Trying to avoid a throwing parts at it party.

87 dakota longbeb 3,9 5 speed. I have an ongoing slight rattle/knock on bumps in the front end. it's like a loose crossmember. Most noticeable on ligh bumps. Had a full inspection done at two shops and everything checks fine. It has been ongoing for over a year. No better no worse than when it started. It seems to be in the suspension or frame area below the brake clutch pedal assy.

Is there some common cause or flaw in these things that causes such a noise and difficult to pin down?

 

check the front torsion bar where it goes into the frame bushings. mine was broke there but you could not see it. the 87-96 are the same, the only difference is the diameter of the bar. mine did the same thing as yours until i found it. they tend to break inside the bushing because of the twist.

mine was broke on the drivers side just under the floor pan and you could feel it every bump.

 

You didn't say whether its 2 or 4 wheel drive. If its a 4 wheel drive, my guess is that its one of your motor mount isolators ( since the garage's found nothing wrong with your front end steering/suspension ). The rubbers usually wear out which results in in a thump from the front end when you hit bumps ( the rubber is damn near impossible to see...you have to really work at it )
If you download the 88 , 89 truck pdf file in the faq section ( being a member here, you should already have it ), look on page 304 and it will show you what I'm talking about. I tried copying and pasting it here but screwed it up. The part numbers are #2 drivers side and #21 passenger side. Good luck.

 

I will start checking. thanks.

 

Check the steering rack if is tight to the frame...

 

if you got a bad motor mount it's more of a thump when you give it gas, had a 76 pinto that the engine mount went. drove it home after it let go. the engine was way slanted to the right but it got me back. yah i know about the explosion thing.