Left front suspension rattle....help me narrow it down....

[Drenalin]

My ride.......2001 F350 4x4 Crew 7.3........224K

Thought I had a bad shocks after 125K miles on this driver front so I replaced them all and the rattle still continues. It is most noticeable on the rocky road at the deer lease or on a bumpy road in general. There is no distinct pop....it just sounds like my left end under my feet is rattling when i hit rough road/terrain.

Wheel bearing has been ruled out. I inspected it when I replaced a knuckle seal with the shocks. It is still solid. My front tire does show some wear on the inside so maybe that can point us in the right direction.

Sway bar seems solid but I'm just hanging on it..

There is no steering wander, but upon inspection I did notice my left tierod seemingly leaking grease. The rod itself seems to rotate on the ball with no side to side play but I haven't jacked it up for testing yet.

I will be replacing ball joints anyway as Im sure they need it but I am not so sure that will fix the problem at hand as there are not pops...just rattles in the front suspension area.

Can you fellas get me started on possible diagnosis? I'll be tackling it myself as always... I just don't want to get stranded 5 hours away at our property...and being out of work I need to make sure I concentrate my efforts on the right items....Thank you as always gentlemen....

[klhansen]

If you have a front sway bar with links going to the frame back near the rear of the front spring leaves, try unbolting the link on one side and taking it for a drive. If you can't duplicate the noise in that condition, then either the sway bar bushings on the axle are bad or the link bushings are bad.

Energy Suspension sells a replacement bushing kit for the whole thing for around $40. That would take care of you.

[Drenalin]

will do that klh......any other suggestions?......

[HBO1]

I have the very same symptoms on my passenger side. Had it on driver's side too and about 2 years ago I replaced all those link and sway bar bushings and that did get rid of some annoying sounds. Later on, maybe a year, I started to get a clunk and could feel it through the floorboard on about any little bump. I ended up buying all the stuff to do the balljoints. About 4 months ago, I started on doing the driver's side balljoints but discovered my wheel bearing was completely shot. I did the balljoints on the driver's side anyway and also replaced the whole hub assembly including the knuckle seal. That made the left side beautiful but I really don't believe I had to replace the balljoints, they were fine as far as I could tell. So I decided to forego doing the passenger side since the balljoints seemed fine and when the truck was lifted, I couldn't get any play in the wheel whatsoever.

Now I am getting a clunk on the passenger side and I am getting inside wear on that tire as well. I can almost see that the tire is not standing vertical too! My truck is an '03 with 137k miles.

I don't know if this was any help to you or not, but I am thinking my wheel bearing is gone on that side as well. Could be balljoints I suppose, especially with your mileage. Could be both too! But given that your truck is driving straight and you're getting that inside tire wear, I am thinking your wheel bearing more than anything.

[UpstateStroker]

Had the same symptoms, going over bumps sounds and feels like something loose and rattling. Driver side ball joints, upper and lower replaced sounds and feels like new. Less than 8 months later had the same issue on the passenger side. Wheel bearings on both sides were fine, no noticeable tire wear either. Good luck with it.

[JimTJr]

I actually have one of my sway bar link holes in the frame wollered out, this is hard to try to fix...

Any ideas? It rattles some,

[klhansen]

Originally Posted by JimTJr

I actually have one of my sway bar link holes in the frame wollered out, this is hard to try to fix...

Any ideas? It rattles some,

Jim, there are support pieces that bolt to the frame that the sway bar link goes thru. I had to change mine out when I swapped out the front axle for a D60. Had to change the sway bar and end links as well. Those upper sway bar mounts were different on the smaller end links that the truck originally came with. Originals were stamped and welded and the ones I got from an 04 wreck were forged. You might try scouting around the boneyard for one of those.

[Drenalin]

Will be taking sway bar off tomorrow to check. How far can i drive with it on? And is there any suggestions to get the ends bushings out if I don't have a press?

In the time being I crawled up under and sway bar seems solid.....the end links do seem a little worn just in viewing but I cannot move them. The bushings have a little silver on each side of the bar but I would suspect that is just from 8 years of the rubber moving back and forth in it.

The main thing I found is that the left and right outer tie rod ends are easy to rotate on the balls...There is seeming a lot of play in it rotating up and down but none left to right. The rotating of the entire piece up and down is however quite easy.

I am sure it needs to be replaced but could this be making the noise described above or just another worn part I need to fix. I could take a small video of it if needed...

[Drenalin]

Sway bar bushing end link shot....I can move it with my hands easily.

Ball joint on drivers side has play in it.....

And outer tie rod ends shots.......gonna be a fun weekend when I get back into town on the 13th.

Thanks for the direction gentlemen.....

[Drenalin]

To follow up since most don't after they diagnose.....after 229K miles my ball joints on the drivers side were shot.....remarkably, the passenger side seemed fine but I changed them as well. Since I had it all torn down, i went ahead and replaced the knuckle seal and hub assembly and got it all over with. To cover my bases, I threw in the swaybar bushings and tierods as well. I'm a beat son of a gun but she drives like new with this and the new shocks I put on a few months ago... Should have done this over a year ago.

If I can do this anybody can do it..

[dlblazer]

Thanks for the followup. Sounds like you did a good job - congrats on a job well done.

[dodgeram1500]

It maybe the shock observer that would need to be replaced. Grab a hold of it and try wiggling it back and forth if it moves then that's the problem.