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I ghost on this board for the most part. A great resource for tips, tricks, and common problems. So I figure I put this nugget of info out there.
I had the mysterious front end clunk and couldn't find anything loose on the suspension components. I had 140k (I was deployed a lot so my mileage is very low) on my 06 DC so I decided to rebuild the front end. I used all OEM Toyota parts for the ball joints, bearings, and tie rods based on information gathered here. Bilstein shocks. Moog for the control arms (because I couldn't swallow the Toyota price).
I found two sources of the clunk. One was the driver side lower shock mount. Bolt was seized inside the metal bushing on the shock. Would not break free with an impact or breaker bar no matter how much heat or penetrate was used. Saw blade removed it. The other source of the clunk was the eccentric cams on the passenger side lower control arm. Both of the cams were rusted solid inside the bushings. Used multiple Bosch and Milwaukee heavy metal blades to cut these out. Some really hard metal that eats up blades. If you need to cut these out make sure you have at least a half dozen heavy metal blades on hand or a way to acquire more while you got the front end on jack stands.
My suggestion for everyone whether you have the clunk or not...Crawl under your truck and see if you can turn the shock bolts. Just put a wrench on the bolt end and see if it turns in either direction to tell if it is seized or not. It would be wise to take the time and remove the bolt and slather it and the metal bushing with some grease or anti-seize to prevent what happened to me. Same thing on the control arms. Mark your cam positions clearly and take a pic for reference. Then loosen the nuts and use a wrench to turn the cam bolt. You won't be able to remove the cams unless you drop the sway bar and pull the steering rack back. But the next best thing is to spray some of your favorite lube up into the space between the cam and the bushing.
I hope this helps some folks out there keep their ride running good and worry free.
BTW...One other nugget. Advance Auto price matches all major retailers, even online like Rock Auto or Shock Warehouse. Just use their website and the chat function there. They beat everyone's prices substantially and either delivered the parts to my house or I could pick them up in store. Best part is that you can do returns locally if it turns out you don't need something or you change your mind.
I had the mysterious front end clunk and couldn't find anything loose on the suspension components. I had 140k (I was deployed a lot so my mileage is very low) on my 06 DC so I decided to rebuild the front end. I used all OEM Toyota parts for the ball joints, bearings, and tie rods based on information gathered here. Bilstein shocks. Moog for the control arms (because I couldn't swallow the Toyota price).
I found two sources of the clunk. One was the driver side lower shock mount. Bolt was seized inside the metal bushing on the shock. Would not break free with an impact or breaker bar no matter how much heat or penetrate was used. Saw blade removed it. The other source of the clunk was the eccentric cams on the passenger side lower control arm. Both of the cams were rusted solid inside the bushings. Used multiple Bosch and Milwaukee heavy metal blades to cut these out. Some really hard metal that eats up blades. If you need to cut these out make sure you have at least a half dozen heavy metal blades on hand or a way to acquire more while you got the front end on jack stands.
My suggestion for everyone whether you have the clunk or not...Crawl under your truck and see if you can turn the shock bolts. Just put a wrench on the bolt end and see if it turns in either direction to tell if it is seized or not. It would be wise to take the time and remove the bolt and slather it and the metal bushing with some grease or anti-seize to prevent what happened to me. Same thing on the control arms. Mark your cam positions clearly and take a pic for reference. Then loosen the nuts and use a wrench to turn the cam bolt. You won't be able to remove the cams unless you drop the sway bar and pull the steering rack back. But the next best thing is to spray some of your favorite lube up into the space between the cam and the bushing.
I hope this helps some folks out there keep their ride running good and worry free.
BTW...One other nugget. Advance Auto price matches all major retailers, even online like Rock Auto or Shock Warehouse. Just use their website and the chat function there. They beat everyone's prices substantially and either delivered the parts to my house or I could pick them up in store. Best part is that you can do returns locally if it turns out you don't need something or you change your mind.
