Front Shocks

DLP · Post by **DLP** » Wed Jan 17, 2007 3:03 pm

Hello guys. I just replaced my front shocks with Rancho RS-5000s. Now every little stress crack in the road makes a heck of a bump/slam/slap noise about where the torsion bars are under the floor pan. The truck has 78,000 miles and the alainment seems good. Althoe I haven't had one in awhile. It's almost like the torsion bars can't keep up with the new shocks. Can't find anything rubbing or hitting on the shocks or shock towers. Neither torsion bar is loose or brokes as far as I can tell. Any input would be great. Darrell

WVHogRider · Post by **WVHogRider** » Wed Jan 17, 2007 3:16 pm

I had the same noise just a month ago. It could be a bunch of different things.

I know this may seem silly, but can you twist/wiggle the shocks back and forth. You may need to add a washer between the shock and mount wall to fill the slack. I think someone else with the Rancho's had this spacing issue.

Although, you may not want to listen to me, as I installed my Bilstien fronts upside down originally. Noise was still there even after correcting the shocks.

I searched for months trying to figure out the rattle.

It came from the same place as yours----sounded like it was near the torsion bar/front suspension area. After thinking and checking

, nothing. Then one day I yanked the hitch ball bar out. It worked...and have not had any rattling since.

Some how the rattle was travelling through the frame to that area.

killian96ss · Post by **killian96ss** » Wed Jan 17, 2007 3:45 pm

The knocking noise seems to happen mostly with the Rancho 5000 series shocks, although I had a similar problem with my Rancho RSX's.

My problem turned out to be the t-bar x-member hitting each the side of the frame which caused a horrible knocking noise when going over bumps in the road.

You might be able to fix the problem with new t-bar bushings or by adding some washers to the lower mounting point on both front shocks to prevent the shocks from moving around.

Before I wrecked my CC I noticed that both of my front shocks (Rancho RSX's) were making contact with the frame which may have caused some of the knocking noises I was hearing.

When I get a new truck I will most likely get some Bilsteins since they are very well built and I haven't heard of any problems from the members here who do run them.

Steve

DLP · Post by **DLP** » Wed Jan 17, 2007 4:04 pm

Thank you for the replys. I will work it to see if I get any slack. It did fall right in with no problem. I torked the bolts down but not enough to bend the shock towers tight. The bump/slam feels like it's right under your feet.

Snoman002 · Post by **Snoman002** » Wed Jan 17, 2007 6:07 pm

Get those shocks in there tight.

When I installed my RSX's I had a clunk too, the shocks were a little loose and they were making noise.

If you can grab the shock and move it by hand then that is probably the problem, the shock needs to be in there TIGHT.

DLP · Post by **DLP** » Thu Jan 18, 2007 7:17 pm

I think you guys got it right. I could wiggle the passenger side one with no problem. I got the 3/4'" rachets out. It's tight now! I will take it out this weekend to see if the clunk is gone.