Heavy clunking

[Mag]

I have a 2019 Axis 27.7 and at times, on uneven roads or sometimes leaving a parking lot back onto the main road there is a loud heavy clunking from under the front of the unit. Have checked things out but nothing seems loose. Thinking possibly when it's parked and the weight is even on both sides it may be hard to tell what it is. I'd like to figure it out. Anyone else have this issue?

[Lt Keefer]

Just a swag, but maybe one of the mudflaps?

[Mag]

No, much louder than a rubber mudflap. You also can feel it inside when you're driving. More like a shock that's lost the top nut and it freeballing along.

[ducksface]

Sway bar bushings grabbing.
They're rubber and sometimes grab.
They grease easy enough.
Take the metal caps off, silicone grease the rubber, put the cap back on.
It looks scary but there's no tension on it and it'll sit right where it's at when you pull the cap/keeper.
Should be two bolts, maybe 10mm on each one.

It's an easy try and if I'm wrong, all you have is 10 minutes involved in putting grease where grease should have been all along.

[Mag]

Recently changed the stock bars for hellwigs, did it before the swap. Btw, like the ride much more with the larger bars.

[axis earl]

Originally Posted by Mag

Recently changed the stock bars for hellwigs, did it before the swap. Btw, like the ride much more with the larger bars.

Your story sounds much like ours on our F-53 22k GVW (SOB). We just changed out the front and rear sway bars for the Roadmaster versions which are HUGE in comparison.

So, driving on one of our California highways, double lane in each direction, we hit a "bump". We heard a few thumps from the area of the floor in front of the passenger seat but there were no handling issues. So, every now and then, when making slow turns on uneven areas we would hear the thumps, sounded more metallic rather than "clunks" that come from steering and suspension related parts.

Took the rig to our local service center and finally found that one of the brace welds in the mentioned area had broken from the hard hit. It was rewelded and the thumping noise is now gone. Oh yes, a piece of wheel well splash shield had to be removed to find the broken weld. Just offering as a possibility. Yes, our California roads leave much to be desired too.

[Mag]

Appreciate the replies. I'll have to check this out more closely once the weather allows. Too cool right now to be crawling around under the unit.

[mcr1010]

Had a thump on mine also. Found that one of the links for Helwig sway bar was broken. I have had them loosen up also and will get noisy. Locktite those bad boys and or use jam nuts.

[badlands bob]

Ours (2015 ACE 30.1) was loose top end on front driver side shock. Make sure to take load off front end when checking. We got beat up on highway from N.Dak to S.Dak.
- Camping World Rapid City wouldn't look at it.
- Truck place Rapid City found nothing wrong.
- Camping World Council Bluffs, IA found the problem. Been fine since.
Good luck!

[Dilley Dilley]

Originally Posted by Mag

I have a 2019 Axis 27.7 and at times, on uneven roads or sometimes leaving a parking lot back onto the main road there is a loud heavy clunking from under the front of the unit. Have checked things out but nothing seems loose. Thinking possibly when it's parked and the weight is even on both sides it may be hard to tell what it is. I'd like to figure it out. Anyone else have this issue?

Check all the grease fittings in the front suspension. Add grease at the zirc fittings at each location. We had the same problem and found that resolved it. We also found one of the dust boots that holds the grease in was cracked and wouldn’t hold grease. Ford repaired it under warranty.

[Mag]

Originally Posted by badlands bob

Ours (2015 ACE 30.1) was loose top end on front driver side shock. Make sure to take load off front end when checking. We got beat up on highway from N.Dak to S.Dak.
- Camping World Rapid City wouldn't look at it.
- Truck place Rapid City found nothing wrong.
- Camping World Council Bluffs, IA found the problem. Been fine since.
Good luck!

Badlands bob, what did you use to arise the front end to take the load off?

[reminckv]

You may also want to look and see if the end of your sway bar is hitting the top of a leaf spring under the conditions you describe. Some people (me incl) who have performed the CHF have reported a similar noise and that is what was happening. I wouldn't think that would be an issue with yours unless the sway bar is not centered. You should see a witness mark if that's the problem.

[55Pont]

Loose shocks. Or bad shock bushings make a terrible noise. Easy fix.

[Dilley Dilley]

Originally Posted by Dilley Dilley

Check all the grease fittings in the front suspension. Add grease at the zirc fittings at each location. We had the same problem and found that resolved it. We also found one of the dust boots that holds the grease in was cracked and wouldn’t hold grease. Ford repaired it under warranty.

I hope that helped. Adding grease to all the zircs and replacing the cracked boot on the draglink made all the difference on ours. The dust boot was toast when our 2017 was new. That’s a Ford chassis warranty issue. It’s anyone’s guess on when ours happened. Our Coach was built in December 2016 and the driven to Arizona where it sat on the lot in the heat until we bought it in August 2017. Depending on how often a Coach is driven I would check the lube on the joints at each oil change.

[gnach]

Originally Posted by mcr1010

Had a thump on mine also. Found that one of the links for Helwig sway bar was broken. I have had them loosen up also and will get noisy. Locktite those bad boys and or use jam nuts.

Ditto, but mine was the nut backed off, the shop bozo didn't use loctite. It is now.

[taylorbob1]

Originally Posted by mcr1010

Had a thump on mine also. Found that one of the links for Helwig sway bar was broken. I have had them loosen up also and will get noisy. Locktite those bad boys and or use jam nuts.

When I added Helwig anti sway bars, I also added Moog End-Links (per a couple of Thor Forum threads that suggested as such).

The Moog End-Links were inexpensive ($30 each x 2) and are much more robust than the Ford OEM end-links.


edit: check that...$27.09 each

Amazon: Moog End-Links for E350/450

[Mag]

Originally Posted by Dilley Dilley

Check all the grease fittings in the front suspension. Add grease at the zirc fittings at each location. We had the same problem and found that resolved it. We also found one of the dust boots that holds the grease in was cracked and wouldn’t hold grease. Ford repaired it under warranty.

Dilley Dilley, I checked all the grease points and they were indeed the culprit. I had greased everything when I changed the oil in January but obviously not enough. I was trying not to put too in so it wouldn't come out of the boot but you just have to put it in till it does squirt out a bit I guess. No more clunking. Thanks

[Dilley Dilley]

Awesome! Glad that checked out. Whenever I hear about symptoms like that, especially right under our feet I suspect front steering and suspension lube points. Stay safe