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Rattling, annoying, sickening...

L

Lord Stanley

Hard-core CEG'er
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Oct 25, 2007
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Why the Hockey Hall of Fame of course ;)
So I have that rattling noise coming from my rear suspension... It has gotten worse since I rotated the tires the other day... I am going under there tomorrow, but what should I look for?

Can you give me a list of what all the pieces are back there too? Like there are the two large metal pieces which come from the hub and meet at a pivot point in the center of the car... Then there are the ~3/4" diameter metal rods on each side that run parallel to the length of the car... That is all I can remeber seeing, but I am sure there is more :eek:
 
Check your rear endlinks. These are the roughly 4" cylindrical rods that have a bolt that holds it to your rear swaybar. Also check your swaybar bushings for cracking.
 
Okay, my swaybar bushings do have a couple cracks through them, but I can not move the bar around at all... The end link bushings do not look look worse than the swaybar bushings, but still I can not move them to re-create the noise... Maybe the suspension needs to be moving as a whole to make the noise? I do not hear anything though when I push up and down on the trunk...
 
Suffering the rattles too

Suffering the rattles too

Did you ever find out the mystery of the rattle. I have the same thing in the driver side rear. I've even rode in the truck while my wife drove over some bumps - feeling the top of the strut. What I'd like to know is how do you know the bushings are bad. I've tugged on the end links and sway bar links, but can't discern any movement. Should I use a large screwdriver or pry-bar to invoke some movement. Other that the years of rust (it's a 85 GL beater), I should be able to change these out.

I was thinking this might be the strut, but I now think its some of the bushings. The question is which ones? I would assume the bushings are not that expensive (am I right), change them all?

thanks to all
Gonzo
 
A rattle implies metal on metal. A squeak would indicate rubber, or bushing of some kind, on metal.

If it is a rattle. Check all bolts including the strut hat bolts up top accessible thru the wheel well. Grab everything and shake vigorously, remember these parts are used to a 1000lbs of car so your 125lbs may not show results much without a lot of inertia. BE CAREFUL NOT TO RIP THE CAR OFF THE STANDS!!!!!

Squeaks are almost always bushings on the sway bar to the body, sway bar to end links, end links to cross members and cross members to body and hubs.

-Andy
 
i'm having the same exact noise coming from my passenger side rear. REALLY ANNOYING me now that its warm out cause its way more noticable with windows down. Its definatly metal on metal. I replaced struts and strut mounts and this didn't solve the problem. If I were to post pictures of the endlinks could someone tell me if they are bad and might be causing the problem?
 
worth a try

worth a try

I called my favorite auto parts store and they said it was either the sway bar bushings / links or the link bushings which are at the end of the long arms extending from the center of the car down to the "wheel".

In speaking further the counter guy said he sells quite a few of the Link Kits. I've also developed a squeak too. Counter guy sold me a can of silicone spray and said to spray down the bushings on the sway bar.

This stems from living in the Chicago area and having pot holes big enough to hide a large beach ball in. It's great, especially hitting one of these on the Edens expressway at 85mph. My other vehicle is in for alignment this weekend. My 75 Ford F150 is the vehicle to drive. It makes the holes much larger and trecherous without damage to the suspension. Glad we're keeping the auto parts stores and tires shops in business.


Gonzo:cool:
 
Thank you Andy, I will check that out when I can, I am too busy with college right now... Here are 3 more clues to my problem...
  • It is most prevelant at 55MPH... The rattle is just about constant at that speed and trails off from there in both directions...
  • The noise goes away completely when going around a right curve, so it must be coming from my drivers side right?
  • When I rotated the tires, something weird happened... I got the bolts loose and had the drivers side rear tire in the air, about 1/2 to 1 inch off the ground... When I pulled the tire off the suspension dropped like two inches though and I have no idea why :shocked:
 
BoSoxBruin said:
  • When I rotated the tires, something weird happened... I got the bolts loose and had the drivers side rear tire in the air, about 1/2 to 1 inch off the ground... When I pulled the tire off the suspension dropped like two inches though and I have no idea why :shocked:
Click to expand...


Sounds like you have a dead shock. With all 4 wheels on the ground try to rock each corner of the car up and down. A good shock wont let it come back up more than once but a bad shock with let it the car just bounce.
 
just take the endlinks off and thatll tell you if thats them.. im almost 99.9% sure thats what it is.. i just took mine off cause i had the same noise and now its quiet.. they take 2 min to take off
 
Take one off and it will disable the sway bar but still keep it up in position without needing to tie it up in place.
 
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