Hi guys,

I have a 2001 ram 1500 4x4 ... at low speeds, below 20 km/h I hear this clunking noise that sounds like it is coming from the frontdriver sidewheel, does it when you're going straight, or turning. If I put it in 4x4, it hardly does it. Once you get the speed up, it seems to go away (or you can't hear it). Nothing seems to be loose on the suspension. The front driveshaft doesn't seem "apparently" loose. I would expect it to get worse in 4x4 if it was u-joints?????, not get better ... could it be wheel bearings? I guess in 4x4 there would be more of a load on things, and the u-joint might appear to get better? Sorry for the rambling ... I just don't know how else to describe it. It is really nasty sounding though ... any ideas?

Thanks,
Dee

 

yea i believe it is the ujoints like you said.When put in 4wd the ujoint is put under a load and stays torqued over. Definately check that

 

Yea i would say u-joints in axle.. easy to check axle joints.. just crawl under and wiggle u-joint..it shouldnt move...... wheel bearing..jack up wheel and try to wiggle it.. from top to bottom.. if it moves..look under and have someone wiggle it to confirm where to movment is...

 

Anybody ever change the front axle U-joint?

 

yep just this past weekend..not hard at all.. well the caps was hard to get loose..but once I got 2 of the caps to move ..it was easy...just like any other u-joint.. if it aint moving get a bigger hammer..lol..

 

Turned out to be the u-joint, all the pins were missing in a few caps. I never heard a u-joint sound so nasty, course I never though it would be sympathetically turning either. Learn something new every day!

Also, the track bar (panhard bar) had a lot of play in it ... got that replaced, and man, is the steering ever tighter now, LOL. Also need to swap out the sway bar end links ... lots of play there, but I'm going do that a little later.

Thanks for all the ideas!

-Dee