I had noise too, but tightening the bolts up did the trick and 12k miles later all is still tight and quiet.

I hit my top shock bolts with an impact. Got them pretty tight and made sure they lined up right.
I think* I torqued my trackbar (thuren) at 150 and my bottom shock bolts to 135. Did it awhile back though so can't remember 100%.

I also used locktite on the trackbar.

I used the drop blocks for the sway bar and a couple of them worked a little loose within the first 500 miles... Had to tighten them back up too.

FWIW, I think my stock endlinks are fine but I might swap up to some longer endlinks to clean up the look of the front end.

 

I rechecked the bottom shock bolts, took flashlight out and I can see about 1/16th to 1/8th inch gap between the shock and the mounting bracket.

I will re-do the install this coming weekend.

I'll do what a previous poster recommended. Install a washer to take up the slack.

I'll update this thread sometime this coming weekend with my end result.

Thanks again everybody for your guidance.

 

Don Thuren supplies cool little rubber or polyurethane isolators to install between the shock and shock tower to make sure there is no clanking. Maybe you can find something similar that will work for the bottom?

 

I got those with the Lorenz kit too... for the shock tower. They have a nipple and you need to make sure you get it to drop into the hole when tightening them...

That could be a problem you might want to look at too. I think I had to wrestle with mine a little IIRC.

 

PTgarcia
Is Don your secret lover. Every post I read of yours is Don this Don that, you must be on his payroll.

 

have you ever talked to don?? the guy makes great stuff and is willing to talk to/help people who don't even plan on buying his stuff.
sounds like you're jealous that nobody's talking about you!!

 

Not on the payroll, not secret anything. I just like to pass on to others my good fortune of finding fine products at reasonable prices backed by 1st rate customer service. What's so bad about that?

 

Thanks for the all the tips. I'll keep you posted.

 

I actually have talked to Don and have some of his products on my truck. Cool cat and awesome products.
I'm just breaking PT's ***** because it's a little excessive.

 

Ok. I took driver's side shock off and put some more anti-sieze on the shock bolt. Then over-torqued the bolt. I made sure there was no slop in the bottom part of the shock mount area before I put the shock tower back on.

Hopefully it is installed corrrectly. I just don't know if the washer should be installed inboard or outboard of the axle tab. The directions didn't specify.
I put it on the inboard side so as to reduce the angle of the sway bar link.

I also sent the picture to Sean Lorenz, so hopefully he can verify if install was correct or not.


I'll attach a picture of the swaybar link after I figure out how to do that.

 

Well, I drove the truck this morning and still have an occasional "clunk" sound.
Not all the time. It seems to be when I turn corners, and it doesn't do it on all corners.

I'm going to undue the swaybar tonite and take for a spin and at least rule that out. Everything seems real solid though.

Later,

Bob

 

Ok. Friday afternoon (12/21) I got off early and removed shock and swaybar link. Then rotated the coil, thinking that maybe it wasn't seated properly.
Don't see how it could have been not seated properly. But I had to rule that out.

Then I put the lower shock bolt back in and this time got the breaker bar out to tighten the snot out of the bolt. I was to the point of probably stretching the bolt. Oh well, it's tight.

Then I moved the washer on the swaybar link to the outside of the axle tab.

Now, I just need to go out and test drive. However, it's reallly foggy out right now, and its not worth getting in a wreck at this point in time. Of course, it's supposed to snow tomorrow. Oh well, I need to figure this noise out. The truck handles fine. I double checked (triple checked), the lower ball joint again. No movement.

This is all on the driver's side. Haven't touched the passenger side, since it doesn't seem to have any noises.

Note: Truck only has 21k miles. About 500 miles on the Lorenz 5100 system.

I'll update this thread later tomorrow if the noise is still there.

 

I just put in Lorenz HD springs (6%) with a set of monomax shocks, night and day difference for the good........... highly recommended......

 

News Flash: Well I think I found my problem of the "clunk" sound.
I went out this morning to double check the torque setting of the track bar bolt that is on the passenger side (axle). Low and behold. It wasn't torqued to the required 150 ft/lb. I haven't road tested yet because of our recent snow event here in Central Iowa.

I'm quessing that is the noise though. I'll update later today when I take the truck out.

On another note: I received my Smarty Jr. yesterday.

 

Update: Life is good.

I'd like to thank everybody for their pointers. I know everybody is getting busy due to the holidays that are almost here.

Have a great one.

p.s. If you have to drink too much Egg Nogg, at least make sure it taste good.