I have a popping/clunking noise coming from the front end of my 2wd. It sounds like it is coming from the front suspension. It occurs at low speads going over bumpy roads. I have checked every nut and bolt on the front end and cannot find anything loose.

I have a 1.5" autospring and believe that the bolts that connect it to the strut (the ones inside the spacer) may have come loose. My question: is there a way to access these bolts without having to remove the entire strut from the truck? I did not do the install so am not sure if I have enough room to simply unbolt the 3 bolts at the top of the strut and swing the assembly out.

Any help would be appreciated.

 

Yep...just reach in with your torque wrench over the tire and feel with your hand. Fairly easy to do. I tightened mine up a month afterwards.

 

It is not the nuts on top of the strut tower I am concerned about, it is the ones that bolt the spacer to the strut assembly itself.

 

the coil-over perch completely encloses that area. there is no way short of pulling the coil-over back out...have you checked to see if your sway bar isn't making the noise?

unless all three of those bolts inside the spacer are loose, you will not get any noise. the tolerances are so tight that the nut cannot fully back off the stud. it will contact the top of the spacer and get stuck.

if all three of the coil-over to spacer nuts are loose, then your an accident waiting to happen

 

Just to add to what Tylus already said check the endlinks on your swaybar.

 

That is my question, do I have to completely remove the strut assembly or is there enough room to unbolt the top 3 bolts and swing it out? I do not have the equipment to correctly reinstall the lower bolt which I believe needs to be torqued to 250 ft.lbs.

I did check the sway bar, along with everything elese from the tranny forward......

 

you have to remove the sway bar, pop the upper control arm loose from the spindle and unbolt the top and bottom of the coil-over...that is the only way to check it.

if you get the lower bolt for the coil-over "good'n'tight" and use locktight, you'll be fine. you can also rent tools like a torque wrench from most Auto Part stores.

 

Mine popped like that where the swaybar endlinks connected to the lower control arm, like the others mentioned. Once I retightened no more popping.