When I pull into the driveway or hit a bump with the wheels turned, I can feel and hear a thump, but I cannot see any bolts or anything loose or missing . Is this "normal" or am I the victim of a cheap set of shocks ?

 

I feel your frustration Lurch. I too, have been wondering that very same thing. Looks we will both be watching this one for an answer.

 

check your motor mount bolts. i had a clunk and it was the motor mount bolt had sheared off.

 

I was getting the same thing except all the time on small bumps. I put the impact wrench on my bottom shock bolts and fixed it.

 

Check your brake calipers. I had the same thing and it turns out that when the dealer replaced my ball joints, they forgot to put the bolts in the driver side caliper. Every time I'd turn and hit a bump they would thump.

 

The fact that you mentioned the cheap shocks would mean there not that old.

Do what the one poster suggested and crank those lower shock mounts down..

Jason

 

Your steering shaft is a little loose, grab hold and move up/down you will feel movement under the rubber boot.

You can make a simple repair by pushing a plastic tie strap into the crack or buy a new Borgeson steering shaft, or drill thru and use a small bolt and nut, but beware this shaft is to collapse if you are in an accident. I like to drill and tap 1 side and use a small screw to tighten against the center to stop the rattle. Thats 4 differant fixes?!

I find this 99% of the time front end clunk is described.

 

Have you checked your track bar yet. That was the only thing ours did. It never got to the death wobble just made annoying pops and bangs. There are several options. I went with the Thuren. Simple, no brackets to add just bolt in place of the original. And the ball end it about three times bigger then factory, and rebuildable for $60.

Just in case you wondered what a DW looks like, here yea go. It was stolen a totalled a couple of weeks later.

http://www.firepunk.com/videos/deathwobble.wmv

Randy

 

also check th bushings in the lower end of the shocks.. expecially if you have those rancho`s on there .. the bushings are a tad larger than the pin.. i had to make a sleeve to fix it.. also the tie rod ends on the sway bar will also make such i noise .. i have replaced almost every bushing in the front end by this weekend .. did my sway bar today..