another thing i want to mention... I do offroad my truck not harshly, but mildly.

I do not get this noise if I drive the truck slow or even like most people drive.

However when it is wet it will make the noise like no matter what

kenny

 

if your truck is a 99-04 rollerstud, I would think the springs are not straight. If you want to ignore that fact - thats your call... It may be worth it to take a look at the bushings though, just to make sure they are ok - just a suggestion...

as far as sway bar goes..
I have already tried new sway bar links and a bunch of other parts... maybe i will try taking the sway bar completely off... I mean if that fixed yours ... by the way how is the driving with no sway bar?

kenny

 

My 8" Fabtech spring bushings were toast after 30K miles. Started getting a clunk when angling over curbs and speedbumps. Relaced the front Spring bushings and no more clunk. The old ones were so shot that the rubber was 80% gone from them.Fabtech only uses their bushings and no Poly and there 26 or so bucks a piece. The rear bushing are still in good shape. The springs themselves are not cocked by looking but never measured. I say by the looks of your bushings, that is your clunk. GOOD LUCK!

 

thanks man, Ever wonder why the bushing wore out so quick... We feel (me and some others) that by having the spring cocked the way it is it puts extra pressure on the bushing...

i will know more tomorrow as I have emailed a lift company and ford directly.

thanks for the good luck!

kenny

 

I posted about this a while ago with no response. I thought i was the only one with shot spring bushings on a lifted truck.

 

Are you sure that you drew you're lines straight? if they are slanted a little and if you didn't measure from you're original mark, you could have a variance in you're measurements. Like if you had you're marks slightly angled like /-----/, or even /-----\ , etc; but you measured to what you thought was perpendicular with the lines, you would have a greater measurement, than if you're lines were spot on (parallel and perpendicular to the truck). I would suggest just putting dots on the ground instead of lines, or at least put a crossing through you're line, so that you know the exact point to measure from. And I would also recommend using a plumb bob.

If it turns out to be the same measurements, well, I have no idea about why they would be like that, but that would cause extra wear on the bushings. I had the same problem with a CJ Jeep I have that I put a shackle reversal on the front and it was slightly off, and it wore through the bushings pretty quick, but when I removed it and installed everything straight, it helped with the wear of the bushings. When it wasn't straight, you could see a small air gap at the bushing where the bolt went through it. Which would put excess pressure on the edges and wear it out quicker. But now with everything straight, there are no air gaps. And I also put in greasable pins this time to help with longevity.

 

When I changed the springs on my truck the bolts went in by hand no binding nothing twisted. That was with stock springs. Larger springs have to be the problem with twisting. As far as the measurements you took I don't think there is anything wrong..


Dick

 

My bolts also went in with ease. Still the bushings did not last as long as expected.Go figure.

 

Mercury,
It maybe just me but according to how i view the pics it looks like the spring is just as much out of wack in the mount. We as viewers can't really judge the position of the mount relative to the truck but it maybe a slight combination of both along with the measuring method and road imperfections etc... I agree with redford, with the lift and larger tires your creating a much larger horizontal load on the spring causing excess fatigue on the rubber (i am assuming stock) bushing. I commend you on your observations and you seem to have a good point started. Try perfecting the tests with vertical chaulk lines (tire-to-tire) on both sides, remove the tire wheel combo's to remove some of the load and install jack stands measured at the same exact height, use a plumb bob etc.. Replace the rubber mounts with poly bushings (this might stiffen the ride a bit) but i bet it would straighten them up a bit.

 

I will definitely check the bushings make sure they are good, the bar is back on I just had it off while I was waiting for new end links to come in, new end links came in so I put it back on and the clunk was back just less pronounced, ordered new bushings for where it attaches to the axle but they came in as the wrong ones and I haven't bothered with it since then but that could also be one of my clunks.


All I have to say about the Ford links though is that they are complete garbage. As for your question about how it drives I have seen some guys on here posting that they completely removed them without problems, I want to get a camper for my truck so I'm hesitant to take it right out.

Another thing to look at if you can afford it is to upgrade to poly bushings all around, I have a desire to do this myself just no funds as of right now for that kind of playing.

 

Thanks all for the comments...

Please assume my measurements are correct since me and another guy came up with the same results, he measured 5 trucks i measured my truck -- he measured some stock some lifted and some just shackle lifted

We came up with the same results..

Question my measurement scheme, take your 99-04 SD and measure it.

When I have time I will perfect the measurements but I do not beleive I am off by much.

Nobody ever said my "bolt" was hard to push in, where that came from i do not know.

I want to know one thing - its very simple.

1. Why did ford set up these trucks this way?

Thanks Ken

 

You'd have to ask Ford when they set up the trucks like they do.
They designed it and built it....


Seems to me, at least so far in this thread, the only people with bushing issues have aftermarket springs that are made in other countries. Maybe the bushings used aren't that good?

 

i am in the process of asking ford.... I highly doubt i will find the right guy for the right answer, I was hoping I found somebody who happened to work for ford on one of these forums.

Maybe I will ask some solid axle dodge guys to check theres just to compare

kenny

 

I looked at the front springs on my truck.......bushings look straight to me inside the hanger and shackle. But then again I have Deaver springs with high quality bushings.

 

superlift sent me whole new spring paks with better bushings already - i have not put them in yet..

DC if you look at the mounting location front to back I would bet you see a difference just like me and 5 other trucks have

a really good bushing will not get worn out... thats why superlift geve me new bushings.

BUT if the springs are "supposed" to be parallel then maybe I can work something out to fix that too...

Then the bushings would last nearly forever with no stress on them

Superlift said the new bushing style they use for the leafs have had no complaints at all, and they said they sold hundreds of them.

Since I do not have a garage and / or the ability to do the spring swap in one night, I am looking at other things on my truck. The cocked spring mounting locations is of intrest to me.

I am not saying everybody will have bushing issues but there appears to be un-necessary stresses on the bushings, apparently some bushings can take the abuse, some cant.

If the springs were stright to begin with, I do not think even my bushings that were original would have ever had a problem.

Kenny