About 2 1/2 months ago I discovered a loose upper control arm when I started getting a slight knocking of the rear axle moving backward/forward. at the time, I thought I was also getting a slight side to side knock as well but ti was hard to tell the difference. after laying underneath with the jeep being moved forward/backward only a few inches, i could easily see where the adjustable upper control arm threads were stripped and allowing 1/4inch of movement (in/out).

I replaced the set of upper control arms (warranty by BDS )

But the occasional side to side "Clunk" remained. I only get it occasionally when I quickly change directions, i.e. very low speed turning into a driveway, or backing out of one.

I have crawled around underneath and everything seems very tight. I even got the guys at a local oil change shop to let me go int here so i had better lighting and could stand etc and non of us could se any sign of anything loose of showing indications of side/side movement.


Does anyone have any ideas of what, and more importantly "How" I can check to find what is going on?

Thanks In Advance,


Rob 'Tunes' O

 

Are you hearing the ol' steering box clunk???

 

no, I can hear and feel it is the rear end. I can feel the ass move across a tad then the clunk. It feels like the rear is swinging about an inch, but I an guessing it is much less than that. When aired down I can hear it, but loose the feel of it sliding side to side since it is doing a lot more of that on the tires anyway

 

I would check the rear trackbar bushings and mounting holes for any play.

Swaybar links tight.

How about the bolts that hold the retaining plate of the axle shafts. You need to remove the tire and possibly the calipers to get at all 4 nuts.

Sure it's not a loose exhaust moving around.

 

I had all the control arm bushings checked when I took the jeep in to get replacement upper control arms. everything was tight.
The Exhaust system is tight (newly installed and then adjusted by MBRP in Huntsville because one of the hangars was too long and hitting the frame. they chopped it and welded washers onto the ends so it cant move. the whole thing is rock solid and the clunk is hundreds, if not thousands of pounds shifting, not just an exhaust. (I can feel it when it hits)

M<y biggest problem is that I don't know how to reproduce the shifting and clunking when it is stationary and I can be underneath it. I have checked, and rechecked everything and there is nothing that I can budge by hand.

I really think that it will take 5 or 6 guys pushing on the rear quarter panels to see if it will move something, other than trying that, I am out of ideas.

 

Sounds like a bushing. The hardest part about that is they may look great from the outside, to really know for sure you have to take the ars off one by one and inspect the bushings. Also depending on what trackbar you are running the bushings can go bad in those too (ask me how I know).