2005 Ford F150 - Very loud 'clunk' when turning left - with videos

Maintenance/Repairs
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1

Hey guys,
I have a very strange noise that I am trying to figure out. I got a 2005 F150 FX4, 5.4 litre engine with about 150,000kms on it - when I am turning left and start to straighten out the wheels (so start turning back right) I get a sometimes VERY loud clunk / pop / bang noise coming from somewhere. Pretty sure it is the front end steering / suspension area and would assume so as it is steering related but can’t be certain. It is a lot louder / happens more often when I am facing downhill and turning left, so the front end is loaded with weight.

I have had it checked by 2 mechanics, first guy told me the lower ball joints and right outer tie rod need replacing, which I know they do, but he said he is not sure that that would cause the noise as he has not heard that sound coming from ball joints before (I took him for a ride to show him the noise)

Second mechanic said same, lower ball joints, right outer tie rod, but also found that the sway bar is lose which he showed me, and also there is quite a bit of play between the front 4wd axles and hubs, so you can kinda pull the axles in and out a bit more than expected, but was not sure if that is related. He also said he still is not sure where the noise would be coming from based on that list, advised me to fix the ball joints and tie rod more for safety (which I need to do) but he was not particularly confident that that would get rid of the clunk, but it may.

The truck is pretty old and high mileage so just want to keep her running at the moment and don’t want to sink $1000s into her especially if the disconcerting noise may not get fixed!

I mounted a gopro and light to take at look a the lower ball joints and outer tie rods on each side and you can see an edit of that here. You can hear the clunk 3 times with the camera mounted on the driver side then 3 times on the right of the truck. All the clunks happen when I have turned left and sometimes straightening out to the right or have already straightened out. Sometimes there can be a delay after getting the wheel straight and then the noise happening after I go over a small bump or something:

I was expecting / hoping to see some movement in the lower ball joints when you hear the clunks but I don’t see anything, same with tie rods. The noise is really pretty loud sometimes and you can feel it through the steering wheel so it feels like something that is taking load and releasing, which makes me think it is unlikely the sway bar or tie rods, most likely the lower ball joints, but both mechanics said they’d not heard ball joints make that noise before, and my gopro vid shows no movement so I am far from confident in that. So I’m a little lost about where the noise could be coming from. Anyone have any ideas??

Here it is recorded from out the window with me driving down to my parkade where it makes the sound every time as it is downhill left turns. You can hear the clunk / bang pretty well at around 7 seconds in. It gets louder than that sometimes too, like someone hitting the truck with a hammer!

Also the same noise, at least I think it is the same, happens when I slowly mount a curb with the front right wheel and then drive off it. The clunk happens as I slowly drive off the curb and back onto the road. Doesn’t do it on the driver side.

Thanks for any advice in advance!

2

Check for a broken strut coil spring. the assembly turns when you turn your wheel.

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Your repair list is clearly spelled out. Stop worrying about the noise and fix the things you KNOW are worn out.

Fix what will kill you and ignore what just annoys you.

If it fixes the noise, yippee, done. If it doesn’t worry about it after.

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1 Like
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Good ideas above. If my own 50 year old ford 4WD truck made that sort of noise I’d be looking at the free-wheeling hub mechanism first. One wheel might be free wheeling while the other isn’t, etc. Broken spring or spring mount would be my second guess. Other suspension system problem possible, but seems unlikely they’d make such a loud racket.

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Hey guys,
I think I may have found the culprit. I was underneath inspecting the CV joints and suspension to see if there was any play and found that one side of the sway bar links is totally disconnected:

The truck is jacked up by the chassis in the video which allows the joint to totally disconnect as you can see, as the suspension is uncompressed. When the truck is back on the ground the joint can sit in the socket making it look like it is properly connected. So when I am turning and the suspension is uncompressing etc I think that the ball will lift out of the socket a bit and then I am hearing it clunk back in. I am hoping this is what is causing the clunk, it kinda makes sense.

When the second mechanic inspected the truck he did mention about worn sway bar bushings and showed me a bit of play but nothing like this. I am pretty sure he had it lifted by the control arm to test the ball joints too so that makes sense as the suspension is compressed like that.

There is a very easy way to check if this is causing the noise - disconnect the hanging piece totally, but want to check if this would be ‘dangerous’ to do for a very short drive back into my parkade where the clunk always happens? Or maybe it is best to disconnect both sides of the sway bar so that it is balanced out? Either way I will get this fixed, pretty sure I can do this myself easily enough.

I did also look at the shocks as suggested above, inspected the coils and saw no cracks, pulled them around while jacked up and felt no play, top mounts seem solid to my untrained eye. Also tested CV joints for play as well as checked the CV joint wheel end bolts going through the hub which seem tight. There was a bit of lateral play in both CV joints coming from the inside, but I see no movement on the wheel side. Here is a vid of that:

Does that amount of play seem normal enough?

Hope to be able to test without the broken sway bar joint pretty soon to see if the noise is gone so would be great to hear some opinions if that is ‘safe’ to do for a very short distance.

Cheers

7

It is not dangerous to drive back. you have been driving it with it already broken. there is always a little play in the axel where it goes in by the tranny. there is a c-clip around the axel on that end that holds it in