Clunking sound

[crazykid1994]

You can rent the control arm bushing press from an autozone ...

Good to know

 

[Quick_Shifter]

Alright. Zone got back to me on the bushing. It’s a raybestos 560-1098. May order a set and replace them for now and prepare for some new control arms soon. 20$ a bushing. Just have to find who can press them for me.

If you feel like a road trip come on up we'll press the snot out of those control arms LOL

 

[crazykid1994]

50$ shipped for 4 new bushings from rock auto. They use the same bushing as a dodge Dakota or the early 3rd gen ram trucks so pretty easy to find. I’ll call my local parts stores and see if they have the bushing press. Can’t beat that. I’ll swap all 4 bushings just to be safe.
@Quick_Shifter that would be a nice excuse for a vacation and off-roading. Lol.

 

[Quick_Shifter]

50$ shipped for 4 new bushings from rock auto. They use the same bushing as a dodge Dakota or the early 3rd gen ram trucks so pretty easy to find. I’ll call my local parts stores and see if they have the bushing press. Can’t beat that. I’ll swap all 4 bushings just to be safe.
@Quick_Shifter that would be a nice excuse for a vacation and off-roading. Lol.

LOL you'd need a jacket. But i cant think of a better way to test the new bushings

 

[crazykid1994]

Wish Clayton off-road or teraflex would make a set of upper control arms for the trucks with their rubber bushings with the free spin. I like the low maintenance. There is definitely a market for them. But teraflex said they don’t make them that they only make jeep parts. I’m going to contact Clayton but guessing the same.

 

[CheechDogg.0n37s]

Wish Clayton off-road or teraflex would make a set of upper control arms for the trucks with their rubber bushings with the free spin. I like the low maintenance. There is definitely a market for them. But teraflex said they don’t make them that they only make jeep parts. I’m going to contact Clayton but guessing the same.

Have you checked out Dirt King's upper control arms ?

Heim Upper Control Arms

Dirt King Fabrication Ram 1500 upper control arms (UCA's) with increased castor and repositioned pivot angles reducing stress on the joints. The increased castor allows for proper alignment and improved handling. We also replaced the weak factory ball joints with 1” stainless steel uniballs for...

dirtkingfabrication.com

 

[Quick_Shifter]

Wish Clayton off-road or teraflex would make a set of upper control arms for the trucks with their rubber bushings with the free spin. I like the low maintenance. There is definitely a market for them. But teraflex said they don’t make them that they only make jeep parts. I’m going to contact Clayton but guessing the same.

Most likely get the same answer. It’s amazing how the ram community doesn’t get a lot of love from the aftermarket. We pouch from the gladiator on the Clayton stuff

 

[CheechDogg.0n37s]

Most likely get the same answer. It’s amazing how the ram community doesn’t get a lot of love from the aftermarket. We pouch from the gladiator on the Clayton stuff

It's really fawked up @Quick_Shifter , chevy, gmc, ford, tacomas! they all get all these aftermarket parts and the rams especially 1500s are treated like the red headed stepchilds !!!

 

[crazykid1994]

Have you checked out Dirt King's upper control arms ?

Heim Upper Control Arms

Dirt King Fabrication Ram 1500 upper control arms (UCA's) with increased castor and repositioned pivot angles reducing stress on the joints. The increased castor allows for proper alignment and improved handling. We also replaced the weak factory ball joints with 1” stainless steel uniballs for...

dirtkingfabrication.com

Yea. No uniball or heim. Need sealed. To much water and sand for that.

 

[CheechDogg.0n37s]

Yea. No uniball or heim. Need sealed. To much water and sand for that.

Keep in mind, they use these on a lot of Baja vehicles during the races every year ... so they must be good enough to go offroading in ... my cousins use nothing but dirt king parts

 

[Dan90]

ICON UCAs have served me well. Sealed, which is why I went with them, and as close as you can get to a true uniball setup. Not a huge fan of having to maintain with grease but the price you pay for something to withstand a beating and not fail.

That bushing doesn't look great, but just incase your clunk continues, I will add my 2 cents since I just came off having a similar issue. Ended up being my driver side sway bar end link starting to fail. Finally completely failed while off-roading this past weekend. Same thing you describe, inconsistent clunk mainly happening during small compliance bumps.

 

[crazykid1994]

ICON UCAs have served me well. Sealed, which is why I went with them, and as close as you can get to a true uniball setup. Not a huge fan of having to maintain with grease but the price you pay for something to withstand a beating and not fail.

That bushing doesn't look great, but just incase your clunk continues, I will add my 2 cents since I just came off having a similar issue. Ended up being my driver side sway bar end link starting to fail. Finally completely failed while off-roading this past weekend. Same thing you describe, inconsistent clunk mainly happening during small compliance bumps.

Yea. When my new UCAs get here I’ll know for sure. I’m 100% sure it wasn’t front sway bar. That was ruled out. My front sway bar was disconnected before I even started getting clunking. Lol. Drove with no front sway bar for a month or so waiting on my longer links I installed. I still need to pull my rear sway bar to test since I need to grease the bushings anyways but the sound was definitely front and I could feel it in my feet so it was definitely hitting the frame which is why I leaned towards the Control arms. Pretty excited to be going to the next step with UCAs anyways as much as I didn’t want to but it’ll be well worth it with a better range of motion.

 

[crazykid1994]

I am not disappointed one bit. Can’t wait to put them next to the zones and see the size difference. The zones are definitely big. I should be pretty happy with these. They recommend a lithium base moly grease. I have a poly specific bushing grease from energy suspension that is silicone base that I use on my sway bars that I’ll use for now and redline moly grease that I’ll use for the ball joint. Which reminds me. I need to pull my rear sway bar links and grease them. Weather is going into the 30s tonight and tomorrow morning with a high of 62° In the afternoon. Should be good weather to change out my UCAs. Also. Added a new sticker to my collection. That cabinet probably has way more HP than my truck does now.

 

[crazykid1994]

Upper control arms are in. I see how these ball joints achieve more angle. The have a machined down spot inside the ball cup. My only concern is I greased the bushings pre install with the directions for bushing install from jba. I pulled the metal rod out and greased the friction area and put it back together. Careful not to grease the bushing mated surface inside the control arm. Greased around the outside of the bushing to the friction area at the truck mounting surface. When I manually move the control arms up and down the bushings do not move with the control arm. They stay stationary to the truck. I know that’s not right but not sure why it’s doing that. Everything is torqued to spec. Installed per instructions. Taking the truck for a test drive soon. Still cleaning up all the dang grease.

 

[crazykid1994]

I think I need an alignment now. Lol. Crazy how much the jba are pulled in vs the zones. Also lost some height from the alignment being off. Guessing I may sit a pinch higher up after the alignment with these vs the zone because the strut will actually sit at a better up/down angle.

 

[dadbern]

I had a clunking noise in my front end when taking a sharp left or right. I had just installed new struts and got it aligned. When I brought it back to the shop the adjusted th alignment as they said the struts had settled in. The noise went away and has not reurned since.

 

[dadbern]

I am installing JBA's also, did one side this weekend, doing the other side next weekend. I didnt pay attention to the busing movement but i know it was a tight squeeze to get them in.

 

[CheechDogg.0n37s]

Upper control arms are in. I see how these ball joints achieve more angle. The have a machined down spot inside the ball cup. My only concern is I greased the bushings pre install with the directions for bushing install from jba. I pulled the metal rod out and greased the friction area and put it back together. Careful not to grease the bushing mated surface inside the control arm. Greased around the outside of the bushing to the friction area at the truck mounting surface. When I manually move the control arms up and down the bushings do not move with the control arm. They stay stationary to the truck. I know that’s not right but not sure why it’s doing that. Everything is torqued to spec. Installed per instructions. Taking the truck for a test drive soon. Still cleaning up all the dang grease.

You think those would be good for a 7" lift like the maxtrac?

 

[crazykid1994]

So for everyone’s info I had lowered my truck back down to the 2.75 lift setting which was 2” on my truck due to alignment issues with Firestone. I just lifted back up to the 3.5 lift setting which was 2.5” on my truck since the jba arms add quite a bit of caster which should keep me in the clear on the higher setting. For reference I also have a 1/4” thick plate spacer above the strut top hat that gives me a 1/2” extra lift. Alignment is Friday at 4wp who has been doing my alignments with 0 issues. Only other off-road shop is dv8 motor sports unless I go to a custom fab shop. I’m getting to good at pulling the struts and adjusting them. 45 minutes per side start to finish.

I am installing JBA's also, did one side this weekend, doing the other side next weekend. I didnt pay attention to the busing movement but i know it was a tight squeeze to get them in.

Definitely was tight. You’ll have to get another alignment since it changes from the stock angles. Says it adds 3° of caster over stock. I did both in about an hour. Pulled the tires and undid the upper ball joint and 2 frame mount bolts. I didn’t pull the whole front end apart.

You think those would be good for a 7" lift like the maxtrac?

Probably. That or the zones. The zones I’m 90% sure the bushing only went out because of my driving off-road. The maxtrac lifts how much with the springs? The jba are definitely a huge upgrade over stock and I’ll write a review after getting my alignment and getting some driving in about how I like them. So far they are good. Not noticing any more on road vibrations or anything harsh but haven’t driven much. The ball joint has some extreme angles so lots of flex available for extended travel. I’m expecting the steering and side to side to feel slightly firmer due to the poly bushings

 

[healthyrx]

So for everyone’s info I had lowered my truck back down to the 2.75 lift setting which was 2” on my truck due to alignment issues with Firestone. I just lifted back up to the 3.5 lift setting which was 2.5” on my truck since the jba arms add quite a bit of caster which should keep me in the clear on the higher setting. For reference I also have a 1/4” thick plate spacer above the strut top hat that gives me a 1/2” extra lift. Alignment is Friday at 4wp who has been doing my alignments with 0 issues. Only other off-road shop is dv8 motor sports unless I go to a custom fab shop. I’m getting to good at pulling the struts and adjusting them. 45 minutes per side start to finish.


Definitely was tight. You’ll have to get another alignment since it changes from the stock angles. Says it adds 3° of caster over stock. I did both in about an hour. Pulled the tires and undid the upper ball joint and 2 frame mount bolts. I didn’t pull the whole front end apart.

Probably. That or the zones. The zones I’m 90% sure the bushing only went out because of my driving off-road. The maxtrac lifts how much with the springs? The jba are definitely a huge upgrade over stock and I’ll write a review after getting my alignment and getting some driving in about how I like them. So far they are good. Not noticing any more on road vibrations or anything harsh but haven’t driven much. The ball joint has some extreme angles so lots of flex available for extended travel. I’m expecting the steering and side to side to feel slightly firmer due to the poly bushings

I had JBA high caster UCAs on my lifted 4Runner and I absolutely loved them- I wish I had gone with them on my ram instead of the zones, but while I was reading their website I guess i missed the part where they said they had more built in caster
Their red powder coat adds so much nice flare to the front end as well esp since its so hard to see the front shocks on these rams with the deep coil spring buckets