Front end clunk only in reverse

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Clunk is still present, but doesn't do it every time I back up. It is intermittent. It happens when I back up while turning left, but the clunk is not there every single time.

Truck is a manual transmission so I don't have my foot on the brake when backing up. The clunk noise happens as soon as I have turned the wheel to make the truck begin its turn to the left. Does not happen when going straight back and does not happen at all when going forward.

I have none of the whine or vibration symptoms of a bad u-joint. The noise does not happen as soon as I put it in gear, as a bad u-joint would either. Steering is nice and tight, there is no slop, looseness or wandering/drifting or vibration in the steering. But the noise is definitely coming from the front of the truck.

I am stumped. I guess at 130,000 miles there are bound to be some noises or other minor problems but I don't know what is causing this one.

Any further suggestions or info are appreciated. Thanks for the help.
 
Originally Posted By: Jimmy9190
Clunk is still present, but doesn't do it every time I back up. It is intermittent. It happens when I back up while turning left, but the clunk is not there every single time.

I have none of the whine or vibration symptoms of a bad u-joint. The noise does not happen as soon as I put it in gear, as a bad u-joint would either. Steering is nice and tight, there is no slop, looseness or wandering/drifting or vibration in the steering. But the noise is definitely coming from the front of the truck.

Any further suggestions or info are appreciated. Thanks for the help.


From reading through this thread you should seriously check the U-joints. I had all the symptoms you are saying (clunking at low speeds turning, when backing up, etc.) in my old '95 Mazda B4000. No whinning or anything, either.

I took it to the family mechanic, and he did a typical front end inspection and found nothing. So I went on my way. Problem persisted, so I took it to another one about a year later. Same result.

Last spring it locked up on me, made a huge whinning sound then a huge clunk. Scared the [censored] out of me. It did this twice in a week. I took it to a different mechanic and in 5 minutes he found that the U-joints were all rusted. Cost about $500 to replace them (almost all labor because it is a big job on that vehicle), but the problem was festering for at least two years and it fixed the problem.

Moral of the story: check your U-joints. I also had major problems with the four wheel drive system because of them (didn't fully engage, jitteriness, etc.). If you have any of that, that might also be another sign.
 
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Also, this is not a repetitive clunk-clunk-clunk type noise. It only happens once and that is when I back up and turn at the same time, and it ususally only happens after the truck sits for a few hours or overnight. It clunked/popped one time this morning backing out of my driveway and turning right to back out into the street.

Thanks for any help.
 
Is it repeatable - does it happen every time you put the truck in reverse & turn after sitting for a few hours?

I would reckon it's a strut bearing / mount or control arm / swaybar bushing on its way out. Try spraying one each evening with silicone lubricant and see if the noise goes away the next morning.
 
I suspect the brakes like mechtech2 and Gary have suggested. They will often make a single 'clunk' when first applied. With the front wheel jacked up and on stands, spin the wheel and get someone to apply the brakes to listen for the clunk. You may need to post this on a Dakota forum where it could be a common complaint with that model.
 
Clunk is still present, but doesn't do it every time I back up. It is intermittent. It happens when I back up while turning left or right, but the clunk is not there every single time.

Noise does not happen when I apply the brake. All brake hardware is in great shape, the calipers, pads and rotors are all less than 6 months old and all bolts and nuts are tight, caliper grease on the slide pins and anti-squeal spray on the pads.

When I begin to back up everything is fine, soon as I move in reverse about 10 feet I hear a solid but light clunk or pop type noise that seems to be located somewhere in the front end of my truck. It is not a repetitive clunk-clunk-clunk type noise. It only happens once and that is when I back up and turn at the same time. Noise is not present when I move forward and there is no looseness, pulling, rattles or any other problems with the steering.

I already replaced the sway bar bushings 2 days ago and thought the noise was fixed but it came back last night and was also present this morning when I left for work.

I already posted about it in the Second Generation Dakota section on www.dodgeforum.com. I got no responses at all there, but traffic there is very slow.

I am going to try spraying all the control arm bushings with silicone. That is a good idea and a good way identify and/or isolate the source of the noise. Thanks for the tip.

Thanks for the help here.
 
Originally Posted By: Jimmy9190
Clunk is still present, but doesn't do it every time I back up. It is intermittent. It happens when I back up while turning left or right, but the clunk is not there every single time.

Noise does not happen when I apply the brake.

When I begin to back up everything is fine, soon as I move in reverse about 10 feet I hear a solid but light clunk or pop type noise that seems to be located somewhere in the front end of my truck. It is not a repetitive clunk-clunk-clunk type noise. It only happens once and that is when I back up and turn at the same time. Noise is not present when I move forward and there is no looseness, pulling, rattles or any other problems with the steering.




My symptoms were similar for a couple years until the third mechanic finally found the problem after they got really bad. Check the U-joints.
 
Thanks, will do. I will get under the truck tonight and get a really good look at the U-joints. With 130,000 miles I should just replace them anyway if I can figure out a way to hammer them out without a vise. I have a vise but it is a small one, probably not big enough to use in knocking the bearing caps out of the old U-joints.

Thanks again for the help here.
 
People have made good suggestions, but here's an odd one that I've had happen (thought not on a Dakota): engine mount. It would only "pop" just as I started to back up (or so I thought) and I could have sworn it was from the suspension. But it turned out that I could make it pop any time by putting it in reverse, holding the brakes, and bringing the revs up against the torque convertor to transfer stress from the left to right engine mounts. It just so happened that backing out of a parking space loaded it just enough to pop also.

Other things to watch are those upper balljoints. That was a bit of a weak spot in the Dakota/Durango 2wd front end around that time frame.
 
I also agree that it is the engine mount. I had similar clunk on my mom's corolla at one point that I ignored, and when we replaced the engine mount for other symptoms this goes away.
 
Engine mount was in my initial response, and the more I think of it the more I would have a long hard look at them. You should check the tranny mount as well.
 
I replaced both lower ball joints a few months ago. I tried my best to check the upper ball joints this past Saturday, I pushed and pried on them with a pry bar and did not detect any movement in either one. Now the funny thing is this, and I looked at it for a long time on Saturday-the boot on the upper ball joint on the driver's side looked like it was compressed more than the one on the passenger's side. It also had some grease on the outer surface of the boot, I figured somehow some grease must have slung off the lower up onto the upper ball joint. But now that I remember it, there was no grease elsewhere around that part of the steering knuckle. And the grease looked like it was new, it didn't look black or smell bad like what would have come from the OE factory upper ball joint. And I saw no tears or rips in the upper ball joint boot either. So I thought the upper ball joint was OK. Now I think I may have been wrong.

I was also in an accident on March 29th, and it just so happens the guy who hit me hit my truck in the front left corner. It was over $4,000.00 in damage and I just wonder if the impact didn't damage that ball joint too. The clunk noise seems to be coming from the front area of the truck somewhere, and it sounds like it might be in the left front wheel area.

The clunk noise is only present when I turn the wheels and am moving in reverse. If I back up in a straight line, there is no noise. And the pop-clunk noise only happens once, it's not a repetitive clunk-clunk-clunk noise. Going forward there is no noise either. There are no steering problems like you might find with a bad ball joint, which is another reason I thought the OEM upper ball joint was OK. The lowers take the brunt of the abuse anyway.

I checked all the engine mounts, they are all in great shape, no rips or tears anywhere. The rubber is hardly even discolored and they look like new. The transmission mounts are OK too. Those things I am pretty sure are OK.

I am starting to think this noise might be from the upper ball joints, at least the one on the driver's side. Has anyone else had a strange problem like this with a bad ball joint but the steering appeared to be OK?

I didn't get home in time tonight to look at the U-joints but again on those, I have none of the whine or vibration problems that are commonly associated with a failing U-joint. If it was the U-joint I would be glad though because they are a lot cheaper than new upper ball joints. At least the uppers are easier to get to and work on than the lowers were, and the uppers only have 3 rivets to drill through.

Thanks everybody for all the help and ideas here. I am going to keep after this until I find out what is wrong and fix it. If anyone has any ball joint diagnosis info I am all ears.
 
Originally Posted By: Jimmy9190
Has anyone else had a strange problem like this with a bad ball joint but the steering appeared to be OK?



Just to answer that one question... I have had upper ball joints that seemed perfectly fine on the vehicle- couldn't find any play with pry-bar, no noticeable steering weirdness, etc. But when I did a complete front-end rebuild and replaced them "just because I was that far in there," they were COMPLETELY loose and sloppy when I got them out of the upper control arm. No surprise, the steering also tightened up and felt TONS better too, even though it seemed OK before. IMO it can be very hard to really find looseness when the joints are in the vehicle, just due to the weight of the steering knuckles and other parts- even when you jack it up to unload the suspension.
 
When he was checking the ball joints ..didn't the OP say that he jacked it up by the lower control arm (shocks)? Heck, it's been so long. Isn't that an upper loaded ball joint ..requiring frame jacking? I can figure it when looking at it, but it's been so long since I actually had to check them that I'm having a hard time seeing it in my head (at the moment anyway - pain meds
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) Maybe I have it backwards at the moment.
 
Thanks for the replies. I had the truck jacked up and resting on the frame on jack stands with the rear wheels on the ground and chocked.

I will still take a really good look at the u-joints but the more I think about this and the more I read about it, the more I believe the upper ball joints are shot. Especially the left one, the boot on it was just too deformed for there not to be some kind of problem with it. And the noise sometimes seems to come from the left, sometimes more to the right and other times seems to come from both sides at the same time.

I can get a set of Duralast upper ball joints for about $28.00 each. I know some here may say not to use Duralast and preach Moog parts, but I have a good set of TRW's on the lowers already and the lower ball joints take a great majority of the abuse anyway. I think the Duralast parts will do fine. Moog may be the best you can buy, but they are just not in my budget right now. Besides, from everything I can find on the Internet, the Duralast parts are made by TRW anyway. They are greaseable and they have a lifetime warranty.

There were no steering problems or front end noises then when I replaced my lower ball joints either. I found out those were bad when the tire shop could not get a correct alignment done on my truck. They showed me the movement and play in the lowers while it was on the alignment machine. Since I have already replaced the lower ball joints, I have a very good idea of what to expect and how to go about replacing the uppers. It will still be a lot of work but once I do the job it won't be too much trouble if I have to do it again for a warranty exchange.
 
Originally Posted By: Jimmy9190
It will still be a lot of work but once I do the job it won't be too much trouble if I have to do it again for a warranty exchange.


Hope you don't have to! If they can be greased you should be fine probably for as long as you have the truck.
 
Thanks. It is a royal pain to replace the ball joints on my truck, they are riveted on to the control arms. When I did the lowers I figured out that it was easiest to grind off the rivet heads and then I used my cobalt drill bit set and kept drilling larger holes in succession through the rivet body until I got it drilled out. Then the new ball joints just bolt in. I think it will be easier to do the uppers since they look like they are easier to get to both the top and bottom sides of the rivets. I may even be able to get a better shot at the rivets on the upper ball joints with my chisel and hammer, because they are up higher and out of the way of the hub and spindle.
 
Here's a thought Jimmy. You were in an accident a few months back, $4000 damage. I'd bring the car to the body shop that did the repair, and have them check it over. A buddy had a similar situation recently. His Kia Sportage was hit about 6 months ago, and he's been complaining about it drifting toward the right. They aligned it 3 times, and are now going to be replacing some front end parts that should have been done at the time of the initial repair. Long story short, talk to the body shop that did the repair, especially if they got paid from your insurance company. Better yet, if your insurance co paid for the repair contact them!
 
No, I would rather just fix it myself. There is just too much red tape and way too much hassle involved with trying to get the at-fault driver's insurance to take care of it. It has been almost 3 months since the wreck now and I doubt very seriously I could prove the wreck damaged the ball joints.

I have already tried and failed to get the at-fault driver's insurance to pay me for the broken leak detection pump and new vacuum lines it needed when the truck threw a P0441 emissions code a few days after I got it back from the body shop. His insurance refused to reimburse my $88.00 because their adjuster had not seen the problem first. I would much rather just fix my truck myself.
 
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