Driving down the road today, ~25 mph in city traffic and went over a small bump in the road. Heard a big whack! Then, a loud thump-thump-thump as I'm driving down the road! Can't tell where it's coming from, just that it's the front. Truck drove fine. Got to work ~1 mile later, looked all under it, everything seems ok. First thought was a broken shock or something, but they appear ok. Any thoughts? I took it around the block later and it was fine.
Tom
'97 Expedition, 5.4l

 

I'm gonna bet it's your radius arm bushings. Common problem. It's a big job, if you're going to do it yourself. If you are, just do a search or ask here.

 

radius arm... would that be the long torison bars on each side? What's it entail to replace those?

 

yes..it is those long tension bars. Replacing them is not easy. You need to unbolt the lower shock absorber bolt and remove the coil springs. The large nut at the rear side of the arm needs to come off, and you're going to need heat--lots of it. I know... my driver's side is bad, and I researched it! I'm not looking forward to it! What's more, the bracket, where the large nut is, is bad on my truck, so I have to replace that as well. You might too..You really can't tell how bad the bushings are visually untill you disasseble it. Sometimes the bracket wears out-of-round, like mine did. So I have to remove rivets Visit here for some helpful tips: http://www.glue.umd.edu/~singletn/web/pages/rab.html

Also, do a search on this site...ton's of info as well.

I'll also send you the info in my Hayn's manual, if you want. it. Let me know.

--jim