Im experiencing a clunking noise when I go over speed bumps which I am quite certain is coming from the front end.

It seems to happen when the suspension extends. In other words the clunk happens on the extension stroke and not when i come down the other side of the speed bump on the compression stroke. It seems to only happen of sharper more aggressive speedbumps and not on small speed bumps or during normal everyday street/highway driving.

I was recently in the shop for a tire balancing and looked around when the tire was off. The truck was obviously jacked up and the suspension was fully extended. It appears that a component of the suspension (sorry i dont know the terms of the parts well enough!) came very very close to the spring but i could not see any sign of wear or tear on the spring. Im guessing that is not the problem.

One thing that the tech did do before he removed the tire, was he moved the tire back and forth (left and right) when the truck was jacked up. There was the slightest of play. I was told it was normal. However I have since read that there shouldnt be any play and that if there is that the ball joints probably need to be changed. Could this be the cause of the clunking noise?

Im by no means experienced with suspension and need all the help i can get! The clunk is driving me nuts.

As for the tire balancing, the vibration that I was trying to solve did not go away after the balancing. The vibration is intermittent, and is still there and is felt once I get to about 100 KPH. I dont know if the clunk and tire vibration problems could be connected some how, but any advise or help would be appreciated.

For the record I have a 2.5" level with Cooper 33x12.5 Cooper S/T's on 17" rims. Rims have been confirmed to be ballanced and straight. Tire have only about 15k on them. Im not ruling out anything, not even the tires, im just stating what I know. Ive asked around and posted on other forums and some speculate that its the tires. Which it could very well be. But that wouldnt explain the clunking. So im stumped!

Anything I missed or any additional info required, please let me know!

Thanks

 

I know on some of the level kits that aren't the "offset" design that the upper control arm can contact the spring coil. This could be what's going on.

 

Thanks for the reply DIHLON, however my levelling kit is offset.