Knock under truck while driving

[mwright813]

hey all, I'm not sure if this post in the right spot but, I'm out of town for work. its about a 10 min drive on the highway from my hotel to my workplace. I had just got off the exit ramp and was sitting at a red light. Light turns green, I accelerate and hear a loud knock underneath the truck. I don't hear it happen anymore, get to work and nothing looks obviously wrong underneath the truck. I drive back to the hotel after work and hear nothing. Next day I'm driving on the highway again, driving slow to be cautious and still don't hear anything. I decide to speed up to about 70ish then start hearing several knocks. Stop at the light at the ramp again, when I take off I hear nothing from there all the way to work. Even when making turns in the parking lot or hitting a speed bump, nothing. My parking brake does need adjusted as the cable is sagging pretty low and swinging, but I really doubt that's the noise I'm hearing.Just wondering if anyone has any ideas, can I limp this thing 100 mils back to my home dealer? sorry for the long post, my truck is a 2015 Ram 1500 4x4 w/ 80k miles. I should also add that I have my truck leveled with the adjustable bilstein shocks and have 33x12.50 nitto mud grapplers.

 

[JohnnyMac]

I'd say you're gonna have to crawl underneath and start checking stuff. If you go from R to D to R to D do you hear anything unusual or feel any slop more than usual? Sounds a bit like a bad u-joint, but I'd think you'd hear it more often. When it did it at 70 were you accelerating or feathering the throttle to stay at 70? U-joint issues I've had seem to cause issues upon initial acceleration, going from D to R or vice versa, or when holding a specific speed and feathering the throttle. Also, try bouncing your truck up and down to eliminate a bad shock absorber/strut. You might see if you can find a zip tie or two to secure your brake cable just to absolutely confirm that's not it flopping around down there. To answer your question can you limp home 100 miles....Maybe?

 

[mwright813]

I was feathering to maintain speed, nothing noticeable when going from d to r or r to d. I did forget to mention i had tried bouncing the truck when i got back to the hotel yesterday and nothing seemed unusual. I think im going to try to find a mechanic here local and see what they have to say when its actually off the ground. Thanks for the input

 

[Elevated 2013]

You could check the transmission mount?? Was the knock coming from the front or back of the truck? Did you happen to notice if you were hitting a bump when you heard the knock? If so, it could be a sway bar link that’s broken. When the knock happens does it speed up or slow down with the speed of the truck? Just a couple things to see if you can notice when the knock happens if you can’t take it to the local mechanic. Being that it’s intermittent, trying to answer these questions will help the mechanic to look for more specific things and help them to possibly find it.


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[RamCares]

hey all, I'm not sure if this post in the right spot but, I'm out of town for work. its about a 10 min drive on the highway from my hotel to my workplace. I had just got off the exit ramp and was sitting at a red light. Light turns green, I accelerate and hear a loud knock underneath the truck. I don't hear it happen anymore, get to work and nothing looks obviously wrong underneath the truck. I drive back to the hotel after work and hear nothing. Next day I'm driving on the highway again, driving slow to be cautious and still don't hear anything. I decide to speed up to about 70ish then start hearing several knocks. Stop at the light at the ramp again, when I take off I hear nothing from there all the way to work. Even when making turns in the parking lot or hitting a speed bump, nothing. My parking brake does need adjusted as the cable is sagging pretty low and swinging, but I really doubt that's the noise I'm hearing.Just wondering if anyone has any ideas, can I limp this thing 100 mils back to my home dealer? sorry for the long post, my truck is a 2015 Ram 1500 4x4 w/ 80k miles. I should also add that I have my truck leveled with the adjustable bilstein shocks and have 33x12.50 nitto mud grapplers.

Hi mwright813,
We recommend having your dealer look into this for you. If you would like any additional assistance, please feel free to send us a private message and we'll be happy to help!
Lydia
Ram Social Care Specialist