Clunk / Bang From Front End - During Reverse

[MardyDelica]

I guess you guys have to check the rear drive shaft u-joint, usually this
is the one that does give up, i see drive shaft broke, pls try to check your rear driveshaft U-joint o.k.
i have the u-joint in stock if needed
cheers; Hope this help:

[jrman]

Hey Mardy,
Tks for the suggestion. I've been concerned about the U-joints in general considering the age and will likely add them to the list for change out soon. I'm treating the deli like a pulp mill and doing my best to complete "predictive maintenance". However, for this specific noise - it's definitely coming from the front end, and on mine - most likely the passenger side and only when reversing during parallel parking.....very specific.
TTYS.

[pedro]

I also have a clunck noise but mine is from the back. Mardy, How do you check the u joint on the back drive shaft??? easy or need the remove part??? Thanx for the help. Pierre

[MardyDelica]

hi, its easy put the gear in neutral go under the car, & check if there is a play on the shaft, if there is time to change, another way is ask help from somebody look under the car & the other guy shift the gear in reverse & then you can here where the clunk coming.
just be careful doing it, need good communication of doing it.
you dont want to have any problem o.k.
Cheers;

[jrman]

Ok - bringing this zombie post back to life. Spent a good part of today (good weather in Vancouver) on the creeper under Exceedus trying to figure out where in heck that clunking noise is coming from. Someone said it could be the subframe - but I checked the bolts and they seem good. I'm sort of leaning to the upper ball joint on the passenger side (noise is always passenger side it seems). Something is binding. I went online and noted Bruce (Mystery Machine) post about the bump stop - I saw that I had lots of clearance even after jacking up the front end - but that was on the bottom bump stop - the top one was very tight to the upper control arm. I took off the recommended amount of rubber with a drywall saw - took her for a spin just on the local road - and clearly there is an improvement in how she handles speedbumps (ie, allowing the suspension more travel both directions) - fortunately we have lots of traffic calming bumps to test this out on. I had hoped this had solve the "banging" as well - but alas...though it does seem to have become less frequent, it is not gone altogether after a great deal of testing today. Maybe time to visit a suspension expert. Appreciate any suggestions.

[jessef]

Positive it's not your balljoint (passenger) ?

[jrman]

Could very well be.
Some (including Mdrive) have suggested its the control arm bushing which would also make sense.
The noise was there before I cranked the T-Bars, but it's certainly more common now. It's still very specific to either a reversing turn (ie like parallel parking for example), or a strong lateral force when moving forward (like entering a steep driveway with the wheels well turned). I can live with it for now - really doesn't happen that often, but I'm going to visit a professional eventually and will post the findings when done.

[monstabishi]

check the lower suspension arm fulcrum bolt for adjusting the camber,the nut has a tendency to work loose and it needs to be really tight,make sure you hold the bolt as you torque the nut otherwise you will put your camber out,this solved the front end clunk on my Deli and it's never clunked since............good luck.



Mick.

[jrman]

A-Arm bushing on passenger side clearly degraded - needed replacement. Bushing from RMI didn't fit sadly - RJD in nvan got entire A-Arm assembly from parted out Deli at CC-Auto. Installed today. Good news - subtle clunking noise from take off at red light now removed. Bad news - the major clunking when steering wheel at lock (ie, parallel parking) still very present - hell, maybe worse!....RJD guys warned me that A-Arm bushing / A-Arm replacement may not fix this, but I'm eliminating the potential problems one by one till my bank account is empty...!
Any suggestions appreciated. Really tired of this problem.....starting to feel like "why me"????
Peace to deli lovers!

[EricN]

Dont feel bad, mine is getting to the point where it is doing it just turning now. When it finally lets go, it will be easy to see what the problem is.

[Schwa]

Someone said it could be the subframe - but I checked the bolts and they seem good.

Mine seemed good - I would have never suspected they were loose, and I wouldn't describe them as being loose at all - just not torqued up to specs, I would say... If you haven't cranked the subframe bolts don't write them off as the possible source of the noise. Cranking mine got rid of the clunk completely and it hasn't come back at all since doing that.

[jrman]

Guess I wasn't strong enough to fix this on my own.
Nathan at RJD took out all 8 front subframe bolts - put on some neverseize - and cranked them back in with the biggest bar he could find and voila.
No more clunking up front.

Found a few more things during this process that doesn't make me happy including a bit of coolant (can't find the source), a bit of oil (I think oil pan gasket and from where the filler tube hits the pan), a leaking axle seal (replaced by RJD but leaking again), and a leaky IP (which is now rebuilt through Mardy and running beautifully thus far). So all it all - it's been a bit of a bummer month....but hey - looking on the bright side, the clunk is gone!!!!!