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The old '96 now has a totally new front suspension:
Front Coils, Shock towers, Front shocks, Ball Joints, Inner and Outer tie rod ends, Adjusting sleeves, axle pivot bushings, as well as wheel bearings, rotors, brake pads and calipers. Additionally a new radiator, radiator support and bushings, radius rods and bushings. Additionally I have checked the attachment of the steering gear to the box frame, it is solid and bolts are tight. The front cab mounts or bushings are solid. No exhaust movement and it is tight. Under the hood I can find nothing loose that could be moving around including the jack. Front end aligned. I have looked at the transmission cross member and the vibration isolator for the 5 speed and it all appears solid. I checked the engine mounts, by setting the ebrake and attempting to move the vehicle with the hood open, no engine movement. Looking at the rivets of the frame and crossmember, they all appear to be intact and solid but somewhat unknown since I have not found a good way to check the rivets to see if they were bucked properly. The could be loose or bad, but from a visual inspection...I can't tell.
Yet! Yet, I still have the cracking sound when I make a right turn and there is some body roll, even slight body roll. I can have the truck setting on level ground and crank the wheel back and forth, not a sound. I can jack up the passenger side, and crank the wheel bar and forth and not a sound. With two of us jumping up and down on the vehicle front bumper, I videoed the spring movement to make sure it wasn't a weak spring bottoming out. They are good.
I drove it on a 200 mile trip yesterday, it was tight and solid. Drove well and solid, tracked well and rode good.
Yet, when driving slow, and going around a corner and there is any body roll, as you will have when you make a turn, I will have the cracking sound. (right turn only)
I went back and checked torque on all the suspension members, rad support and rad support bushings. All tight. I'm certain it is on the drivers side front, In the area of the drivers front wheel. I can sometimes actually feel it with my feet on the floor board, when driving very slow and making a right turn. Never a left turn, always a right turn with body roll. The frame looks solid, I have been all over it and can not find any rot.
Based upon this, I'm assuming there is some type of racking going on with the frame crossmember, trans. mount, etc.
Anyone have an ideas, I might check. Have a way to check the rivets or tell if I have crossmember movement or has experienced a similar problem and figured it out? I'm concerned this truck wants to be become a garage queen!
The old '96 now has a totally new front suspension:
Front Coils, Shock towers, Front shocks, Ball Joints, Inner and Outer tie rod ends, Adjusting sleeves, axle pivot bushings, as well as wheel bearings, rotors, brake pads and calipers. Additionally a new radiator, radiator support and bushings. Additionally I have checked the attachment of the steering gear to the box frame, it is solid and bolts are tight. The front cab mounts or bushings are solid. No exhaust movement and it is tight. Under the hood I can find nothing loose that could be moving around including the jack. Front end aligned. I have looked at the transmission cross member and the vibration isolator for the 5 speed and it all appears solid. I checked the engine mounts, by setting the ebrake and attempting to move the vehicle with the hood open, no engine movement. Looking at the rivets of the frame and crossmember, they all appear to be intact and solid but somewhat unknown since I have not found a good way to check the rivets to see if they were bucked properly. The could be loose or bad, but from a visual inspection...I can't tell.
Yet! Yet, I still have the cracking sound when I make a right turn and there is some body roll, even slight body roll. I can have the truck setting on level ground and crank the wheel back and forth, not a sound. I can jack up the passenger side, and crank the wheel bar and forth and not a sound. With two of us jumping up and down on the vehicle front bumper, I videoed the spring movement to make sure it wasn't a weak spring bottoming out. They are good.
I drove it on a 200 mile trip yesterday, it was tight and solid. Drove well and solid, tracked well and rode good.
Yet, when driving slow, and going around a corner and there is any body roll, as you will have when you make a turn, I will have the cracking sound. (right turn only)
I went back and checked torque on all the suspension members, rad support and rad support bushings. All tight. I'm certain it is on the drivers side front, In the area of the drivers front wheel. I can sometimes actually feel it with my feet on the floor board, when driving very slow and making a right turn. Never a left turn, always a right turn with body roll. The frame looks solid, I have been all over it and can not find any rot.
Based upon this, I'm assuming there is some type of racking going on with the frame crossmember, trans. mount, etc.
Anyone have an ideas, I might check. Have a way to check the rivets or tell if I have crossmember movement or has experienced a similar problem and figured it out? I'm concerned this truck wants to be become a garage queen!
Spent more time trying to determine the source of the cracking sound found on the 96. I took the front wheels off and checked the torque of the Shock mounting tower, Spring nut, spring retainer, shock mounting shoe, shock itself and the radius rod nut at the bushings. Although I did not mention earlier, the radius rods and bushings are new. Everything in the front suspension is new, as I discussed earlier, but I wanted to make sure everything was tight. It was.
As I was wrapping it up for the day and picking up every tool I own, I took a look at the Transmission crossmember. Look at the pictures below. C/S or Passenger side of Vehicle, Transmission crossmember, showing attachment to Frame Rail. Abraded or disturbed rust appears to indicate movement on the rear of the crossmember, drive axle side.
Transmission crossmember showing attachment to frame rail on the Road side or Driver's side of vehicle. Disturbed or abraded rust on the fwd side or engine side of crossmember, appears to indicate movement or twist.
I have not checked the fasteners on the transmission crossmember yet, to see if they are loose, but looking at the disturbed rust on the bottom side of the crossmember it looks the crossmember is twisting or racking within the frame rails. But I don't see how, as there are numerous bolts ( 4 I believe attaching to the frame rail bracket) that mount it to the frame channel. With those fasteners in place I dont see how this crossmember could twist or rack. However, something had to create the abrasion it shows in the picture.
Anyone have an experience with this transmission crossmember working and moving. This could very well be whats causing the cracking or cracking sound I have been chasing for what seems forever.
I appreciate hearing your thoughts or ideas. Could this member actually move to create the wear pattern shown?
The transmission cross member is noted as a source of noise in the attached TSB.
The TSB also points out other areas to check, as well as repair remedies.
Thanks Mark, Im spending a lot of time with that article. I'm working on her now and I think the TSB is going to isolate where that clunk or pop is coming from. I will post the results of this study in a few days.
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