Forum Discussion

Gjac's avatar
Gjac
Explorer III
May 10, 2017

Banging noise in front end

I have a 1995 P30 chassis and when going over bumps or pot holes I get a banging noise in the left side about where the tire is. I found a loose nut on the upper shock and tightened that. Thought for sure that would fix it it did not. The noise seemed to go away when I applied the brakes and hit the pot holes so I thought maybe it was in the brake calipers. I then removed the left front tire and noticed a slight play in wheel bearing repacked and tighten it. Also noticed a lot of movement in the brake caliper, so I removed the lower slide and noticed the spring clip which is suppose to have a slight arch it it was almost flat so I reshaped the spring and inserted it back in the caliper and it became tight again. Took it for a test ride and that noise is still there. My front end was rebuilt 2 years ago all new upper and lower ball joints and lower arms. Anyone have any other ideas to check? How would one check for engine mounts?
Class A
  • Gjac's avatar
    Gjac
    Explorer III
    May 17, 2017
    Good thought John, but I did find the problem it was loose brake pads that were making the clunking noise. Compressing the ears on the fixed pad and bending the anti rattle spring on the piston side fixed the problem.
  • John_Joey's avatar
    John_Joey
    Explorer
    May 16, 2017
    Gjac wrote:
    I borrowed a 12 ton jack and will jack it up by the lwr A arm to compress the coil spring when the rain stops and check the ball joints. I realized that just using the MH jacks was not really a good way to check the front end parts because of the tension on that coil spring.


    Here's a thought since the best we can do is brainstorm. If you're going thru all this trouble take it to the next level. Get a long board and a fulcrum. Place the board under the tire and the fulcrum close to the tire. On the far end push up and down on the board. Try to mimic a bad road. With a little bit of luck you'll hear a clunck. Then you can ask for help while you listen closer to figure out exactly where the clunk is.

    I'm assuming you got levelers and now the 12 ton jack. Between them both you should be able to lift just about everything that would clunk. BTW, be careful. Nothing worst then being under something that heavy when it falls.
  • Gjac's avatar
    Gjac
    Explorer III
    May 16, 2017
    jyrostng wrote:
    Been there done that with rattles and bumps, it sure is a LOT nicer driving not having to worry about,"what's that noise".
    . Especially when we had an accident 2 years ago when the banging noise turned into a broken ball joint because it was the wrong one. See Mikes post above. I stopped at a front end shop in Wy. because I could not figure it out. He charged me $ 375 and told me it was just the coil spring which he reseated and told me the rest of the front end parts were good. 1000 miles later the ball joint broke when I was rounding a curve to get on the hwy. I am just glad it did not fail coming out of the mountains of Colorado. So that is why I am sensitive to noises and am wary of front end shops.
  • jyrostng's avatar
    jyrostng
    Explorer
    May 16, 2017
    Been there done that with rattles and bumps, it sure is a LOT nicer driving not having to worry about,"what's that noise".
  • Gjac's avatar
    Gjac
    Explorer III
    May 16, 2017
    bigred1cav wrote:
    Let your wife out of dog house.
    Actually I have been driving this thing with out the dog house on to try to hear where this banging is coming from. After a week of checking, tightening a loose shock mount, removing the shock, fixing a loose caliper, checking the front end parts I finally found the problem. The brake shoes were loose in the caliper mounting slots. The fixed pad has ears that fit on the caliper which I had to bend together in a vise. The movable pad had a spring clip that I had to bend about an 1/8 in. Took it for a test ride and no more banging, I want to thank everyone for all their ideas.
  • Gjac's avatar
    Gjac
    Explorer III
    May 14, 2017
    mike brez wrote:
    Hey Gary, it's a long shot but I found these notes in my files from when I had my p30 my parts guy was pretty good and I have noted two different lower ball joints for the p chassis. Moog K6122 and K6175 the first has a narrower shaft the second is the correct one. I know your front end was pretty much rebuilt. Wonder if they used the narrower shaft one. When hitting a bump would possibly make noise and while braking puts pressure on it and goes away? IDK just thinking out loud. If you happen to have a receipt with parts and numbers used. Hope you can figure out your problem.
    I know what you are saying Mike, I had that wrong lower ball joint installed on the drivers side and it failed on me two years ago in Ohio. I don't want to go into along story but the shop out there put the wrong one in also. Superior Spring found the bad ball joint and replaced it. When they replaced the lwr A arms the ball joint came with the arm. I borrowed a 12 ton jack and will jack it up by the lwr A arm to compress the coil spring when the rain stops and check the ball joints. I realized that just using the MH jacks was not really a good way to check the front end parts because of the tension on that coil spring.
  • Gjac's avatar
    Gjac
    Explorer III
    May 14, 2017
    jyrostng wrote:
    Hitting the brake and the sound stops may be a good clue. The caliper mounts on softer pieces so that it can slide as the disk pad wears. see if you can move the caliper at all, it may be the caliper rattling over bumps, those parts are replaceable separate from the caliper.
    In my OP I stated that the caliper was loose and I reformed the lower spring clip to remove the slop and it tightened the caliper, I thought for sure this would fix the problem but it didn't. I am now wondering if some how the brake pads are loose. I don't know what else would make the clunking noise go away when the brakes are applied.
  • jyrostng's avatar
    jyrostng
    Explorer
    May 13, 2017
    Hitting the brake and the sound stops may be a good clue. The caliper mounts on softer pieces so that it can slide as the disk pad wears. see if you can move the caliper at all, it may be the caliper rattling over bumps, those parts are replaceable separate from the caliper.

About Motorhome Group

38,707 PostsLatest Activity: Feb 18, 2025