My 2001 Ram Van 3500 has loud noise in the suspension when I am turning and going up slight slope or going over a dip in the road. It almost sounds like a spring thats metal to metal. I have looked underneath the vehicle and didn't see anything obvious. Can anyone offer any suggestions? I only have 68000 miles on the Van. Thanks

 

Where's the noise, front, rear, left, right?

 

There are many possibilities.

There are 15/16 inch bolts holding the Pivot bar to the Frame. The pivot bar goes through the upper control arm. This is the major adjustment point for an alignment. Mine had loosened up 2 years after an alignment and was making a hideous metal on metal noise like you describe, but not over bumps. Mostly when hard braking or turning the wheel in reverse while braking. Mine was the rearward bolt that had loosened up. If the front one had loosened up I could imagine it making noise how you describe.

The sway(stabilizer) bar links can make noise like you describe if they have loosened up, or the rubber is shot.


The strut rod bushings wear out from the inside out, meaning they can appear fine but be near worthless. The strut rods connect the lower control arm to the frame.


Tightening the Pivot arm bolts, is easy, but if they have moved, you most likely need an alignment too. Replacing the Sway bar links, and strut rod bushing is cheap and easy to do yourself. Even if you buy the most expensive parts you can do this for under 50$. Even if it does not solve your problem it is a great place to start and the easiest sources to eliminate. When you are replacing them, you will know if they are the source, especially the strut rod.

If it does not solve your issues I would suspect one or more of the Ball joints. These can be checked by lifting one tire off the ground by the lower control arm, then seeing if you can move the wheel in or out when pushing and pulling on the top and bottom of the wheel. This test can also show slop in the wheel bearings so it is helpful to have a helper detect where the slop(if any) is occurring.

There are rubber bushings where the shock attaches to the frame. These could have loosened up and/ or the rubber deteriorated, or your shocks could be toast.

If the ball joints and shocks are fine then I might suspect a broken coil spring, although that is unlikely. There is a rubber isolation pad on top of the leaf spring, but even if this has worn out or migrated to the middle, it should not cause the noise you describe.

I just rebuilt nearly my whole front suspension, and made a detailed post with lots of Pics here:
http://www.vannin.com/threads/ubbthr...tml#Post401349
which might help you visualize the parts, and what might be occuring. There should be only slight differences between your suspension and my '89.

Good luck, let us know what you find.

 

The noise sounds like it is coming from the left front.

 

Check for a worn lower ball joint, worn strut rod bushing, or a worn lower control arm bushing.

 

I finally had time to lift up the front end and inspect it. I found the left idler arm worn, has play and the rubber coming out. I think that was my noise. I didn't realize that it has 2 idlers arms. one right and one left.
I did check the strut arm bushings and they look ok except I am not sure if they are or not? I can spin the rubber bushing with my fingers? Does this mean that the nut is not tight?

 

They should not spin freely. Time to replace the bushing.

 

I am replacing the strut arm bushings now. Is there a torque spec. for the end nut?

 

My '89 factory service manual says 52 LB/ft. This basically is as far as the nut can go on the strut rod on mine. 100 lb/ft would not make the nut any tighter on mine.