Hey guys recently my Runner has began to make some clunking sounds when I go over small bumps or potholes. The suspension is fairly new for I changed the shocks and controls arms on it about 3 years ago for OEM ones straight from Toyota. It's the XREAS suspension. This sound is strange and I hope to fix it. Already changed out the sway bar bushings last week for Moog ones. The old ones actually seemed fine though and it did not fix my problem. I don't notice the clunking over large bumps. It's mostly coming from the driver side front. And a little on the passenger side front. Any ideas on what to do? It's an 03 Sport.
Thunk/clunking over small bumps?
- Thread starter T4R03
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Seymore Butts
New member
Any chance it could be a loose skid plate? See if those small bolts need to be turned in a little.
AThomas0312
New member
we had the same issue with an 03 Sport with x-reas. I have recently installed a 3 inch Bilstein lift and removed the x-reas completely, and we no longer have a bump/thump. Is your x-reas system good? it could possibly be shot....
kingofthehill
New member
I had a similar issue. Check your LCA bolts. Mine ended up being loose and torquing them down fixed the issue.
Make sure the sway bar links are tight.
I'll check tomorrow. I'll be underneath the car anyway because I'm replacing my radiator. And no I doubt the shocks are shot because I replaced them about 3 years ago for the same XREAS factory shocks straight from the Toyota dealer. The truck was driving fantastic about three weeks ago until I went on a road trip to Michigan which is about 3-4 hours from Illinois. Everything seems to be in place so I'll try and see if some tightening helps.
tmarton05
New member
Check upper control arm and lower control ball joints also could be sway bar bushings. Just did all of these on my ‘06 got rid of all of my front end clunking and made a world of difference in driving responsiveness. Feels like a new truck
ScooterMD
New member
What did you find?
earthrealm
Senior Member
what caused the lateral play?. you changed out the cv axle and sound stopped?
I have to wonder if the sway bar end link ball/socket joint has developed a slight play? This is hard to replicate manually with your hand but can show up as clunk when you go over bumps.
I was able to replicate mine buy driving over speed bumps but only one side of the vehicle at a time. When both sides hit the speed bumps, I didn't always get the clunks. It helps to have speed bumps that have an opening in the middle (for rain water I guess), near the center of the road so that you can control which side of your vehicle is hitting the bumps.
tmarton05
New member
End links are pretty easy to remove and replace. You should be able to check the boots on the end links for tears before replacing them and if they look good I doubt it is the end links
Mine was similar... couldn’t find anything loose by hand. Had a shop putting on my fj coils check it out, and after some looking, they determined it was the sway bar end links (worn bushings). They said it isn’t something you can usually feel by hand, but when they gave it a dead blow, there was the noise. New bushings and all is quiet. Mine is a 4x4 v6 with 134K.
