clunk and some oil (1 Viewer)

[whaler]

After putting 315 75r 16 tires on the 80 in stock form (yea i know, probably not a super idea) i drove it for about a month. Nothing really happening, a couple times i rubbed the wheel wells on deep potholes. No wheeling. It kind of developed a clunk sound when hitting really uneven or potholed pavement from around 5-40mph id say. Fast forward a few weeks.

I installed a OME J lift with L shocks and metal tech caster plates and drop brackets front and rear sway bar brackets. Install was fine, drives fine. But same clunk sound from front of car.

it almost feels like I'm sitting on top of a broken body mount but i checked and the mounts appear good. Next i looked at sway bar, drive shaft, tie rod, pan hard. Nothing seems to show signs of interaction.

Springs do not appear to be impacting bump stops, i checked them by sight and for abrasions on the inner coil, nothing.

You guys have any idea? Do you think i roasted my spindles or bearings after installing the bigger tires? I drove it extremely conservatively so Im guessing that isn't it.

My thesis is at this point my radiator outflow pipe at the bottom is hitting whatever suspension arm that is. There is a visible dent in the pipe, but could they really cause my clunking sound? I checked the bottom shock bolts in front and they seemed a bit loose but the stock shocks (PO actually had aftermarket but stock height) were there with the clunk sound as well.

unrelated but I have a slow oil leak (was told valve cover gasket by PO). I also suspect distributor seal? There is never any oil on the ground even if it sits for days.

Im really at a loss, Ive searched and it seems the clunk issue is a myriad of things and Im wondering what you all think. Included some pictures i took to help. Appreciate your time.

 

[ColoradoFJ40]

You might need to rebuild your knuckles.

 

[whaler]

I guess thats possible but is that a common symptom? There isn't any grease seeping from any area of the knuckle.

 

[TheAmerican]

That pipe is formed with the dent in it from the factory

 

[LINUS]

Panhard bushings, shock bushings, radius arm bushings, motor mount???

-without pulling the pieces & looking at each bushing, it's a tough call.

I get the same thing the last ~4-5K or better, pretty sure I either ate the panhard to axle bush or a radius arm one on the RS. For me when I flat stomp a pothole with that side the 80 it clunks & those are what I will be eyeballing for bad actors.
Shocks are recent, bushings elsewhere are 2 decades old, so we'll see.

 

[Rifleman]

Like Linus says, your driving at least a 20 year old truck, with a few hundred thousand miles on it, so ya, you might want to take a look at motor mounts, and bushings.

 

[whaler]

Yea, i will give everything a once over soon. Its just strange it only occurs mourned 20 or so mph and small steep little bumps.