Strange noises

[EDankievitch]

I’m stumped. My 2013 Ram with the 69RFE transmission has developed a strange intermittent noise. Come to a stop and just as the truck stops moving I get a noise like the anti lock breaks have activated. But they haven’t. Bounce the truck over a speed table, sleeping policeman, I get the same noise. I’ve gone through the steering, the front end. Had found a shock that was binding. But that’s not it. I remember reading something about a failing pressure regulator in the transmission?
Sometimes the noise is more a thump other times it’s a groan . The truck drives and steers normal. It don’t sound or feel good and I can’t isolate it. So I write here for thoughts that I’ve missed.

 

[gsbrockman]

Any chance it’s the slip yoke in the driveshaft? Not sure if your verbalization describes the issue I had exactly, but when I removed the driveshaft and put some transmission fluid on it, my “binding” went away.

 

[EDankievitch]

I was thinking about pulling the drive shaft and checking the U joints . I’ve got over 100k miles on them

 

[EDankievitch]

Just an update it ended up being the drivers side shock. I had installed Bilstein’s as I had really good service out of the set I had installed on my 2005 well over 150k miles on the min that truck and they were as good as the day I had installed them. Flash forward I have now had two fail on my 2013 at only 30k miles. Bilstein has made good on them. It’s nice to know that there is a company that really does honor their warranty.
The first shock started binding and would make a groaning noise. The 2nd one makes a very loud banging/ clunking noise. It’ll cause the coil spring to resonate which really threw me off as to what was going on. I finally figured it out by removing the shock. The noise went away. Was a strange test drive with out the shock in place I don’t recommend it. But it proved my point that the shock is in fact bad.

 

[kthaxton]

I finally figured it out by removing the shock. The noise went away. Was a strange test drive with out the shock in place I don’t recommend it. But it proved my point that the shock is in fact bad.

I once removed my rear shocks on my old Ramcharger and drove it to my brother's house to weld in new, high clearance mounts. That was scary, shocks are our friends!

 

[AH64ID]

I once removed my rear shocks on my old Ramcharger and drove it to my brother's house to weld in new, high clearance mounts. That was scary, shocks are our friends!

I did a rear leaf swap on a 95 4Runner and the shocks didn't show up in time. I drove it across town ONCE and then waited for the shocks. Needless to say I had previously unaware at just how much shocks do.

 

[EDankievitch]

The saga continues... While my strange noises ended after I replaced the other shock. I had found one shock was binding, the other would not extend fully. Stopping short almost a full 1.5" short of where the new one would extend.
This past Friday my truck developed the dreaded "Death Wobble" . I made the choice to go after the control arms even though they felt tight. Rock auto once again came through with the best prices for my parts. I went with Moog brand for the control arms, $225 for the full set with expedited shipping was way better than the $995 that I saw a set of Senergy control arms listed for. I may regret this choice. Only time will tell.
Upon removal I found the rubber bushings torn free from the steel sleeve. At first I thought this would be normal but the more I looked the more damage I found to the bushings. As it turns out the steel sleeve is not meant to be free to rotate in the rubber. The rubber is not a bearing. In fact once it tears free it rapidly destroys it self. Think about how far the control arm actually moves. It might move 3-5" at the axle but that is only a few degrees at the mounting point. Just enough for the rubber bushing to flex and absorb the rotation and not tear. That is also how they get away with out ever needing lube. In fact Lube would cause the bushing to fail sooner as it would attack the rubber bushing.
That said I can't believe how tight my truck now feels. It's a new truck again. I'm now planning on replacing the track bar as it's the same age as the control arms.
I'm wondering how many of our trucks have failed control arm bushings that "feel good" as my set did.
Biggest pain on the whole job was the upper passenger side control arm. The exhaust needs to be removed , disconnected pushed up out of the way for the bolt to be able to be removed.
Live and learn something new every day, The day you stop learning that's the day you stop living life to the fullest.
Hope this info helps.

 

[AH64ID]

How many miles are on the truck?

 

[EDankievitch]

Just a few hundred shy of 110,000 . My village installed these "Speed Tables" on the two roads I take to get to and from work. I blame them for excessive wear on these bushings. If you hit the Speed Table at 45 or faster you don't even know they are there....Lol

 

[EDankievitch]

A bit more update... I now have completely rebuilt my front end. Except for the ball joints tyhey were replaced back at 65,000 miles with a set of XRF and so far they are holding up. I replaced the track bar and the drag link and cross over bar and tie rod ends. When I removed the track bar I found the bushings completely torn. Way worse than the control arms were. While the rubber was there it was torn and chunks were missing. Next the steering linkage. All I can say is wow it's never felt so tight or good. I went with all Moog parts from Rock auto. Hey the price was fair. Guess time will tell how long it all lasts. Since the truck was new it always had a strange clunking feeling in the steering wheel when making a turn. I could never find what it was. Someone on here even sent me a link to a video showing the cab floor oil canning. Well that clunk is now gone. The truck steers good, better than ever. I feel that I have way more control than before. No slop that I had gotten use to. And my Death wobble is gone.
I should add that all the parts I replaced felt tight in the truck. even when using a pinch bar they felt good. But every rubber bushing was shot.

 

[sag2]

That is why you should always torque the bolts on any bushing AFTER you have the vehicle sitting at normal ride height, because bushings are not bearings.