How's the truck drive?

 

it drives fine, I have no issues with how it drives. Other than the clunking I hear when I turn, but not always, at low speed into a driveway. That's the only time I hear it and it is always when I'm turning. I was going to check wheel bearings tomorrow to see if they need to be tightened up. I don't think so though. I put them in, just a few weeks ago.

 

Just drove truck to the gym, about 7 miles from the house. I heard it about three times on the way here. Each time I slowed down to about 5mph or so and turn I would hear it. Very concerning.

 

you sure it's not u-joint in driveshaft clunking, does it clunk when you put in reverse to back out of driveway?

 

Is your radiator support in good shape?

Is the frame at the steering box in good shape?

There's also some field service action from Ford concerning "clunks" and "popping noises" under certain conditions. I think it was due to frame rivets letting things slide a little bit, but it wasn't a big deal (safety / performance), just annoying. You might want to track that document down and see if it describes your symptoms.

FWIW you might want to check bearings again just to be sure.

 

Thanks for responding...No its doesn't clunk when I go from first to reverse. I put new universals in about a year ago. I just crawled under it and checked them with it in neutral and they appear tight.

 

The radiator support is new, about three months ago I went through that royal pain with a new aftermarket rad support. but its all in there and new.
Steering box supports appear sound.

That service from Ford is most interesting. I need to find that! I have no idea how to go about finding it, but I need to source it. Appreciate you telling me about it. If anyone knows of this service action document and knows where I can find it, i would really appreciate it.

I hope to check the wheel bearings this weekend.

Thanks

 

Check the bolts near the top of the cowl. It's the 3 bolts maybe, on both sides, that hold the driver and passenger side quarter panel's together. I think it takes 15 or 13 mm socket or wrench. They can become loose and the fiberglass insulation plate becomes brittle and it will make a clunking, sometimes popping noise.

EDIT:
Here's a screenshot


Here's a link to what I was talking about.
https://www.ford-trucks.com/forums/1...5-f-150-a.html

Hope this helps!

 

Timbersteel....Thanks for the info. I did an initial check and have not rivets loose or crossmember that are moving. But now, I need to go back and make another concentrated effort looking for this problem as you can see if you read all this.

I spent a couple weeks crawling under the Ford, looking, prying, pulling on anything and everything I though could be the reason for the cracking, knocking or popping sound that was going from the front.
I found Nothing.

I took the truck to an alignment shop. Had them check the alignment. They come back saying it was in alignment but the ball joints were starting to show some movement. one side more than the other. The identified the problem as a no critical issue at this time and need not be replaced immediately. Ask that they show me. With the Truck on the hoist and the tire at height of my waist, I could slightly move the wheel. Not a great deal, but some. More on the Passenger side than drivers. I'm not sure why it seemed so tight at home and loose here. Just because I had only one side jacked up at a time, doesn't seem like it would make a difference. But there is an obvious difference.

So with that information, I went home and started changing both upper and lower ball joints. I discovered that the passenger side was grease able and the drivers side was not. The passenger side I did first and found the upper to be pretty loose. The lower did not seem all that bad.

The drivers side, I found that the bottom of the ball joint was mushroomed over the Retaining clip on the bottom side. I attached a picture. I had to use a die grinder to machine away enough material to get to the retaining clip and press it out. If you look at the bottom of the ball joint, it's pretty beat up. It looks like it has been beat out of another vehicle with a ball peen hammer and pressed into this one. but, that does explain how the bottom was mushroomed over the retainer, I have no idea what some one was doing. Once out the ball joints were totally different from one side to the other. Different height and different size castle nuts.

The news ball joints pressed in fine, went back together fine. Greased her put her back on the road. Although it seems a little tighter, not a great deal of difference in the drive. However, I still have the noise. Now the noise seems to be only on the drivers side. I can zig zag across a parking lot a low speed, nothing. Setting still I can rock the wheels right to left in high speed and nothing. It seems like I have it when Im transitioning a change in elevation as if I was making a right turn onto a drive way apron, or when the body rolls like when I'm making a right turn. Shocks and coil springs are about a year old. Springs are setting on their isolators and have the spring clips at the top and they are tight. Shock and spring tower is also new, installed the same time as the springs.

The outer tie rod end seems tight. I got no movement when I had it jacked up, with hands at 3 and 9. (but I didn't on the ball joints either) The tie rod as I said feels tight, but it sure is ugly. It looks like there is about 23 years of grease clumped up on it. ( it probably is Original-138K)

Within the last two years new:
Coil springs, shocks, spring or shock towers, wheel bearings, rotors, ball joints, radius rods, radius rod brackets radius rod bushings, core support and core support mounts. Tested and seems ok tie rod ends and axle pivot bearing.

Sorry this is so long, but wanted to provide the facts. Anyone have any ideas of where to go from here, I would love to hear them > i'll start looking again tomorrow.




Again, sorry this is so long.

 

This document refers to the creaking. I’ve got a creak in my 93 F250 only when on very rough 4x4 conditions. You can download the doc as a pdf.

https://manualzz.com/doc/6387029/tsb...erstroke-forum

Let us know if you’re able to find and fix.

 

Do you get the noise when you quickly hit the brakes? Not holding them down to a complete hard stop, just a quick "jab".

I have a clunk that happens under those conditions. I think it's from quickly loading the front springs, which causes the lower-spring-rate area at the top of the coils to clunk together. Since that part of the spring is not is stiff, it would respond faster to a sudden load like hitting the brakes, or maybe a combination of turning + impact or elevation change from turning into the driveway.

Check the top of your springs and see if the coils are close together. I hope this kind of makes sense.

I have the Moog 822 springs... probably should have got stiffer springs though.

 

Wheelman....Thanks so much. What a wealth of information that article is. I appreciate you taking the time to source and send. I will begin her out again tomorrow. Thanks Again.

 

Drivers side spring

Mark, Thanks for the help. It makes perfect sense.I have not noticed the sound when jabbing the brakes, but then again, I have never tried to give the front of the vehicle to nose dive. I never considered that possibility.

Above is a picture of the spring on the drivers side. The distance between coil 3 and 2 is the narrowest, maybe .12-.18Max. That is not much. I would think I could simulate by jumping up and down on it and video to see what the spring is doing.

These are Napa springs. The second set. The first set "Sistered", meaning the top three or four coils were directly against each other when the vehicle was just setting under static or parked conditions. This spring collapse happened about three months after I installed them. NAPA agreed there was a problem and exchanged the springs for a heavier duty spring, the new heavy duty springs are what is shown in the picture above. Is the gap shown here what you might expect for an f150? I know my truck sets higher than most, regardless it is a very interesting possible source for the sounds I'm hearing. It does it primarily when the vehicle is going over an incline or combination of turning + impact or elevation change from turning into the driveway. So what you have presented, could be what I'm hearing. I will start testing it tomorrow. Thanks so much for your time and ideas. I greatly appreciate it.

 

Mark,

With my video camera in place, two of us standing on the front bumper bouncing the drivers side front of the truck, I find that it is not the spring coils bottoming out or collapsing on each other and generating the noise I have been following or chasing for weeks. I have yet to try the jolt test of applying the brakes quickly, but so far it does not appear to be the springs making the noise.

I have isolated the noise to the drivers side and when changing road elevations and turning to the right.

I was checking the tie rod ends. I have drivers wheel up off the ground and with hands at 3 and 9 o'clock, the suspension feels very tight. How much force is necessary to determine if a tie rod end is bad? How much force should I need to apply to hear a bump? Also the center bushing for the I beams, How is the best way to test it? With one side up, I put a pry bar from one I beam to the other I beam and tried to Pry up. I'm basically moving the body up but so far, see no movement at the bushing or pivot point. Anyone have a proven easy to test?

Appreciate your help....

 

Needshave...I had my local suspension shop have a go at discovering what was causing the occasional clunk...I was not able to recreate the noise with them...it really only happens when I am off road, going slow, dropping/climbing abrupt elevation gain/loss, turning while doing the elevation gain/loss. We drove over railroad crossings, etc and couldn’t recreate. The shop put it up on their lift and couldn’t find anything there either. I’ve decided to ignore until something goes haywire; that was four years ago. The truck spends much of it’s time on bad unpaved roads, which is where I hear the sounds. On pavement, it’s perfect.

Best of luck with your quest. Let us know if you do find the cause.

PS. The folks on this forum are top notch...always willing to help. Happy that I could contribute.