Weird Clunk...

[bduke23]

Well it seems there is another chapter to what is turning into a brake war with my truck. After resolving the master cylinder and bleeding the front brakes, I drove it home to find an increasingly spongy pedal and loud slamming clunk. Today I bled all four brakes, and changed front pads since I had the tires off. I think a booster may be in order for the future, but its workable for now. The pedal now feels much better, but that clunk is still there. It only does it when I brake going forward. I can go as fast as I want in reverse and slam the pedal as hard as I want, it stops beautifully with no noise. But going even remotely fast or pressing the pedal even remotely hard while driving forward results in this massive slam and clunk. I greased all moving parts on the front calipers (other than the pads of course), and everything seems tight. I have no idea what is causing this, but I do not want to drive it until it is fixed. Anyone have any ideas?

 

[martin]

Check the radius arm bushings.

 

[bduke23]

Ok, how do I do that? Just jack up that side and wiggle everything?
Also, I wonder could that be caused by a ball joint or tie rod?

 

[martin]

It could be caused by a bad ball joint or tre. but radius arm bushings or the hole in the cross-member tend to get worn, especially on an older truck. If you look at where the radius arm bushings attach to the crossmember you might see marks where the bushings have been moving up and down. They don't need to move much to make noise.