Clunk Noise (1 Viewer)

[orangerock]

Went wheeling over the weekend and the next day I noticed a clunk coming from the front driver wheel area when turning in reverse. I'm already super close to rubbing so took it in to Toyota for an alignment thinking I knocked it out on the trails and that was the issue. They said my alignment was fine and everything looked good so we went with I was just rubbing somewhere in reverse.

Couple days later and the GX is parked until I can get it in a shop because it's worse. Here's when the clunk sound happens:

- Reversing out of driveway, parking, etc...
- Turning in to driveway, parking, etc... at a sharp angle
- Slowing down at stops even going straight

I don't notice the sound when going over 20ish mph and it's loud enough I'd still hear it. Also, when the car is parked and I turn the wheel all the way both directions there is no noise.

Any feedback before it goes in to the shop again?

 

[Rednexus]

It could be any number of issues. Most usually it's the driveshaft slip joints needing to be greased, or potentially they were over-greased (both have happened with my rig ). If you usually DIY things, you can pretty easily DIY grease the slip yolks and U-joints to see if it helps - basically pump the slip yolk until it starts to move and then keep pumping until it stops moving. I grease mine at every oil change but oftentimes the grease gets overlooked. The front shaft is on the driver's side and can mimic the sound of a suspension clunk.

Other than that....could be various suspension bushings (LCA, KDSS), steering rack bushings, tie rod ends, etc. Other culprits could be loose skidplates or even rocks trapped on the top of the skidplate, or bolts backed off from something like a recent lift install. Mine was clunking like crazy lately due to a bunch of ice chunks on top of the skidplate from a frozen creek crossings. The ice melted and the clunk went away.

Unless it is a particularly bad clunk or has some drivability issue I wouldn't park it. If you modify and wheel these clunks are fairly normal and usually not a big deal. You'll have many more to figure out throughout ownership.

 

[r2m]

When wheeling, were you in 4LO? If so, when you were in 4LO, did you do any hard turns at lock?
Have you checked your Birfields/CV's?
Crawl under and see if you can jiggle your front axles at all, if so, that's probably the issue.

 

[SteadfastRocky]

we have a similar issue on our GX, post wheeling, the front end is now sorted. We are thinking it could be a bad KDSS ramp, TBD until I can get someone who knows more about KDSS to look at it and.

 

[orangerock]

When wheeling, were you in 4LO? If so, when you were in 4LO, did you do any hard turns at lock?
Have you checked your Birfields/CV's?
Crawl under and see if you can jiggle your front axles at all, if so, that's probably the issue.

Not on that trip. I've tried jiggling everything and nothing moves or makes a noise. The noise happens sporadically and only once at a time.. other than reversing sharp. It's consistent and in a pattern with my wheel speed. The only time it will happen when going straight, braking or not, is when going up / down an incline.

 

[orangerock]

we have a similar issue on our GX, post wheeling, the front end is now sorted. We are thinking it could be a bad KDSS ramp, TBD until I can get someone who knows more about KDSS to look at it and.

Def let me know what you find!

 

[Bleu62]

Sounds like a similar issue I had. I chased it for months, it was my track bar, bushings went but had enough tension or something not to move when I was shaking everything.