Hearing/ feeling a "clunk" in the front suspension after some off-roading...

Hearing/ feeling a "clunk" in the front suspension after some off-roading...

I have the Teraflex level kit, everything else is stock. After off-roading this past weekend, I notice a "clunk" noise (very intermittent) that sometimes can be faintly felt through the steering wheel when driving at low speeds or slowing down. It's not prevalent enough to take it in, because you know the "can't be duplicated" message would be written by the techs. I checked the swaybar extensions I installed from the level kit, and they all seem tight. I did notice what looked like some oil that is coming from the passenger side shock. When I press down on the Jeep, sometimes I will hear it clunk and other times I won't. Is this a symptom of a possible blown shock? I wiped the oil off and am going to drive it around a bit to see if the oil comes back- then I am sure that would be the culprit.
Also, while underneath the Jeep, I noticed the rubber boot on the front driveshaft looks like it was torn and is pulled back. Is this an issue? Can the boot be replaced, or should I just leave it be? Driveshaft looks to be in good condition otherwise.

A clunk like you've described is typically caused by a shifting in a suspension or steering components. This will most likely be caused by a loose bolt and being that you just went off roading, I would start by checking all them to make sure they are tightened to torque spec. IF you do all that and you still suspect your shock, I would remove it and drive around in a way that would reproduce the sound. If it's still there, it's not the shock and vice versa.

The torn boot was caused by your drive shaft making contact with the exhaust cross over. While it can be replaced, that would be a waste of money being that you will just end up tearing it again. Being that you're just running a leveling kit, I might just install exhaust spacers to address this issue. If you plan on going bigger someday, a new u-joint style front drive shaft is what I would recommend. You can drive with it torn for a while but it is something you will want to address sooner than later.

wayoflife said:

A clunk like you've described is typically caused by a shifting in a suspension or steering components. This will most likely be caused by a loose bolt and being that you just went off roading, I would start by checking all them to make sure they are tightened to torque spec. IF you do all that and you still suspect your shock, I would remove it and drive around in a way that would reproduce the sound. If it's still there, it's not the shock and vice versa.

The torn boot was caused by your drive shaft making contact with the exhaust cross over. While it can be replaced, that would be a waste of money being that you will just end up tearing it again. Being that you're just running a leveling kit, I might just install exhaust spacers to address this issue. If you plan on going bigger someday, a new u-joint style front drive shaft is what I would recommend. You can drive with it torn for a while but it is something you will want to address sooner than later.

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Thank you, Eddie. I'll go around and check all the bolts tonight. I see the spacers are available from Teraflex as well, I'll grab a set of them..

rich67 said:

Thank you, Eddie. I'll go around and check all the bolts tonight. I see the spacers are available from Teraflex as well, I'll grab a set of them..

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To be clear, the spacers are far from a great fix but if you think you'll just stick with running a leveling kit for the long haul, it'll be worth it to get. Although, I personally would install the Rancho kit.

The Rancho kit isn't the spacers, right? It's a section of pipe, isn't it?

Ok, just some follow up. The culprit was a loose bolt on the Teraflex sway bar link extensions that came with the leveling kit. Put some Loc Tite on it and cinched it down..BOOM. Done. Also ordered the Ramcho kit for the exhaust pipe fix. Thanks for the advice!

Awesome, glad to hear you were able to find and fix your clunk.

rich67 said:

Ok, just some follow up. The culprit was a loose bolt on the Teraflex sway bar link extensions that came with the leveling kit. Put some Loc Tite on it and cinched it down..BOOM. Done. Also ordered the Ramcho kit for the exhaust pipe fix. Thanks for the advice!

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WOW!! I was looking for this thread to tell you that I had the same thing and it also turned to be the Teraflex swaybar links (front, driver side) and my friend 2 door JK was the rear, passenger side

aalzuhair said:

WOW!! I was looking for this thread to tell you that I had the same thing and it also turned to be the Teraflex swaybar links (front, driver side) and my friend 2 door JK was the rear, passenger side

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Yeah, I was a little irritated that this occurred, I put some threadlocker on the bolt and hopefully that will prevent it from backing out again. I am thinking of going with some swaybar quick discos, so it may be a moot point anyhow, but at least it was a simple fix. I'm not too mechanically savvy, so any little creak or clunk tends to raise my blood pressure a bit. :dont_tell: