New Body Mount Parts, no more CLUNK!!

[msnyder1112]

Wrapped up the suspension maxx end links + hellwig front sway bar. First drive and not a sound..but my sound nearly always comes when its wet outside. So we will what happens once it rains again

All i did was grab the shaft and wiggle it in and out. I immediately heard clunking when doing that.
Pull it closest to tbe didferential. I might have a video of how minie sounded.

 

[Gren71]

Well… It’s still pops and creeks.

I guess I’m on to it’s either the driver side 5100… Or the intermediate shaft thing.

And I’m much less likely to be able to address it now that it’s cold. I’m not smacking on the aluminum control arms to get the ball joints to release to check the 5100s…Or to take apart the knuckle to look at the shafts…while its cold out.

So I guess it’s just going to be the song of my people until spring

 

[msnyder1112]

Well… It’s still pops and creeks.

I guess I’m on to it’s either the driver side 5100… Or the intermediate shaft thing.

And I’m much less likely to be able to address it now that it’s cold. I’m not smacking on the aluminum control arms to get the ball joints to release to check the 5100s…Or to take apart the knuckle to look at the shafts…while its cold out.

So I guess it’s just going to be the song of my people until spring

Pretty easy to turn the wheel, grab the shaft, jerk it like you think… there should be some play but not a lot. Compare both sides.

Maybe time to trade her in lolol

 

[Gren71]

Pretty easy to turn the wheel, grab the shaft, jerk it like you think… there should be some play but not a lot. Compare both sides.

Maybe time to trade her in lolol

Ive been barking at the 2500 tree for a while now. If my va stuff gets figured out i may actually be able to afford one!

 

[Coupe427]

I’ve had this clunk for a while that the dealership couldn’t recreate. Have basically just lived with it. Back before Christmas I was taking my girl to school and it was banging around pretty bad so I crawled under the truck and investigated. I could move the sway bar and get it to clunk so I replaced the sway bar bushings. The boots on the end links were starting to crack and due to the messages on this forum saying end links were the issue I replaced those with some greaseable links from Advanced Auto. The clunk went away. Until yesterday morning. It was banging around again sounding worse than before. I ended up adding a little more grease to the end link fittings. Clunk went away. This morning it was back to banging around then went away later in the day. So now I’m thinking it has to be something that’s either cold related as it goes away later in the day or is something that goes away with driving. Either way, it’s getting annoying.

 

[J201974]

So like many of you, I've had the famous "clunk" sound/feeling when going over bumps at low speeds. I've changed parts out, tightened every bolt down I knew to tighten, lowered my Bilstein 5100s thinking maybe they were getting maxed out. All for nothing. I found one video, which I posted on this page a week or so ago, where a guy with a TRX described the exact same issues I and many of you were having. He made a good video showing how the body mount bushings/isolators were a poor design and Ram had updated part numbers for a better designed piece. I was skeptical since every "fix" I've tried in the past really made no difference. But after driving today, I could not get the clunk sound to produce going the same route I always travel and 99% of the time always get multiple clunks along the way.

Install was straight forward. You only want to do one side of the truck at a time. There are 4 bolts to loosen/remove. The front mount, where the tow hook would attach to, I just loosened, I did not remove it all the way. This was the hardest one to get loose for some reason. The mount under the A post and B post, I took those bolts completely out since that is where these new parts need to be swapped out. The C post mount I just loosened. Using a floor jack and a 2x4, I jacked the cab up placing the jack right at the pinch weld area between the A and B post area. Initially, the whole truck, cab and bed, were raising, but it then separated and just the cab began to raise. You only need to raise it enough to slide the top isolator from the "A" post mount out. Once you swap out that top isolator, you can lower the cab back down since the bottom pieces just attach from the bottom side.

As you can see from the photos, the "old" top piece, there was no rubber on the left and right side of that metal centerpiece. The new updated part number now has rubber completely surrounding the metal piece which is where I believe the clunk noise was being produced from. The lower absorber parts, you can see the difference in the height of the rubber section. The old parts had a decent-sized gap between the rubber and where it met the metal of the mount on the truck. The new parts eliminate that void space, removing any additional movement.

Here are the updated part numbers -

68589984AA - Bottom absorbers (x4)

68487213AB - Upper Body Hold Down Cushion (x2)

Let me know if you have any questions - hopefully, this will be the fix for those of you who also have been unsuccessful at solving the clunk. I also think this solved my mystery vibration I get at random speeds and confirmed it was not my wheels and tires.

I thought there were 4 body mounts on each side?

 

[msnyder1112]

I thought there were 4 body mounts on each side?

There are. But only 2 on each side are cab mounts.

 

[RayRedRam]

Ok. The clunk is GONE. The truck does feel more stable and I do feel the road slightly more than before. It only took almost 4 years to resolve but it was solid going over speed bumps that always caused the clunk.

Thanks for sharing this fix

This clunk that you speak of.....the new mounts fixed it? I am racking my brain and knuckles trying to chase this thing down. How hard was it to fix?

 

[RayRedRam]

I’ve had this clunk for a while that the dealership couldn’t recreate. Have basically just lived with it. Back before Christmas I was taking my girl to school and it was banging around pretty bad so I crawled under the truck and investigated. I could move the sway bar and get it to clunk so I replaced the sway bar bushings. The boots on the end links were starting to crack and due to the messages on this forum saying end links were the issue I replaced those with some greaseable links from Advanced Auto. The clunk went away. Until yesterday morning. It was banging around again sounding worse than before. I ended up adding a little more grease to the end link fittings. Clunk went away. This morning it was back to banging around then went away later in the day. So now I’m thinking it has to be something that’s either cold related as it goes away later in the day or is something that goes away with driving. Either way, it’s getting annoying.

Did you figure it out?

 

[scottmoyer]

It was easy to fix. The process is defined in multiple posts here on how to do it. Youtube videos also show how it's done.

 

[RayRedRam]

It was easy to fix. The process is defined in multiple posts here on how to do it. Youtube videos also show how it's done.

I took off sway bar today and the clunking/rattling is still there. Going to assume it has to be the body mounts.

 

[Gren71]

I took off sway bar today and the clunking/rattling is still there. Going to assume it has to be the body mounts.

Glad you were able to narrow it down a bit.

It may be the body mounts or an intermediate shaft in the front end.

 

[RayRedRam]

Glad you were able to narrow it down a bit.

It may be the body mounts or an intermediate shaft in the front end.

Had the intermediary shafts and CV's done 3 weeks ago. My passenger side shaft was toast.

 

[J201974]

Has anyone reached out to Dodge/Ram to see what they have to say about the body bushings? Also, I think I read that there is an updated/improved part...I sure don't want to put the same parts back in...appreciate some feedback

 

[RayRedRam]

Has anyone reached out to Dodge/Ram to see what they have to say about the body bushings? Also, I think I read that there is an updated/improved part...I sure don't want to put the same parts back in...appreciate some feedback

From all the posts that I have read on here it looks like they made a new part with more rubber so you don't get the clanking/rattling again. I have mine on order and will get next week and be ready to swap em out.

 

[J201974]

Fantastic...let us know how it turns out

 

[Reverse]

Has anyone reached out to Dodge/Ram to see what they have to say about the body bushings? Also, I think I read that there is an updated/improved part...I sure don't want to put the same parts back in...appreciate some feedback

I believe the improved one is actually the version they use on the TRX, which I understand is compatible with non-TRX trucks.

 

[msnyder1112]

Yes. I used the trx

 

[J201974]

From all the posts that I have read on here it looks like they made a new part with more rubber so you don't get the clanking/rattling again. I have mine on order and will get next week and be ready to swap em out.

what part numbers did you order? Are there 3 on each side plus the Front and Rear (these are different from what I can see in the drawings)

 

[RayRedRam]

what part numbers did you order? Are there 3 on each side plus the Front and Rear (these are different from what I can see in the drawings)

I don't have them yet so couldn't tell you the numbers. I should have this week and when I do I will report back.