't be exhaust or radiator. The A-arm bushings is a good idea though. I will add those to my list to replace. Thank you!

 

I have the same problem, it's been several years. I just replaced upper and lower BJ's, control arms and tie rod ends. Did the rack bushings a couple years ago. Noise is still there.

 

Just FYI, everyone here says you do NOT want to go aftermarket on the ball joints. They strongly recommend OEM. If it's not too late I would go OEM.

 

What about spring slap? Sometimes the coils in the springs will contact each other under compression.

 

I guess thats a possibility. I feel like the bumps though are sometimes very small, and you still hear it as long as you are at speed. I wouldn't think the small bumps would cause that but then again who knows. Not sure how you would correct that.

 

So I was doing some research and I found this video on YouTube. Its interesting if nothing else. I can definitely see how aftermarket ball joints might get a bad rap if people don't stay on top of maintaining them as he explains in the video. I am very meticulous with maintenance on my vehicles. Now in my experience, the average person who drives to work and is not into working on their vehicles as many of us are, they do NOT keep up good maintenance. For someone like that, I would obviously tell them to get a sealed ball joint. But for people like us who don't mind greasing everything while doing oil changes, the aftermarket might outlast the OEM. Watch the video here for yourself and see what you think:

https://youtu.be/XO0KH4EqtCY

 

That was an interesting video, thanks for sharing.

 

See I was always under the impression that Moog was good stuff until I joined this site. Everyone suggests OEM. I always thought upgrading to a grease-able ball joint was the way to go. Seems like as long as you take care of it it should last longer. But many people here have had bad experiences. Totally threw everything I thought, out the window. Personally I prefer to be able to grease any joints. Although some like sealed joints like universals. I’ve heard they are stronger. But I always get satisfaction pushing fresh grease into the joints. And recently Toyota stopped putting serviceable U joints on the driveshaft. I don’t know why.

 

If I was going to build one of the most reliable brands ever (Toyota), and the engineers said, "hey, we can either put products in that are part plastic, part metal, but it basically self lubricates and lasts around 150k miles with no maintenance from the owner or we can put two metal pieces that require the operator to lubricate them every 5k miles or so, which do you want?". Well thats an easy answer. If you don't want every soccer mom, teenager, and feminine men whining about how their ball joint failed at 25k miles and Toyota is a piece of junk, then you better put the part in that requires no assistance from the owner. It makes the reliability seem higher.

If metal on plastic lasted longer than metal on metal, the piston rings in a engine would be plastic. They are not because oil (lubricant) and metals on metals last longer. Now if you don't change the oil, and it fails that's on you. Same goes for the moog part. You don't grease it regularly and it fails, thats on you. I will be running Moog. They have a lifetime warranty. I do wheel this truck. They will be beat on to an extent. I will let yall know if one breaks. If it does before 75k miles, I will get an Toyota OEM.

 

Moog is what I used in my 91 SHO, and comes highly recommended. I dont baby the car either. Autocross, long sweepers at max speed with undulations, and fast transitions have been no problem. I have their control arm, swaybar endlinks, inner and outer tie rods, and ball joints. Not a single complaint. They'll get my money for my complete front end rebuild. I'm not gonna pay 2-3 times the price for oem when moog is a known good company.

 

I used moog LCAs, ball joints and sway bar links in my accord too. Been solid so far with about 40k on them.

 

Did we ever figure this out? I think I have the same or similar problem. It only happens in drive, it happens once. It only happens after being parked for any amount of time. It's so consistent that I am ready for it. It almost sounds like a very exaggerated a/c pump kicking in. It's front right, happens within 1-15 feet of driving forward, doesn't happen in reverse. Doesn't matter how long the truck has been idling or warming up.

Now that I am writing this is got me wondering if it is something that's kicking on once in drive. The a/c and defrost aren't on.
The noise clunks and maybe it has noise or bellow afterwards. It really does sound like it's suspension related but it's symptoms are not suspension related.

Thoughts?

 

I have the EXACT same noise. I'm sorry to say I have no idea what it is. I'm just glad I'm not the only one.

And you described it better than I could have.

 

I think my 2006 tundra did it and I bought that new. I currently have a 2003 with 300k miles, so noises are to be expected.
I just thought about something and was going to ask if yours was 4x4. It appears yes. I am not big in too wrenching on shit but I have a mechanical understanding of things. I wonder if it could be something 4x4 related. I wonder if the noise will go away if in 4wd. I am not really leaning towards this but it's a thought.
Maybe it's transfer case related. Although the sound is too loud and clear to be coming from within a transfer case. It almost sounds like a single knock from a warn CV joint. But that would always knock.
Could it be something from the drivetrain of the front wheels or front right wheel?
I am curious if being in 4wd will change it. I will report back

 

So to update this, I replaced the hub bearing (yes its 4wd), the upper and lower ball joint and put everything back together and the noise was still there. The steering and suspension felt a lot better, and it rolled a lot smoother now when I coast, but noise was still there. I replaced the sway bar MOUNT bushings next, and the noise went away. The old bushing on the sway bar mount was split and very dry rotted.

I did develop a different noise though now that happens when the steering wheel is turned back and forth left and right while sitting still. I had NTB look under it (for free) while I was having my tires rotated by them and they very quickly narrowed the noise down to the rack and pinion bushings. Once the tech sprayed WD40 on those bushings and moved the steering wheel around a bunch, the noise went away temporarily. It came back about 2 days later, but I know they need to be replaced. I honestly don't remember if the rack and pinion came with new bushings or not. It was about 2 years ago that I replaced it. Regardless some new bushings are going on there as well.

I also have a swirling noise coming from the rear. I put the rear end up on jack stands and put it in drive and had my buddy take it up to 40 mph and used a mechanic's stethoscope to identify where the noise was coming from. Its the loudest on the back left side next to the wheel. 99% sure its a bad axle bearing. I replaced these too about 25,000 miles ago but I replaced them with some cheaper bearings (I think National). I will replace it this time with Timkin. I only used Timkin on the front hub bearings and the drive shaft center support as well. Probably the best aftermarket bearings you can get.

 

Mine is 4WD as well. I don't think it's that. Since the noise only happens once I'm not too concerned, more curious.

 

Mine is a 2006 2WD DC. So far I have replaced the steering rack (before the clunk), both front complete strut assy's, pass side lower control arm, sway bar end links and the pass side outer tie rod. The lower engine cover is also currently off. The only others things I can think of are upper control arm engine mount or pass body mount just behind the front wheel.

My clunk can be felt in the front pass side floor when it happens, usually on an elevation change from dirt to pavement or vice versa, usually when turning right. Feels and sounds like someone hit the the undercarriage with a large hammer. It can also happen when turning right in a slight dip in the road. I cannot duplicate by rocking the truck, at least not by myself. People say the rack bushings may be bad...I put new bushing on when I did the rack and with all the nut/bolt locations across the rack, I don't see that as being likely.

 

I’ve had this similar occurrence of noise under your same circumstances under slow sharp turns (less than 10 mph) and changing elevations. I narrowed it down to the ‘Silencer Pads’ that are between each spring leaf tip except in my case the silencers were long gone due to age and slight spring splay.

I rigged some new make shift silencers out of plastic shims and wedged them in place and the sound disappeared. Sound has recently come back slightly due to a shim falling out after a years worth of abuse.

Some say that sound may be from the leaf spring bushing ferrule being rusted out, also. Not in my case.