Suspension Clunk Fixed

**elcobra44** · 04-04-2009, 12:04 AM

I've had a slight clunk in my drivers side suspension for sometime was getting worse and worse over time. I pulled out the shock assembly tonight in hopes of trying to isolate the problem. There's been a lot of talk about the tension struts, sway bar links and the sway bar bushings lately, so I thought I'd take a good look at those.

I went through everything and found nothing. No worn or torn bushings, loose nuts or anything else in the wheel well until I grabbed onto the upper control arm and started yanking on it. I was able to move the thing side to side and duplicated the noise by hand.

I raised the coolant reservoir and to my surprise, I could almost turn the nut by hand off the bolt. I never figured one of the two nuts I've never turned on the suspension would end up being the issue, but it was. I tightened her up, got everything back together and went for my first clunk-free drive in a long time.

Symptoms of this were occasional clunking on bumps, applying the brakes into low speed uphill turns, and hard turns. If you've got a clunk like this, it's worth giving this a check.

Here's the location of the play I discovered:

And like I mentioned, the nut to tighten this is behind the coolant reservoir. There's also another nut on the opposite side of the shock tower. Both need to be tightened to 55 FT Pounds.

**JarZ** · 04-04-2009, 12:07 AM

Very nice Matt. Glad you found it

**elcobra44** · 04-04-2009, 12:12 AM

Me too, bro.. Best part is that it didn't cost me a dime to fix.

**thewagon** · 04-04-2009, 03:25 AM

Is this the bolt you are speaking of? Luckily, mine was tight, same with the one on the opposite side of the shock tower. Glad you found your gremlin

**Warlock** · 04-04-2009, 03:31 AM

Wow, this took you a while to find... ..

**Big Boy** · 04-04-2009, 05:15 AM

Nice find, but I think my clunk in the rear suspension somewhere. Any suggestions?

**elcobra44** · 04-04-2009, 05:46 AM

Originally Posted by thewagon

Is this the bolt you are speaking of? Luckily, mine was tight, same with the one on the opposite side of the shock tower. Glad you found your gremlin

That was the one...

Originally Posted by Warlock

Wow, this took you a while to find... ..

Maybe 5 thousand miles since I first heard it.. It use to be very rarely occurring, but it had been a lot worse lately so I really started hunting it down. I tried looking for it when I swapped out the suspension last week, but I didn't notice it till I grabbed onto the thing and twisted it on an angle.. Side to side and up and down movement didn't reveal the issue.

Originally Posted by Becker

Nice find, but I think my clunk in the rear suspension somewhere. Any suggestions?

I thought I read somewhere that Hemi31 corrected a rear clunk, but I can't find the post.. I think it was an old one and I can't remember what the issue was.

Only noise I've had from the rear was the exhaust bumping up against the underside of the tire well..

**FactoryD** · 04-04-2009, 05:46 AM

Originally Posted by Becker

Nice find, but I think my clunk in the rear suspension somewhere. Any suggestions?

See a doctor?

**carchitect** · 04-04-2009, 11:22 AM

Hell yeah! haven't you had this problem since you pretty much had the car?

**thewagon** · 04-04-2009, 11:45 AM

I'm not sure if the Chargers rear seats are capable of folding down, but putting cloth tape on the bar part of the latch cured my rear clunk sound.

Try dropping the rear seats and drive around, the noise may disappear.

Originally Posted by Becker

Nice find, but I think my clunk in the rear suspension somewhere. Any suggestions?

**elcobra44** · 04-04-2009, 12:59 PM

Originally Posted by carchitect

Hell yeah! haven't you had this problem since you pretty much had the car?

Since around 6k on the odometer, I think.. It would present itself once a drive or so, and I went through the whole ordeal with the dealership and the "can not duplicate" bs. I swapped out the springs and wheels, and it stopped for awhile, then I started noticing it happening more and more since the Columbus trip of last year.

**sound&security** · 04-04-2009, 01:17 PM

GOOD FIND matt- i just went threw my whole suspension for the same noise-will only do it when turning to the left and driving forward - than hitting the brakes i get a clunk and i thought it could be the rack but it wont do it in reverse OR IN A STRAIGHT LINE!
JUST check my and son of a gun i can unthread the nut by hand. I LOVE YOU MAN!!!!!

**liljoejoe54** · 04-07-2009, 08:21 PM

I am having the same problem, especially when I hit the brakes hard. I am going to take a look tomorrow. Is it 100% necessary to remove the coolant tank to get to the bolt?