cold weather and clunking shocks

[Bulletnjm]

Huh, the only noise i hear in my truck is the Roush Exhaust

 

[MJslasherADMIN]

I would check the obvious stuff, lca shock bolt for torque, and the steering rack for slop ( they are poor quality, I've purchased a brand new one that was sloppy out of the box). This is the cure 90% of the time.
Past that, catch some rides in other trucks with bypass shocks and see if the noise is similar.
Bypass shocks are noisy. In a raptor or in a tacoma.

If you're still unhappy, go test drive a dodge !
My 2014 dodge makes my 2011 raptor look like the space shuttle. I can't believe people buy dodges on purpose...that's a rattling, rough riding pos.

Lol. I missed your Dodge comment. 100% agree brother. I have Dodge experience, and I only have one word to describe Dodge RAM, Charger, Challenger - Junk. I cant believe people actually go out and finance and pay for Dodge products. It literally blows my mind. SO many options, I would buy a Chevy any day over a Dodge and I think Chevy makes junk also, except for the new Corvette and ZL1/Z28 Camero, those are pretty cool.

But, credit where credit is due, back in the day my buddy had a Dodge Dakota when we were in High School. That thing was like a mountain goat. It could go anywhere. Dodge has really went down hill since.

 

[ntm]

Hear is the best way to imagine the noise my truck makes. Anyone on this forum that is mechanical inclined will be able to imagine this sound.

- Imagine that I took the driver side inner fender liner and popped out all of the plastic rivets that hold it in place. Now the inner fender liner is not secure at all. The inner fender liner can now bounce up a down several inches, back and forth, back and forth, making lots of noise each time the suspension moves or each time the truck moves across changing terrain. The rougher the changing terrain, the more that driver side inner fender liner bangs and flops around.

That sound, if you can imagine it, is exactly what my truck sounds like from the front end area near the tires. I hear it much more on the drivers side, but I am closer to that side.

The rear end noise is not as severe. The rear end sounds like the tires have 20 pounds to much air in them. Sounds like the tires are made out of concrete. Every crack, bump, gravel causes a thud.

This is pretty normal for new raptor owners.
You are driving too slow. Seriously. When it sounds like it's coming apart go a little faster. If it doesn't smooth out and quiet down, then you have a real problem.

 

[MJslasherADMIN]

This is pretty normal for new raptor owners.
You are driving too slow. Seriously. When it sounds like it's coming apart go a little faster. If it doesn't smooth out and quiet down, then you have a real problem.

Im going to give that a try. Maybe a work out for the shocks will help quite things down also. Cant wait to see what it does at high speed offroad. I am not impressed at all under normal driving conditions.

 

[Fb73]

my front shocks have become noisy since it's cold here, but I feel the sound is coming only from the left shock, only on big obstacles like speed bumps, I hear a noise like something was rubbing or a metallic clunk, so maybe it's not caused by the weather...

What do I need to check along with lower shocks bolts ?

 

[MuDfReAk]

To me, the noise sounds like bad strut. I wonder if mid-perch would fix some of it?

 

[Aramco Raptor]

It sounds to me like some of you should read the SVT Raptor Supplement.

I know that most guys don't read manuals or instructions...but when you own a $60k truck...it might be wise...before you try to fix stuff that is normal.

Page 5 of the SVT Raptor Supplement.

Just a thought...

 

[MJslasherADMIN]

It sounds to me like some of you should read the SVT Raptor Supplement.

I know that most guys don't read manuals or instructions...but when you own a $60k truck...it might be wise...before you try to fix stuff that is normal.

Page 5 of the SVT Raptor Supplement.

Just a thought...

A couple of things.
There are seveal owners who say their truck is quite.
Some owners with minor noise.
Some with major noise.
All front end noise isn't created equal.
I'm sure the supplement manual is talking about some other sound, not what I have. My noise happens even when the shocks are not under load from driving. Any change in the road, even a small crack.

For all we know Ford found the shocks were making noise and the cost to resolve was not worth it to them. So they put a line in the supplement manual to stop a percentage of owners frim asking Ford to repair. Ford doesn't have a great track record of proavtively fixing issues on their own unless immense customer or regulatory pressure is applied.

Or, maybe the problem is related to inner fender liners for some of us.

My GT500 made the exact same sounds once it hit 7000 miles. The problem was upper control arms needed replaced and a rubber bushing was bad. Ford issued a TSB. My car was fixed under the TSB. No more noise loud clunk on bumps.
Gt500 also had loose inner fender liners. Securing those removed the remaining noise.

So last night I take my wife out. On the way home, near my house I take the truck off road to a very large open bottom (called a field or meadow or whatever in other parts of the country) where a corn crop grows in Spring and Summer, which is both moderately rough and extremely muddy. I ran 60 mph through this bottom for a half mile.
Agreed, the Raptor is smooth. No doubt about it. Like riding on a pillow. A noisy pillow. Front end makes the same loose clunking noise at high speeds offroad, low speeds off road, and on blacktop (asphalt).

Today I am going to mess with the inner fenders. I think I can take a lot of the noise out of the front by securing the inner fender liners. I have never checked the sway bar and skid plate bolts. I'm going to check them today.

Even my wide said "Sure makes a lot of noise"
There seems to be mixed results from each Raptor owner.

Front right shock type noise.
Or front left shock type noise.
I very seldom hear people complain about noise in both areas, simultaneously.

I do love the tuck. A good seat of seat covers, a light bar up front, led lights in the bumper and some ambient lighting in a few area and it will have everything I want or need. Just need to get rid of any abnormal Clunks.

 

[ntm]

I suspect the "clunkiness" of the stock front shocks stems from the internal bypass design.
There is a body, within the shock body that the piston runs in. It is sandwiched against the internal floating piston housing. Metal to metal.
It's held there by an o ring in the seal head to provide a compression load. I suspect it's possible in cold weather, or perhaps with just slightly out of spec components, for these internal bypass sleeves to rattle inside the main housing.
Indeed, most I've taken apart for rebuild had wear marks from the sleeve moving around. Some worse than others.

 

[13raptorcrew]

Unfortunate, but its normal.