Well, I just had an assistant rock my truck back and forth while I went under. I noticed two things, my rear sway bar links are making noise. Second, I see both front sway bar end links moving up and down within the mount. They are moog that I purchased maybe 2 years ago. THEY should have no in and out play, right?

Here! http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tOrZk...ature=youtu.be
Thats the video of the play in it. I am 100% sure they are bad, am i right? That was also barely rocking the vehicle. Just enough to make the noise.

 

I would say yes and Moog should warranty your parts! I VSN check mine in the am to confirm.... just on the off chance did you try to tighten them?

 

I would start following the sound to narrow down what I was looking for. Since you won't find anyone to hang on under the truck while you're driving it over bumps, you can tape a microphone in various places and record the sound on a laptop (any small portable sound recorder would work, but laptops are easier to find) at the same recording settings so you can see where the sound levels are greater. I'd start with locating the mic in each wheel well, in the same place in each one, and see what side is loudest, then work from there, putting the mic next to likely spots to get closer to the problem. It would take a bit of driving over the same bumps, but it would give you some useable info to help locate your problem and reduce your frustration.

If you use a cheap microphone, put a bit of a cardboard shield on it to reduce wind noise as you drive. Microphones with more directional qualities could work, but you'd have a harder time mounting them to get the same results. I would opt for an omnidirectional mic vs any directionality - the loss of sound from the mic positioning would be confusing, what I'd want would be proximity readings only vs directional & proximity combined. Directional is good once you're close.

 

That sounds like a great idea alfons, I've seen people tape video camera down there.to see movement and play. Well in the end, 95% Of the noise was the end links.

Sparks1032, I saw the play in tyrants ball joint end. Tightening wouldn't help. I once had an issue where something wasn't tight enough and I tightened it and it worked. I took my links off and they were horrible. Only 14,000 miles on em.. They have more play than a kid at a playground.

Also, I'm replacing my lower arms too.

 

If you don't mind the extra work, change the bushings and any seized bolts - that will save you a lot of cash. Check some of the other threads on the LCA and it's bolts for details on part numbers, availability, etc. If you go this way, make sure you have ALL the correct parts and at least a ball joint removal tool (the large screw type C-Clamp) with it's accessories (the plates, tubes, cups, etc) to mate the work to the removal tool.

Whether you change the bushings or the whole LCA, you'll need to budget for a front wheel alignment.

 

DODge has an alignment for 69$ which I will do in the end. I think all my lower arm bolts are good. I already removed one to see if it was seized, and it wasn't. My truck wasn't exposed to salt or snow. The lower strut bushing is bad, so I'm assuming the bushing where it mounts to frame is bad too. I'm gonna slightly remove the other 3 control arm bolts one at a time to make sure they aren't seized. One arm is kinda.... Bent too. So, way cheaper go get all new arms then rebuild mine. The only down side is that the raybestos/moog arms aren't greasable. Oh well.

 

The OEM arms have no grease nipples either. The only replaceable part that you can get with grease nipples is the ball joint, but you shouldn't need to worry about that for quite a few miles on the new joints that come with the new control arms. As long as you can remove the bolts, the job should be pretty simple - a lot of wrenching, but nothing to give you a brain hernia.

 

Yeah, well my bushings are just toast too. Plus the passenger arm is bent, i think. Its mounted well in one mount, and its slightly tweaked in the other mount. I once hit a really hard ditch and.. that mustve been from that. In the future, i can always put a new ball joint in it, when the time comes cuz im sure the bushings will stillbe fine by the time that i need a new ball joint.

 

Upper strut mounts had to be swapped on mine.

 

At what mileage? I heard about those going bad. But with my intentions of rebuilding the entire suspension, ill run on old struts for a few more months. I would rather get a whole new strut than get just new pieces.