I went and got new tires and alignment yesterday and now when I stop in reverse I get a clunk sound sometimes. It isn't anything I feel in the steering wheel or in the floor board and the brake performance isn't any different. I tightened up the spare about two months ago so that should still be good.

Anyone experience this before? I'm wondering if its something with the suspension being lifted completely off the ground and might have tweeked something.

 

If you can make it do it reliably, at low speeds, walk beside the truck while someone else repeatedly stops in reverse, see if you can localize where the sound is coming from.

 

As in, the cable holding the spare tire up?

If it only does it when braking in reverse and not braking forward, you may have an issue with your automatic drum/rear shoes adjusters. Perhaps compliments of the tire shop. After you try walking along side it (to figure out which side or both sides), you might want to pull off your rear tires and drums to have a lookie.

 

@dbbd1 - yes to the cable on the spare. I was planning on bleeding the brake system this weekend, but I'll probably just go ahead and pull the drums off too. I didn't see the shop mess with anything but my wheels, so maybe its just coincidence they started acting up right after new tires. @HeyYou - Thanks for the tip. I tried a few different times going back and forth with my door open trying to get it to do it and it wouldn't. Just does when I'm not expecting it. I'll look at brakes first and let you know what I find.

Thanks

 

Are the new tires larger? Make sure to re torque the lug nuts again since you should always check after a few drives when putting wheels back on.

Check the driveshaft and axle u joints? Sometimes those can make a clunk or click sound when going bad but I would hope the shop would point out anything like that during the install.

 

i did go from 245/75/16 to 285/75/16. Ha, i hope they tightened them up. the shop guys were busy and short handed late in the day. with two different guys back and forth on my truck, i could see it getting missed.

 

After checking out the brakes and lug nut torque I would unhook the drive shaft to roll the u-joints around to see if they're smooth and not wiggling around in the caps.
If that wasn't it then I would unhook one end of each shock to give them a push/pull to see if they've got good pressure in them.

 

Inquiring minds want to know...

 

I left you hanging didn't I. Well I got it to do it while I guy at work drove and I listened. It sounds like the right front brake is popping. It seems to want to do it once the truck has been parked for a minute and then you go to reverse. That's when its the loudest. After that, it really hit and miss as far as driving back and forth trying to duplicate it. Gonna dig into it this weekend and have look at it. This heat makes me go home right after and sit in the A/C.....and too busy last weekend.


the shocks are new, so I hope that's not it. I still haven't torqued the lugs either so I might be getting ahead of myself on what else it could be. Just from visual inspection and the rock the tire back and forth deal, nothing appears to be obviously loose. If the wheel was loose, would that let the rotor move around and misalign? I forgot how that front assembly all ties together.


Beyond that, any other ideas are welcome but I'll let you know what I find.


Loose caliper a possibility ?

 

Sounds like you might want to pull off the wheel and inspect the goings-on. Could be a loose caliper or pad. Or a large rock.