I have a rattle in the front end every time I hit a bump. It sounds like the passenger side shock is loose but everything seemed tight when I checked it. The ball joints and steering components are in good condition. It's driving me crazy because I can't see anything that's obviously loose or worn out. Any ideas?

 

Shock bolts are torqued to some stupid value. Like 100 ft/lbs.....

Any work been done on the front in recent memory?

 

I replaced the shocks last year but didn't hear any noise until recently. Torqued to 100 lbs huh? Guess I'll check it again.

 

You'll feel the shocks clunking under the floorboards if they're loose. Check the tie rods adjuster clamps. If they aren't pointed forward and down they can contact the diff on bumps.

 

Might sound silly and you might have already but jack the nose of the truck up to get the front tires off and rock the tire from left to right and up in/down out to up out/down in

 

DODGEZILLA Here look at where the shock is welded to the mounting knuckle of the shock there’s times when the weld brakes loose but the shock still push s against the knuckle doesn’t separate until you hit a bump I found this fix once by accident.

 

How about the sway bar end links and, if you have it, the track bar on the front suspension.

 

I had a front end clunk on my truck when I bought it and couldn't find where is was coming from. I eventually took it to a mechanic and had a lot of front end work done including shocks and the clunk was still there. The mechanic was unsure where it was coming from and started replacing things like the steering shaft, etc., which the shaft alone cost like $225.00. After I was into about $1200 plus dollars and the clunk was still there, I took it to another mechanic and within 5 minutes or less the cluck was gone. He retightened the from shocks and no more clunk.

 

I had a strange Front end Noise that I could feel real good in my floorboard just outside of my brake petal next to the door. It was a loose bolt on my front shock.