Clunk/thump from small bumps at slow speed

[970rap]

I have a stock '18 Screw with 26K miles. Tire pressure is 35-38 PSI on original KO2s. When traveling over small abrupt bumps on pavement (probably happens off-road too, just never noticed it), think a minor pot hole or a manhole cover, at slow speeds (5-20 mph) I hear a noticeable clunk/thump. I believe it's coming from the front end but I am not totally sure. It sounds sort of metallic, like a loose part or clanging. It doesn't seem to happen at faster speeds or on larger bumps, although I suppose road noise may be enough to block those out. This just sticks out because the sound doesn't at all correlate to how little the bump is (sounds abnormally loud).

Any thoughts about whether this is normal for Raptors or could represent a problem?

 

[Hdscreens]

I have the same noise too. Another thread suggested it was loose break pads but I haven’t gotten around to checking those. I had the IWE TSB done a little over a month ago so it wasn’t anything related to that as clunking noise is still there.

 

[GCATX]

Check your front sway bar links. Crawl under the front of the truck and have someone bounce up and down on the bumper and see if there is any play in the bushings. Free and easy to check.

 

[Jeffz95]

Funny, I was just going to post same issue. 2017 new to us for 2 weeks now, only 18k miles, we live on 4 miles of dirt road and I notice sound going slow on our rough paved and dirt. Seems like drivers side around a pillar and do not feel it in steering wheel and really a metallic sound more like loose plastic in lower dash area if that makes sense.

 

[970rap]

Thanks for the responses so far. I don't have anyone here right now to press down on the bumper but I did get under and felt the end links - there was no movement on them. At the very least it seems this isn't normal expected operations. These suggestions gave me some new search terms and it appears the end links are frequently the cause of this symptom. I have an oil change scheduled at the dealership tomorrow and will ask that they look into it. I can report back.

 

[GCATX]

I'm not sure you could tell by just feeling the links by hand. I don't think manually pushing down on the bumper would do it either. When you can find someone, have them put a foot in the bumper cutout and bounce a few times.

At least you can cross that off the list of possible sources of the noise, if nothing else.

 

[JohnyPython]

Get a firm grasp on the the end link and pull on it back and forth. Do both sides. If you feel any play that’s the problem.

I had mine replaced under warranty.

If you want know for sure take one side of the end link off.

 

[MORaptor]

I've had a similar noise on my 2018 (68,000 miles), but not sure if it is the same issue as mine sounds a little more like grinding than the "clunk/thump" you describe. My noise is always while accelerating and usually somewhere between 2nd and 4th gear. Noise appears to be drivers side front end. Had it into the dealer, but of course the random noise does not occur when they test drive it. Heavier loads seem to make the noise more frequent.

 

[Jeff-Ohio]

I had a similar noise and it was caused by the dealer not tightening the bolts on the skid plate when they changed the oil.

 

[wkasak_17Raptor]

Had similar problem that drove me nuts. Took off sway bar end links and tied up the sway bar temporary noise disappeared. Replaced them and no more noise since. Could not tell until I removed them that they had play and even then it was minimal but just enough with all the weight to make a racket.