Update: I decided to just put out the money, which isn't much compared to the price of the shocks themselves, to replace the upper and lower bearings and the sleeves on both shocks to see if new ones would help. The out come was positive.
However, I think I figured out what the clunking noise many of us get from the day we install the shocks.
These shocks are supposed to have highly precision components with tight tolerances, so I wouldn't think to even need to look at these components, yet what I found in my case is that the sleeves that go in the bearings which the bolts go through, were the problem on the fronts fox 3.0 col overs I received, and installed on my raptor.
I realized there was a problem when the new upper set of sleeves I received, have an inner diameter that is too small for the bolt to fit through. So I ended up having to use the old set for the uppers. When comparing the new set to he old, I noticed that the new set also did not fit into the new bearings as snugly the old set does. The tolerances are off slightly. If I had used the new sleeves, that amount of play would have amplified once mounted and probably would have been heard through the whole truck. The original sleeves for the lower mounting points are what I believe is the problem on mine. I believe this is where the noise was coming from since the day I installed them. The sleeves did not sit in the bearings as snug as I would have thought they should, which could cause the noise. But also the inner diameter of the sleeves were slightly larger than the bolt allowing for some slop. This is what I believe was causing the clunking noise, that started after I installed them. No matter how tight I torqued the bolt down, having the tolerances off that small amount is what I think was causing the noise I was getting.
However as time went on, I got new clunks making it worse and made me think I had a bad motor mount. I held off replacing them until i replaced the bearings, because I had all ready replaced the steering rack and it didn't fix either of the things I replaced it for. One being the clunk and the other ended up being caused by something else. So I did not want to just start throwing parts at it.
I found that both lower bearings were still nice and tight, but the top bearings were very sloppy and worn. I believe that slop was the cause of the noise that sounded like i had a bad motor mount. This noise came later after hitting a narrow 1 foot wide cross cut washout in the road after heavy rains . Im guessing it was hard on the bearings since that was the start of the new clunk noise.
After replacing all 4 bearings and only the lower sleeves, which ended up having tighter inner diameter tolerances, so the bolt has to be tapped through the sleeves now, there is no slop. I also bought some neoprene washers from home depot which i modified to replace the current rubber washers that most of the originals had split, I now, no longer have either of the clunks.
It rides much quieter now. Quieter than it has since I installed the 3.0's over a year ago.
So for anyone who has had a similar experience with your Fox 3.0 coil overs, I would check the tolerances of the sleeves on both the upper and lower bearings as well as the bearings them selves, and replace them if there 's any play at all.
Also check the new parts that they are correct as well or you wont fix the problem.
I let Fox know what I found in my case, so they now know about it. So hopefully they do he right thing.
I hope this info helps you get rid of your fox 3.0 clunks as well. I understand how frustrating this can be. I am super happy now that mine are finally quiet.
Good luck
Scott
