I've been having this very minor clunking noise when I'm going over bumps and can't seem to narrow down where it's coming from. I have new shocks (Gabriel Ultra's), new sway bar links (moog) along with new poly bushings and all the tire rod ends, balljoints, lca and uca are tight and greased. The only thing I could think of was the steering stabilizer since my friend didn't use that metal sleeve that goes into the bushing but the stabilizer doesn't move when I try to move it by hand. One other thing I thought of was I didn't grease the sway bar bushings but I would imagine that would be a squeak and not a clunk.

 

If it is by your feet, then check your trakbar at the frame. Grab it and push it up and down, you'll know if its wore out.

Another one I had is the tranny mount, rubber was toast and let the exhaust hit something. Take a pry bar and get some leverage by tranny and pry up on tranny. Does'nt take much prying to see the mount seperate if its bad.

 

Track bar is new and tight. I don't feel anything while it's clunking rides great, no vibes or anything unusual just the noise. I'll check the tranny mount.

 

I fixed that on my 98 by replacing the sway bar cushions and both links. The straps and the sway bar contact each other (clunk) if the cushions are worn. You can actually see the wear on my right side cushion strap. What I did was remove the strap and temporarily fold in some stiff cardboard. Then I took the truck for a ride and the clunk was almost gone. I traced the remaining sound to the link arm bushings. I think I paid $20.00/link and $8.00/cushion (2ea).

 

Bushing and links were replaced with moog around 1k ago. Are poly bushings noisier than rubber?

 

Oops, read over that in your starter post. If the Moog polymer cushions wrap around the sway arm tightly and are tightly captured by the straps, meaning there's no movement other than torsional, then, no, they should not be noisy. The link arm bushings should not be compressed down with the retaining nut any more than to give a visual indication of them beginning to compress. Then the retaining nut should be loosened 1/4 turn. The idea is to let the link bushings absorb the initial shock before the sway arm is torqued. This will soften (dampen) the load across the link arm and transmit less energy into the cabin.

Sounds like you covered the bases, otherwise. What you might determine is if the rear sway bar is the culprit or not.

 

Double check if your shock bolts and sway bar link bolts are tight. are you sure the noise is coming from front end suspension? To test if it's that steering stabilizer, have someone turn the wheel back and forth and see if it moves around. While you're down there, look for any other movement. Keep us updated on the results!

 

No problem, I'll check the bushing out, the links were done by a local independent shop that does good work so I doubt that's the issue but I will check. I forgot about the rear sway bar so that's definitely a possibility.

 

Shock bolts are tight the bushings are bulging as they should. Honestly the noise is so quiet it's hard to determine what it could be, just driving around, if I wasn't laid off I wouldn't even worry about it. I'm one of those guys that can't sit still so I like to wrench on the Jeep when I'm laid off, that's actually the whole reason (besides only paying $800) why I bought a xj that needed work as opposed to buying one that didn't need anything. I'll update if I find out what it is. Ps I forgot about multi quote.

 

Not the shock bushings. Talking about the sway bar link arms fitted to the sway bar on either side, specifically the top bushings. They need to remain uncompressed in order to have available compression when needed to prevent constant over-torquing (twisting) of the sway bar itself. The sway bar cushions can be tight, under the straps, but the link arm bushings need plenty of snubbing available to dampen sway bar shock-torquing. Take a look at the rear sway bar cushion and bushings. They could be the source of the slight clunk and transmitting forward.

I'm also constantly tinkering with either my 96 or 98. Simple trucks, easy and fun to work on.