I've had a clunking sound from my front suspension on the passenger side for a while now. It sounded like it was coming directly underneath the passenger side seat. After crawling underneath, I noticed the strut rod and bushings were directly underneath the passenger seat which must be the cause for the noise.

I purchased strut rod bushings from eBay, which were slightly cheaper than rockauto and amazon. The day before installing, I sprayed and soaked the bolts for the strut rod with PB Blaster.

I have a 2000 Dodge 1500 but sure the procedures the same for most years.

First, unbolt and remove the sway bar end links on both sides.


After removal of the end links...jack up one side, support with jack stands, and remove the front wheel. On the passenger side, remove the heat shield then loosen the 1-1/8" bolt connecting the strut rod to the frame. Using a breaker bar to help remove the bolt is a plus.


Remove the two 3/4" bolts connecting the strut rod to the lower control arm.






The bushings I purchased were AC Delco #45G25049.




Here's a comparison of the old and new bushings. When reinstalling, I decided to use the original washers since they were in great condition.








When reinstalling the strut rod, make sure the "collar" on the bushing is fully seated inside the frame mount.




Reinstall the two 3/4" bolts and lightly tighten. Doing this step before you tighten the large 1-1/8" bolt will anchor the other side down to the lower control arm and prevent the strut rod from spinning around while tightening.

Finish off with the other bushing, washer and tighten bolt. Then reinstall heat shield.






Don't forget to tighten the two 3/4" bolts.

Driver side is identical with the exception of the heat shield.

Total time was about 2 hours and no more clunking sound

 

Thanks for the Pix.

Did you grind down the sharp edges on the frame bracket from the strut rod smacking the bracket and clunking?

Some people only look at the outside of these bushings and declare them just fine, without realizing that these bushings get shredded from the inside out, and after they've replaced everything else which could cause clunking, come back here, remove them and find the bracket's hole is now Oblong instead of round..

Interesting design on those delcos, with the forward bushing having the large protrusion, and the back bushing being flat.

I had the Moogs that were similar, but the forward bushing's bulge was actually a steel collar embedded in the rubber.

Apparently braking hard in reverse was enough to pull this bulge out of the frame bracket center, and it stayed off center and mangled the bushings.

I now use some energy suspension polyurethane bushings whose fronts and rear bushings are identical. They were 5$ on Amazon at the time. Certainly a bit firmer, but braking feel is improved

 

Very nice DIY write-up.