Chasing a rattle noise!

[woodwiz]

Well like this has never come up before:I drive 70 down the road and there is this annoying rattle when I ride on some rough road or go over expansion joints it is very audible. Had my mechanic ride with to let him hear it and he thought it was coming from the right front end. We jacked it up and looked for anything out of order and it all looked good. Upper ball joints are newer and lowers are full of grease , tie rod ends are new as well. Can’t be torsion bar related with the load they carry they are tight. It is not the sound that a motor mount would make if broke. My thought is seeings how it is generated from suspension activity do you all have any ideas?
One thought I had that it might be the front shock shaft is broke internally,but I don’t know.
Help a brother out Please & Thanks!!!

 

[69hemibeep]

Turn the radio up

 

[Plybeep68]

Had a center cap on a magnum wheel loosen up and drove me crazy till I found it, it made a noise while driving

 

[Steve]

That annoying rattle is not the wife is it ?

 

[69hemibeep]

That annoying rattle is not the wife is it ?

Once again turn the radio up LOL

 

[V.R.D]

a good mechanic will have electronic ear you strap a small mic and you can have up to 8 channels so you can switch around to hear what is going on where you mount them.

 

[Russ69Runner]

Had a rattle in mine but was coming from the rear end area. Come to find out it was my shock mounting to the shock tower. Just had to retighten them. Made me think it was the tail pipe. Did have the extensions hitting the rear bumper so had to make the tab longer on them by welding in more metal where they slid into the mounting bracket. So have you checked your lower fender strut to make sure it is tight. Do you have a lose bumper mounting bolt. Is the exhaust pipe hitting any thing. Is every thing tight up in the engine bay on the inner fender. Like the heat exchange Valve might be bumping. Just my two cent's. Noise is annoying. One other thing could it be the heater box where it meets fresh air intake. Wish you the best on finding that Gremlin.

 

[woodwiz]

All great ideas! Of course I don’t hear it on a smooth road. I gave my front shock mounts a little tightening and I will look at the rears today.
But I know that Turning Up the Radio will Not fix the problem

 

[woodwiz]

Hey Russ! Checked the rear upper shock mounts and when I pounded on the upper shock it made a rattle sound that did not go away with tightening. Jacked up the right front and pulled the wheel and inspected everything visually and did not find any loose nuts or bolts. Added grease to all joints and went for a spin and it is still their bigger than life. Pulling some hair out on this one!! I guess I am leaning towards upper control arms and all other front end components. Someone previously changed the upper ball joints but passed on the upper control arm bushings. I have run out of places to look…but shall press on. Maybe I’ll just fix the radio and all will be good

 

[V.R.D]

i think your caliper anti-rattle clips could be a place make sure they are against the caliper tighten them see if your noise is gone

 

[woodwiz]

I saw those when I was in there looking for the culprit. I shall check this as well,but every nut and bolt I saw only if at all could take tightening.
I bought the car in December of 2020 and don’t remember that noise at all up in phoenix with only 100 miles between then and now. I should probably change out those worn upper control arm bushings or just go to Classic Ind. and get the loaded new arms for $100bucks apiece,sounds like a deal instead of the PITA process of pressing out the old ones.
Thoughts on that as a source of unwanted noise?
Thanks in advance!

 

[quikbird]

Definitely go with the loaded ones. Trying to press all that stuff out and in without warping the control arm is more than a pita.

 

[woodwiz]

Yes sir! It’s starting to look like that will be the plan. I checked with classic ind. and they have a lot of stuff that is on backorder,probably on one of those container ships to be unloaded one of these years. Checked the anti rattle clips on the front disc brake calipers and they are tight. Gotta look at front end components rebuild I guess. Any other ideas would be welcome!
Thanks!

 

[quikbird]

Try rock auto. Think that is where I got my last set

 

[woodwiz]

Thanks Bud!

 

[Russ69Runner]

Those upper control arm bushing's look pretty ragged. Why dose the upper shock mount look like their is space their. Some thing don't look right. I have some rattles also but mostly to the rear of the car. Nothing up front. Every thing is new so still chasing down where it is also. Don't here it on the highway bud down my drive way it here it. Like I said before found one shock at the top on the rear loose. So tightened it up. If you could not get the shock at the shock tower to tighten up you may need a spacer in their. Keep us informed on what the problem is. Russ.

 

[woodwiz]

Yes the upper arms are going to get replaced. As for the shock picture,that picture is with the car jacked and no weight on that right front end,just hanging there. Do you all think that I should see if it can be tightened up or would it need a spacer??
Thanks

 

[woodwiz]

Well a recheck of the caliper passenger side showed me this: So I bent them back so they made contact with the caliper and checked the drivers side anti-rattlers and they were on the way they should be. That in itself is strange. Could the right side ones have moved themselves based on the heat of braking or is the gremlin gone for now??

 

[Russ69Runner]

Torque spec. in manual here for that shock top nut. If it is too torque then your ok. Why would you replace the upper control arm. I cleaned mine up and put the bushing's in with my press. Hey your getting all the point's checked off hope you get rid of that rattle. LOL.

 

[woodwiz]

Rattle is goneIt was the right side anti-rattle clip,but I need to get replacements for both calipers. I heard that once they are bent they lose their spring steel ability to hold down on the caliper. We’ll drive her and see if we can get that damn radio to work for the next rattle