I left on a trip this morning with my wife and grandson going out to Yellowstone national park, somewhere in New Jersey I noticed a clunking sound almost like it was coming from the steer safe on the left-hand driver-side. I stopped and noticed the LH spring was about 1/16 away from the lower A arm. The RH side had a 1/2 in clearance. After several rest stops and spraying the springs and noticing a loose bolt a on the upper RH shock mount which I tightened, the noise was still there, so I started looking at the steer safe again. Next rest stop I noticed a square bolt with a stop nut that looked like it backed off 1/4 in. As I tightened it,it would pivoted the spring away from the Arm. Called steer safe and they verified that was the right thing to do. Drove about ten miles or so with no noise an all of a sudden it was back again. No vibration in the steering wheel just had the MH aligned 2 years ago and front end parts replaced. Anyone have any thoughts about this problem?

Did the bolt back out again ?If so maybe some blue loctite , will hold it in place

Can you help us by identifying which bolt is backing out. Here's a picture of a typical installation.If all else fails, you can remove both steer safe units and complete your trip.Fred

The bolt did not back out again. I have a P 30 chassis so the picture is different, but the steer safe that I have has a plate that is parallel to the wheel and the adjusting screw is at the top. After tightening every bolt on the unit, I am just wondering what else would cause this noise?

I had a strange noise at the right front, and guys at Redlands Truck discovered it was a broken weld where the box frame vertical member met the chassis. It sounded much like a broken suspension part. They re-welded about 8 years ago and it has held since then w/o problem.Something else to look at ...

No broke welds that I can see. Would a worn tie rod end cause this kind of noise?

Intermittent front end banging on the left side

34 Replies

Gjac
Explorer III
Jul 05, 2015
mfinnerty wrote:
Dumb question here. Does your P30 rig still have the original coil springs or have they been replaced. If still the original, what is the status of the airbags?
. They have been replaced with HD springs from Henderson.
mfinnerty
Explorer
Jul 04, 2015
Dumb question here. Does your P30 rig still have the original coil springs or have they been replaced. If still the original, what is the status of the airbags?
Gjac
Explorer III
Jul 04, 2015
Ava wrote:
Hi Gjac , the chassis is Oshkosh with leaf springs on front axle. The bracket that I moved to a new positioning pivots slightly from front to back as suspension moves and was hitting the other half of the bracket attached to frame. If I knew how to post a picture I would. Doug
I have the coil springs in the front, but at this point I am open to any suggestions of what is causing this banging noise. It is very frustrating after 3000 miles of travel and spending $350 at a chassis shop that noise is still there.
Ava
Explorer
Jul 04, 2015
Hi Gjac , the chassis is Oshkosh with leaf springs on front axle. The bracket that I moved to a new positioning pivots slightly from front to back as suspension moves and was hitting the other half of the bracket attached to frame. If I knew how to post a picture I would. Doug
Gjac
Explorer III
Jun 29, 2015
Ava wrote:
Hi, my 94 Bounder had a banging up front which I finally fixed. The big sway bar is attached to a hanging bracket on each side that swings slightly as the suspension moves up and down. The bracket was hitting the frame. There were some factory holes to mount the brackets one hole lower to clear the frame and barely changed the angle of the sway bar which solved my issue. Probably not your issue but maybe helpful for someone else. Cheers Doug
Doug what chassis did you have. When I looked at my P30 chassis the sway bar is attached to the AArm and frame the upper supports are riveted on. Are you saying the upper bracket was loose and banging into the frame?
Ava
Explorer
Jun 29, 2015
Hi, my 94 Bounder had a banging up front which I finally fixed. The big sway bar is attached to a hanging bracket on each side that swings slightly as the suspension moves up and down. The bracket was hitting the frame. There were some factory holes to mount the brackets one hole lower to clear the frame and barely changed the angle of the sway bar which solved my issue. Probably not your issue but maybe helpful for someone else. Cheers Doug
Gjac
Explorer III
Jun 21, 2015
After driving about 300 miles the banging noise is back. This is really discouraging after spending $330 on the front end. I figured they had to drop the lower A arm to reseat the coil spring but I don't see any evidence of that.The grease is still in place around the nuts. So far this trip it started with the front end noise,then the WH went out now I can't get my generator to idle correctly. These things are easier to fix when home than on the road.
Gjac
Explorer III
Jun 20, 2015
rgatijnet1 wrote:
Gjac wrote:
Took the MH in to Rapid tire in Rapid City SD. Rapid Chevy could not look at it for a week. They said the banging was caused by the HD coil spring not seated in its containment area. I can,t see how this didn't cause a problem before now or how a pot hole could unseat the spring, but after driving several hundred miles the banging has gone away.

Don't you hate it when a problem goes away without finding the cause? Some HD springs sit on a plastic isolator pad to minimize noise. Perhaps this pad has shifted or maybe you can compare the right and left sides and see if anything is missing/different. Hopefully the noise will not come back.
I learned that cars have this plastic/rubber but the trucks or MH do not , they way it was described to me is that the top part of the spring is suppose to sit in a boss and was not so it would bang when the control arm moved. I thought I was hearing a spring type noise that is why I thought it was the steer safe. Just glad it is gone now on to my next problem my generator.
rgatijnet1
Explorer III
Jun 20, 2015
Gjac wrote:
Took the MH in to Rapid tire in Rapid City SD. Rapid Chevy could not look at it for a week. They said the banging was caused by the HD coil spring not seated in its containment area. I can,t see how this didn't cause a problem before now or how a pot hole could unseat the spring, but after driving several hundred miles the banging has gone away.

Don't you hate it when a problem goes away without finding the cause? Some HD springs sit on a plastic isolator pad to minimize noise. Perhaps this pad has shifted or maybe you can compare the right and left sides and see if anything is missing/different. Hopefully the noise will not come back.
Gjac
Explorer III
Jun 20, 2015
Took the MH in to Rapid tire in Rapid City SD. Rapid Chevy could not look at it for a week. They said the banging was caused by the HD coil spring not seated in its containment area. I can,t see how this didn't cause a problem before now or how a pot hole could unseat the spring, but after driving several hundred miles the banging has gone away.

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Intermittent front end banging on the left side

34 Replies

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