jonross227
Junior Member
Hello all, I have a 15' 1500 sport 4wd with 149k on it that is my work vehicle. I had a long trip coming up and it was overdue for tires and brakes so I took it to Big O as it's close to the office where the truck is kept to have that work done. They did pads all the way around, turned the front rotors, replaced the rears, and also replaced the passenger front wheel bearing.
Everything was smooth sailing on the trip from east TN to Oklahoma. The next morning I went to the site I was working at and as I hit the brakes to turn into the parking lot I heard a loud "cclunk, clunk, clunk, clunk" that slowed as the truck slowed. First thing I thought was loose lugs. I checked them real quick, all were tight, then went about my work.
Finished working that day and headed back to the hotel playing with the brakes the whole way. Above 35-40, no noise. Below, clunking that slows with speed and also gets louder when the pedal is pushed harder. I could also feel the clunk in the pedal.
Gave everything a good look at the hotel and saw nothing out of the ordinary. Finished up work the next day, checked everything one more time, then headed about 4 hours down to texas clunking all the way.
When I got to the hotel I looked again and a lug on the front passenger side was about to fall off the stud. I broke out the jack, pulled both front tires off, and inspected everything more closely. Unfortunately I do not carry the tools to be able to remove the calipers so much was visual and checking play in bearings. The only thing I did notice was the driver side rotor was very easy to wiggle with the wheel off like it wasn't seated against the hub. The passenger was solid. I didn't see anything that was going to fail or was dangerous so I put it all back together and went on my way.
3 more texas stops and back to east tn with the same clunking when braking. Got no better or worse.
I returned it to Big O, explained the issue, and left it with them to figure out. The end of the day they called and said come get it, we can't figure it out. They replaced both front wheel bearings, the front rotors, and a cv shaft. Still the same. They said they changed the shaft because when they rotated that side they could feel the a slight clunk but replacing it did not fix it. They "believe" it's something in the front diff.
I'm not a master mechanic, but I also know my way around vehicles, and to me that doesn't make sense. It seems to me if it was an issue in the front diff I'd have noise at all times, not just braking at 40mph and under. I put the truck in 4wd in the office parking lot and drove about 10mph and heard no abnormal noises or clunking which leads me to believe the front diff isn't the culprit.
Has anyone ever experienced something like this before or have any ideas what it could be? I'm going to bring it to the house and take a better look myself before I give it to another shop to let them throw parts at it and wind up back at square one
Everything was smooth sailing on the trip from east TN to Oklahoma. The next morning I went to the site I was working at and as I hit the brakes to turn into the parking lot I heard a loud "cclunk, clunk, clunk, clunk" that slowed as the truck slowed. First thing I thought was loose lugs. I checked them real quick, all were tight, then went about my work.
Finished working that day and headed back to the hotel playing with the brakes the whole way. Above 35-40, no noise. Below, clunking that slows with speed and also gets louder when the pedal is pushed harder. I could also feel the clunk in the pedal.
Gave everything a good look at the hotel and saw nothing out of the ordinary. Finished up work the next day, checked everything one more time, then headed about 4 hours down to texas clunking all the way.
When I got to the hotel I looked again and a lug on the front passenger side was about to fall off the stud. I broke out the jack, pulled both front tires off, and inspected everything more closely. Unfortunately I do not carry the tools to be able to remove the calipers so much was visual and checking play in bearings. The only thing I did notice was the driver side rotor was very easy to wiggle with the wheel off like it wasn't seated against the hub. The passenger was solid. I didn't see anything that was going to fail or was dangerous so I put it all back together and went on my way.
3 more texas stops and back to east tn with the same clunking when braking. Got no better or worse.
I returned it to Big O, explained the issue, and left it with them to figure out. The end of the day they called and said come get it, we can't figure it out. They replaced both front wheel bearings, the front rotors, and a cv shaft. Still the same. They said they changed the shaft because when they rotated that side they could feel the a slight clunk but replacing it did not fix it. They "believe" it's something in the front diff.
I'm not a master mechanic, but I also know my way around vehicles, and to me that doesn't make sense. It seems to me if it was an issue in the front diff I'd have noise at all times, not just braking at 40mph and under. I put the truck in 4wd in the office parking lot and drove about 10mph and heard no abnormal noises or clunking which leads me to believe the front diff isn't the culprit.
Has anyone ever experienced something like this before or have any ideas what it could be? I'm going to bring it to the house and take a better look myself before I give it to another shop to let them throw parts at it and wind up back at square one
