Rear Shock Upper Bushing Retainer Rattle?

[willbt]

Hey all,
I installed Ironman's Foamcell Pro shocks about 5k miles ago and so far love them, however while out on some rough back country roads yesterday, I realized both my passenger and driver side rears were making clanging/rattling noises, which sounded like the upper bushing retainers. When I got back home, I climbed under to make sure both the driver side and the passenger side upper nuts were tight (I was thinking possibly the bushings settled and the nuts were a tad loose allowing the retainers to bounce around on the post) but both were nice and tight.

I'm wondering if anyone else has the same rattle over bumps/washboard roads?

To me, it seems like I just need to tighten them a bit more to add pressure on the bushings to keep the metal retainers from rattling around, however it appears I'm out of thread and can't tighten them down any more.

 

[reznunt]

You sure it isn't the sway bar bushings? Those seem to be the usual suspect.

 

[willbt]

Thanks for the response. I actually replaced all of the rear sway bar bushings back in December. I was running some Bilstein 4600s and they were making the same retainer clang/rattle. I wanted something a little beefier so I went with the Ironman Foamcell Pros.

I'm curious if others have this noise (OME, Icon, Fox, etc) or if I'm the only lucky one. Did you guys use all 4 retainer washers? I ask because I noticed Icon and Fox only appear to use two external retainers and Slee's shocks appear use only three. I have a feeling that the noise is coming from the two center retainers with the lips that face each other, but possibly I'm way off base here.

Everything highlighted in yellow I replaced.

I used the bushing retainers in this configuration (shot from my Bilstein shocks)

 

[ewrk1989]

Resurrecting an old thread because I found this one and another during my search for the same problem:

Bad Shocks? Rattle-"thunk" when going over even small road imperfections?

 

[willbt]

This ended up being toasted rear upper control arm bushings. I pressed in some poly bushings.

Still running those shocks too with just about 25k on them and they are still going strong.

 

[reznunt]

This ended up being toasted rear upper control arm bushings. I pressed in some poly bushings.

Still running those shocks too with just about 25k on them and they are still going strong.

Funny thing is, I just installed the FCP's and I developed a rattle over harsh bumps after the first few hundred miles. The shock bushings looked seated and tight, but after cranking down on the top nuts and squishing the bushings a little more my rattle went away.

 

[ewrk1989]

@reznunt , how does your experience compare to what I'm describing here? I'm hesitant to torque down too much past spec. I added some more observations: Bad Shocks? Rattle-"thunk" when going over even small road imperfections?

 

[Snowrydr01]

This ended up being toasted rear upper control arm bushings. I pressed in some poly bushings.

Still running those shocks too with just about 25k on them and they are still going strong.

What bushings did you use? I thought Rear control arms had to be replaced as an assembly?

 

[willbt]

What bushings did you use? I thought Rear control arms had to be replaced as an assembly?

As far as I know, Toyota doesn't sell OE rubber bushings to replace these so I used Superpro poly bushings; they sell a set for the rear.

I was able to push most of them out with relative ease and press the new ones in with my bench vise. I just lubed the new ones up with some white lith before I pressed them in so they would slip in more easily. I did have to burn two or three out because they didn't want to play nicely, but that was easy with a mapp torch.

 

[reznunt]

@reznunt , how does your experience compare to what I'm describing here? I'm hesitant to torque down too much past spec. I added some more observations: Bad Shocks? Rattle-"thunk" when going over even small road imperfections?

I think you're talking about the lips on the upper/lower inner washers being too thick overall to seat on the shock mount properly which would cause rattling. I was actually talking about the bushings compressing when hitting a quick/harsh bump leaving a momentary gap between the bushings' seating surface and the surface of the shock mount (due to insufficient preloading of the bushings) allowing it to make a rattling noise before coming to rest.

The thing with the Ironman Foam Cell Pro's is that they don't supply a torque spec. They give you a diagram with the profile of the properly compressed bushings and you have to eyeball your installation to match their diagram.

 

[TheForger]

I've heard of shock rattle being a somewhat common issue on a lot of different vehicles, especially those that see a lot of heavy loads or offroad use. If the hole in the upper shock mount that you pass the shock through is wallowed out, this can cause those inner washer "lips" to shift around in there and create a chatter that can be exacerbated by going over bumps/around turns or really anything. Might be something to look at if you get around to removing the front shocks.

 

[ewrk1989]

I think you're talking about the lips on the upper/lower inner washers being too thick overall to seat on the shock mount properly which would cause rattling. I was actually talking about the bushings compressing when hitting a quick/harsh bump leaving a momentary gap between the bushings' seating surface and the surface of the shock mount (due to insufficient preloading of the bushings) allowing it to make a rattling noise before coming to rest.

The thing with the Ironman Foam Cell Pro's is that they don't supply a torque spec. They give you a diagram with the profile of the properly compressed bushings and you have to eyeball your installation to match their diagram.

Correct, that's what I meant about the inner washers--but it's just my theory on what could be happening. I don't really know yet. But I also do see what you're saying.

Looking back at my video, I'm thinking maybe there really is an issue with the diameter of the shock mount. This could explain the lateral motion. In that case, a bushing would be nice but it'd be so thin-walled and short...

Either that, or the washer lips just aren't catching in there for some reason. Time to get out the wrench