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New Body Mount Parts, no more CLUNK!!

firemedic10584

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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.
 

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Here is the video where the guy with the TRX explains it better than I probably did, skip to about the 3 minute mark for the actual information and explanation. Also, these parts are listed for the TRX, but they work on all 5th Gen 1500s just fine.

 
Ya, it was a fight with my dealer for years to get the TSB done, they don't want to do any warranty work. They couldn't recreate, then one time they did recreate, but didn't recreate it enough. The TSB says they don't have to recreate it as long as the customer describes the issue and truck falls in the date range. Finally when they thought I was out of warranty they said they would do it at three times what it should have been, around $1300 for $130 in parts and 1.7 hours labor. They finally did it under my Mopar extended warranty after a big fight about it.
 
I just ordered the parts tonight. I hope it resolves my clunk. That's one of the issues that's bothered me for the longest time with this truck. If this fixes it, I'll be a happy camper!
 
Got my body mounts yesterday. Tomorrow will be a good day!
 
Got my body mounts yesterday. Tomorrow will be a good day!
Let us know your results. My truck is still clunk free. I do feel like I feel a bit more vibration when at highway speeds, possibly from my AT tires now...but I'll take that over the clunk all day long.
 
I did the swap this morning. No other changes made so I will know if there's any different feel. I just haven't gone anywhere yet. I'll report back tonight as I know I'm going somewhere today.
 
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
 
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
Glad this was it. This probably isn't the fix for 100% of us who has the clunk, but hopefully it'll help a lot of others. I do however still get a SLIGHT clunk through my steering wheel. But it has not been consistent and is very slight when it does happen. I'm still happy with the results.
 
Now to just get rid of the forward collision warning alert on my dash and all will be good again
 

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