Driving in and out of our steeply transitioned drive the last couple of days I've been getting a clunk-clunk noise. I think I tracked it down. The two front bushings on the right/PS front control arm are showing some flakiness when peeking in around the mount. Other bushings all look solid on the FCAs, but they all just turned over 200,000 miles.
And I was planning on driving home for Christmas in the next couple of days, as many are. Help me a bit with triage.
I'm thinking it's safe to drive, with nothing but the bushings showing wear and tear currently. In fact, was planning on a shop visit soon for a new valve cover gasket anyway, so I'm thinking unless I was planning on hitting the trail (I wish!) soon, it'll be OK except for the intermittent clunk-a-ma-jazz noise. Or am I being too optimistic? Homeward trip is under 200 miles one way and truck sees limited around town use a few days a week, mostly.
Assuming my diagnosis holds up once my tech sees it, should I plan on doing all 6 of the track bar bushings, given age and mileage? The truck is pretty darn close to factory, suspension is as in my sig line below, and the truck has seen nothing but limited back road duty, nothing gnarly (so far).
And I was planning on driving home for Christmas in the next couple of days, as many are. Help me a bit with triage.
I'm thinking it's safe to drive, with nothing but the bushings showing wear and tear currently. In fact, was planning on a shop visit soon for a new valve cover gasket anyway, so I'm thinking unless I was planning on hitting the trail (I wish!) soon, it'll be OK except for the intermittent clunk-a-ma-jazz noise. Or am I being too optimistic? Homeward trip is under 200 miles one way and truck sees limited around town use a few days a week, mostly.
Assuming my diagnosis holds up once my tech sees it, should I plan on doing all 6 of the track bar bushings, given age and mileage? The truck is pretty darn close to factory, suspension is as in my sig line below, and the truck has seen nothing but limited back road duty, nothing gnarly (so far).
Last edited: