'98 Expy, 5.4 XLT, 134k miles

Heres the situation. Whenever I'm driving (highway or city speeds) and I go over a bump with a sharp drop, I get this banging sound from the front passenger side. It sounds like metal hitting metal. It only seems to occur when the tires drop suddenly. If I go over 90% of the bumps in the road I get no unusual noises.

Unfortunately I've not been able to find a way to really test or trigger this noise but I'm hoping that someone else might have some ideas. Also, I converted from the air suspension to passive suspension about 2 years ago using the Strutmaster kit.

And speaking of those front coil over shocks, is it just me or do the seem like crap? I just changed the rear shock absorbers (to Monroe gas mags, yeah, I know, not the best but available and affordable at the time) and while the rear seems to be fairly comfortable, the front end gives a fairly bumpy ride. If a person was looking for a comfortable ride, what would be the best shocks to get for the front end? I don't do any towing and very, very little offroad driving. Heck, I rarely ever even see a gravel rode.

Ok. I hope this all made sense. Apologies if something didn't. Its past my bed time.

Thanks for any help or suggestions on what to check.

-- Jess

 

Had the same noise going over bumps a few years ago. It was a broken stabilizer link. Real easy fix.

 

I have the same noise now and was about to ask that question, but now I'll check my stabilizer links.

 

Hmm. I know what broken stabilizer links sound like. They are more of a crunching noise, like someone smashing a handful of crackers, just amplified. Both of mine were broke and replaced two years ago.

I guess I'll hve to jack up the front end and push things around.

 

You might also want to check your ball joints. I had my upper ball joint go bad last year and everytime I went over a speed bump, it banged (at5-10 mph). Going down the road wasn't much noise tho.

 

Hmm. I'll have to check that too. I wish it was warmer out, I hate crawling under a vehicle on concrete when the temp is 40F.