i have an 04 f-350 5.4l 4x4 8 foot box. a small clatter or chatter noise when going over small stutter bumps.. it seems most people think it is ball joints.. truck did have a plow on it at one time.. truck rides and steers nearly perfect. i know when a front end is messed up,, this does not seem bad at all,,, the truck rides better than my 01 explorer sport,, handles fine, also,, there is a howl or growl noise when applying brakes.. not real loud,, but it is coming from front brakes... pads are plenty good,, and rotors look fine.. w.t.f ? noise is more annoying than anything,, but what gives here? no sense in changing perfectly good pads and or rotors.. what can i expect to spend for ball joints,, parts and or labor.. 70k miles on truck,. truck looks great.. i would just like to get these 2 issues straight soon.... ????? thanks polarisman

 

Jack up your front tires one at a time and get a 2x4 or long pry bar and have someone pry up on the bottom of the tire while you watch the ball joints carefully. If you see any play at all you should probably replace them.

Not sure about the brakes. Start with pulling the tire and inspecting the pad thickness and check the rotors for cracks or craters like these that mine had:

http://www.frontiernet.net/~slray/04...Joints-026.JPG

I had to do my brakes and ball joints at around 70k.

Here's the master thread on here about ball joints
https://www.ford-trucks.com/forums/3...ll-joints.html

And here's a writeup I did when I did mine. I used Racerguy's thread and just added a few more pics.
2004 F250 Ball Joint Replacement

Edit... for the clunking going over small bumps... check your sway bar and end link bushings.
http://www.frontiernet.net/~jmray/F250Bushings.htm

 

just for the record. ball joints did need replacing. replaced ball joints, and front rotors since i also had the wavy feel when applying brakes. solved almost all of my problems. the chatter/slight clunking was still there. i just changed the stabilizer bushings as stated by the earlier poster. cant believe it. very cheap easy replacement, and it ended all the chatter. the originals did not look that bad. but even a little bit of ovaling of the hole will cause the chatter. simple easy fix. for the chatter problem. unfortunatly, the ball joints / rotors replacement was not so cheap or easy .