I've had a wierd rattle coming from my front end for about 2 weeks now, and I can't figure out where the hell its coming from. Its metal on metal...pretty sure its coming from my front driver side area. It only occurs when I hit a large bump in the road, but when I hit the brakes, and hit a bump hard, I don't hear anything. I jacked up the truck and checked the wheel bearing with the wheel on still...seemed fine. Popped the wheel off, the brake rotor and caliper is secure. Nothing seems lose on the suspension from what I can see. The only thing I noticed that was odd...was the CV axle...When I spin it fowards or reverse there is about an inch of play when before it actually catches and spins in the direction I move it. Is this normal? I makes a similar sound to what I hear when I'm driving. So I put the wheel back on and tried checking it that way, but couldn't duplicate it.

Skid plates, sway bar, steering rack and everything else is tight from what I can see. Anyone have any ideas? Its driving me ape ...I'm about to take it to a shop.

 

mine was comming from the hood. by the hinges, its in the metal inside (internal by hinges) of the hood, i found out by banging on the edge of the hood with my fist, it sounded like metal to metal.

 

Trust me...I've been banging, jiggling, smacking and shaking anything imaginable....with no luck....

 

Ball joints, control arm bushings, tie rods.

 

Check the cam bolts.

http://www.ultimateyota.com/index.ph...6&topic=4920.0

 

sway bar bushings?

 

Sway bar bushing are good...poly bushing I just installed about 6 months ago

 

If these moved, wouldn't it throw off the alignment?

 

I had a similiar sound and it drove me crazy. I couldn't find it for the longest time. I finally found it to be the nut on top of my strut was loose. I needed new struts so I just replaced them and the rattle went away. Just a thought...

 

And you're positive it isn't the suspension cycling, or possibly bottoming out?

 

It is the Anti-Rattle Clip/spring for the brakes. i had the same noise and could not figure it out until my uncle pointed out that it goes away when i brake. so i checked my brakes and sure enough i was missing a spring.

 

You know, now that you mention it, I had the same thing happen on my 86. Don't know why I didn't think of it...

That very well could be the issue...

 

It drove me bonkers and i was so glad when i found the problem finally.

 

It goes away when I hit the brakes, but both my anti rattle clips are there. I tore down the brakes last night too check everything out. All looked fine.

 

The suspension seems tight, from what I can check with it up on jack stands. Top strut nuts are tight, didn't see or feel anything out of the ordinary. This is driving me crazy

 

I'd bet money its the front strut assembly. What you are describing is exactly the problem I was having...drove me absolutely nuts...then the big wigs on UY told me to check the front strut assemblies and bingo.

The three bolts that get fed through the top of the tower will sometimes work themselves loose in the top plate of the strut/coil assembly. There are threads at the base of the bolts, those threads get worn which cause them not to seat properly, thus they don't tighten properly,...thus you get the rattle when you hit the bump. Its mostly likely just one bolt that is causing it. I found my bad one when I tried to take the strut assembly out, the nut got hung up on a rusty part and when I turned it the whole bolt would turn because the threads weren't grabbing...i finally cut it off with a dremel and replaced the bolts and top plate.

Hope this makes sense...give it a try..i bet you'll fix it....let me know if you have questions.

 

I'll be able to see all 3 bolts on the top plate by just removing the wheel right?

 

You can likely see them w/o removing the wheel.

 

Finally figured it out!! I haven't messed with it for over 2 weeks, then I decided to take a look at it tonight. I was looking on the autozone repair guides and I noticed that the autozone guide says to install the anti-rattle clip the opposite way of what my Haynes manual states. So I went outside and popped the wheels off, flipped the anti-rattle clips around...and Wah-laa...no more rattle....Gotta love those Haynes manuals!!