Rear Wheels Making clumking noise

[bpeters2]

We hauled a few heavy loads this weekend. Now I'm noticing that there is a clunking noise which occurs over bumps when driving. When I pull and push on the the rear wheels I can make the noise happen and it feels as if the wheels are on loose...but the lugs are tight. Any ideas....maybe its always been there and I'm just noticing it now that I have the topper off.

 

[ZMan]

check all of your suspension components, springs, spring hangers, shackles, shocks, etc. The hangers/shackles have a tendency to rust and break.

 

[dogboy]

Mine do that too. I was told by both my auto shop teacher, and my uncle (works at a wrecking yard) that it's nromal, and it's just the play in the c-clips at the end of the axles inside the diff.


Mine have done it since I got the truck 2 years ago, and nothign has come of the problem, so I don't worry about it.

On mine, there was just enough movement in the tire to make the clunking noise, not much more than that.

 

[Captain Ledd]

Mine was extra clunky a while back, turned out the passenger side spring shackle had collapsed. Every so often it'd make a big "Thud/Clunk" when I turned right or cycled the suspension. I thought it was just the crap rolling around in my bed and I just never noticed it before. Then I took it all out, and it still did it. The scary part is I never noticed a difference in ride quality, nor ride height.

 

[Sunk]

You mean the wheels move a little side to side? Dogboy is right: it's totally normal for a c-clip axle.

 

[bpeters2]

Thanks for all the help. Just to clarify (for Sunk and others), this movement occurs when I grab ahold of the top a rear tire and push towards the differential and pull away from diff. (its more like a hard jerking motion back and forth than a push and a pull). C-Clips??

thanks again this is a great forum!

 

[dangeranger01]

You mean the wheels move a little side to side? Dogboy is right: it's totally normal for a c-clip axle.

+1 mine does it all the time, especially going over speed bumps slow.

 

[Rembrandt]

Ya just sounds like normal play in the C-clips. Most all do it. Some more noticable than others. I really wouldn't worry about it. But It still wouldn't hurt to get under it and check all the suspension componenets like ZMan said

 

[ZMan]

The scary part is I never noticed a difference in ride quality, nor ride height.

ya when mine broke it did the same thing, difference is mine are flipped, so when it broke it smacked the bottom of my bed, and made a loud clunk, took me a while to figure out what had actually happened. Just put a small dent in my bedfloor. I moved back home from PA a week later with all my crap loaded in the bed, lol.