'97 2500 4x4 front end goes -clunk-
From : justinw
Q: my front end is making a clunking sound. it happens half a second before i come to a complete stop and happens again with a half second or so of taking off. the steering tends to wander a bit as it goes down the highway. the dodge dealer went completely thru the front end and replaced some components. the handling was a little better. i went in and replaced all 4 shocks - the handling was a little better and the cluck has dimished slightly maybe 10%. any ideas what could be causing this clunk this is getting real old fast.... .
Replies:
From : max dodge
take a look at your track bar and your steering box. -- max there are four boxes to be used in defense of liberty soap ballot jury and ammo. please use in that order. -ed howdershelt author my front end is making a clunking sound. it happens half a second before i come to a complete stop and happens again with a half second or so of taking off. the steering tends to wander a bit as it goes down the highway. the dodge dealer went completely thru the front end and replaced some components. the handling was a little better. i went in and replaced all 4 shocks - the handling was a little better and the cluck has dimished slightly maybe 10%. any ideas what could be causing this clunk this is getting real old fast.... .
From : john
also check your upper and lower control arms. these were loose on my 97 ram and would only make noise when stopping and starting to move. you wont feel any movement by tugging on them with the vehicles weight on them. jack up the front end and try wiggling them. on mon 31 jul 2006 200736 -0500 justinw nopenoaddress@here.com wrote my front end is making a clunking sound. it happens half a second before i come to a complete stop and happens again with a half second or so of taking off. the steering tends to wander a bit as it goes down the highway. the dodge dealer went completely thru the front end and replaced some components. the handling was a little better. i went in and replaced all 4 shocks - the handling was a little better and the cluck has dimished slightly maybe 10%. any ideas what could be causing this clunk this is getting real old fast.... .
From : max dodge
also check your upper and lower control arms. these were loose on my 97 ram and would only make noise when stopping and starting to move. you wont feel any movement by tugging on them with the vehicles weight on them. jack up the front end and try wiggling them. a 2500 4x4 wont have control arms. -- max there are four boxes to be used in defense of liberty soap ballot jury and ammo. please use in that order. -ed howdershelt author also check your upper and lower control arms. these were loose on my 97 ram and would only make noise when stopping and starting to move. you wont feel any movement by tugging on them with the vehicles weight on them. jack up the front end and try wiggling them. on mon 31 jul 2006 200736 -0500 justinw nopenoaddress@here.com wrote my front end is making a clunking sound. it happens half a second before i come to a complete stop and happens again with a half second or so of taking off. the steering tends to wander a bit as it goes down the highway. the dodge dealer went completely thru the front end and replaced some components. the handling was a little better. i went in and replaced all 4 shocks - the handling was a little better and the cluck has dimished slightly maybe 10%. any ideas what could be causing this clunk this is getting real old fast.... .
From : john
on wed 02 aug 2006 025407 gmt max dodge max340@verizon.net wrote also check your upper and lower control arms. these were loose on my 97 ram and would only make noise when stopping and starting to move. you wont feel any movement by tugging on them with the vehicles weight on them. jack up the front end and try wiggling them. a 2500 4x4 wont have control arms. i dont understand what is there holding the axle to the frame or are they called something else .
From : max dodge
i dont understand what is there holding the axle to the frame or are they called something else its a link suspension. when you say control arms you are referring to the double a arm configuration. in the 4wd trucks the axle is linked to the frame with four links and a track bar. control arms literally control where the ball joint is located while the links are fixed except for one bolt that should be set at the factory and need never be touched unless something well out of the ordinary happens. the particular reason for differentiating is because in the link suspension the bolts are rarely touched thus its very rare they are loose. they should be permanently set for the castor of the axle. in the 2wd the bolts will be loosened in each alignment procedure. since the op says they went over it the most likely spot they didnt find is the track bar and the steering box. neither will do anything too goofy when the truck is on a lift since the track bar is under tension and the steering box has no load. also a link bolt probably wont make much noise since its always under compression load but that depends on how the truck is driven such as if it leaves the ground. the bushing on the other hand might be a source of noise if its worn. just my take having had several clunks end up in now the fourth gm built steering box being installed in my truck. -- max there are four boxes to be used in defense of liberty soap ballot jury and ammo. please use in that order. -ed howdershelt author on wed 02 aug 2006 025407 gmt max dodge max340@verizon.net wrote also check your upper and lower control arms. these were loose on my 97 ram and would only make noise when stopping and starting to move. you wont feel any movement by tugging on them with the vehicles weight on them. jack up the front end and try wiggling them. a 2500 4x4 wont have control arms. i dont understand what is there holding the axle to the frame or are they called something else .
From : edtheward
my front end is making a clunking sound. it happens half a second before i come to a complete stop and happens again with a half second or so of taking off. the steering tends to wander a bit as it goes down the highway. the dodge dealer went completely thru the front end and replaced some components. the handling was a little better. i went in and replaced all 4 shocks - the handling was a little better and the cluck has dimished slightly maybe 10%. any ideas what could be causing this clunk this is getting real old fast.... i had a similar problem on my 2000 4x4. it was the intermediate steering column shaft. the shaft that telescopes in/out would pop/clunk during a start/stop when the body flexed. you could feel the pop in the steering wheel. was not hard to replace at all and fixed the problem. part was around 200+ dollars though. .
From : max dodge
i had a similar problem on my 2000 4x4. it was the intermediate steering column shaft. the shaft that telescopes in/out would pop/clunk during a start/stop when the body flexed. you could feel the pop in the steering wheel. was not hard to replace at all and fixed the problem. part was around 200+ dollars though. had the same problem on my 2000 althought it didnt make much of a noise. it was more of a feeling in the steering wheel. if you replace this item dont bother with the oem stuff go to borgeson and get their replacement unit. its about $50 more but is a much better quality unit. the dealer installed an oem under warranty and i found the collar on the column end was loose and could not be tightened any further. thus i still had a weird feeling in the steering. put the borgeson unit in and havent had any problems in that area since. -- max there are four boxes to be used in defense of liberty soap ballot jury and ammo. please use in that order. -ed howdershelt author my front end is making a clunking sound. it happens half a second before i come to a complete stop and happens again with a half second or so of taking off. the steering tends to wander a bit as it goes down the highway. the dodge dealer went completely thru the front end and replaced some components. the handling was a little better. i went in and replaced all 4 shocks - the handling was a little better and the cluck has dimished slightly maybe 10%. any ideas what could be causing this clunk this is getting real old fast.... i had a similar problem on my 2000 4x4. it was the intermediate steering column shaft. the shaft that telescopes in/out would pop/clunk during a start/stop when the body flexed. you could feel the pop in the steering wheel. was not hard to replace at all and fixed the problem. part was around 200+ dollars though. .
From : tom lawrence
how difficult was it to replace this assembly anywhere to get details info http//dodgeram.info/tech/mods/borgeson/index.html .
From : john
on wed 02 aug 2006 052634 gmt max dodge max340@verizon.net wrote i dont understand what is there holding the axle to the frame or are they called something else its a link suspension. when you say control arms you are referring to the double a arm configuration. in the 4wd trucks the axle is linked to the frame with four links and a track bar. control arms literally control where the ball joint is located while the links are fixed except for one bolt that should be set at the factory and need never be touched unless something well out of the ordinary happens. the particular reason for differentiating is because in the link suspension the bolts are rarely touched thus its very rare they are loose. they should be permanently set for the castor of the axle. in the 2wd the bolts will be loosened in each alignment procedure. since the op says they went over it the most likely spot they didnt find is the track bar and the steering box. neither will do anything too goofy when the truck is on a lift since the track bar is under tension and the steering box has no load. also a link bolt probably wont make much noise since its always under compression load but that depends on how the truck is driven such as if it leaves the ground. the bushing on the other hand might be a source of noise if its worn. just my take having had several clunks end up in now the fourth gm built steering box being installed in my truck. thanks max for clarifying that. the first thing i did today was to take a look in the dodge service manual and sure enough they are called upper and lower suspension arms. .
From : edtheward
yeah i got a borgeson too. i had a similar problem on my 2000 4x4. it was the intermediate steering column shaft. the shaft that telescopes in/out would pop/clunk during a start/stop when the body flexed. you could feel the pop in the steering wheel. was not hard to replace at all and fixed the problem. part was around 200+ dollars though. had the same problem on my 2000 althought it didnt make much of a noise. it was more of a feeling in the steering wheel. if you replace this item dont bother with the oem stuff go to borgeson and get their replacement unit. its about $50 more but is a much better quality unit. the dealer installed an oem under warranty and i found the collar on the column end was loose and could not be tightened any further. thus i still had a weird feeling in the steering. put the borgeson unit in and havent had any problems in that area since. -- max there are four boxes to be used in defense of liberty soap ballot jury and ammo. please use in that order. -ed howdershelt author my front end is making a clunking sound. it happens half a second before i come to a complete stop and happens again with a half second or so of taking off. the steering tends to wander a bit as it goes down the highway. the dodge dealer went completely thru the front end and replaced some components. the handling was a little better. i went in and replaced all 4 shocks - the handling was a little better and the cluck has dimished slightly maybe 10%. any ideas what could be causing this clunk this is getting real old fast.... i had a similar problem on my 2000 4x4. it was the intermediate steering column shaft. the shaft that telescopes in/out would pop/clunk during a start/stop when the body flexed. you could feel the pop in the steering wheel. was not hard to replace at all and fixed the problem. part was around 200+ dollars though. .
From : justinw
on wed 02 aug 2006 234058 +0000 edtheward wrote yeah i got a borgeson too. the borgeson website says all borgeson truck steering assemblies are easy to install with common hand tools. in 20-30 minutes your truck will be back on the road with vastly improved handling characteristics. how difficult was it to replace this assembly anywhere to get details info .
From : chris thompson
the steering intermediate shaft is 2 bolts both pinch bolts one at each end. the old shaft collapses on its self and the new slides in its place. -- ---------------------------- -chris 05 ctd 06 liberty crd real trucks dont need spark plugs. on wed 02 aug 2006 234058 +0000 edtheward wrote yeah i got a borgeson too. the borgeson website says all borgeson truck steering assemblies are easy to install with common hand tools. in 20-30 minutes your truck will be back on the road with vastly improved handling characteristics. how difficult was it to replace this assembly anywhere to get details info .