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brand new truck front end chatter

13K views 71 replies 39 participants last post by  captrehab 
#1 ·
12 1500 big horn cc, got a rattle/chatter that sounds just like a loose tie rod, only hear it when going slower, but dealer can't find the problem, driven 4 other trucks that did it also but not as bad as mine, thinking of dumping the truck, totally frustrated right now.
 
#31 ·
The "Squatsch" Noise

Hi,

I just purchase an 09 Ram 1500 with 22,000 miles on it. The warranty was almost up when I bought it (Sales rep told me 6/23/12) so I made an appointment at a Dodge dealer near me to fix the noises which were more of a rattle/clunk, like a front shock/strut going out, when driving slowly over smaller bumps, even a wide crack in the asphalt at a slow speed. Say what, on a truck with 22,000 miles on it? Well, they found the right front shock/strut was leaking and the right front ball joint or idler arm showed obvious signs of wear. They had to order the shock/strut but fixed the other which eliminated 1/2 the noise. Now the noise is just on the left side. They replaced the right shock/strut but that did nothing to stop the noise.

Now the truck is at the dealer from where I purchased it (4-1/2 hrs south of me) They've had it a week and are at their wits end. The hear the noise but cannot isolate it.

I 'love' the truck and like the rest of you, I paid a lot of money for the truck and at this point in its life, there ought to be ZERO front end noise.

Here's what I know for sure:

1. The truck now has 28,000 miles on it.
2. Replaced right front Shock/strut.
3. Replaced right idle arm or ball joint.
4. The noise persists (sounds like a loose strut) on the left side.
5. The dealer tech/s can hear the noise.
6. None of us should have to put up with a new truck making this kind of noise. Dodge needs to step up to the plate and lend the dealers and the owners a hand. After all, they made it.

I love my 09 Ram with the Ram Boxes but this noise is driving me back to GM. :doh:

Kenn
 
#32 ·
i ahve an 11, i have not yet had any of the noises you are describing. i have met 2 other dodge guys, one with an 09 and a 12 that complained of the same noise, "i think". one was missing a few screws in his fender liner, added the screws and says that took care of his noise. the owner of the 12 replaced his fender flares with bush wackers and now has a quite truck. imho, i think you are all describing a similar noise/rattle but can be caused by different components. if you are able to duplicate the noise, can't you have a tech, come with you? also, it would be a cold day in hell before i would accept, "thats normal" or trade my truck in and take that kind of a dollar hit because the service department can't fix/find it. good luck and keep at it.
 
#33 ·
i noticed the same thing with mine after i lowered it it is not all the time and it pisses me off but i investigated and found that it is the break pedal that is actually making the sound. if u actually grab the pedal and shake it u will hear it faintly but it is def my lose sound. i told the dealership and they said they couldn't fix it so i shoved a bunch of grease on the surface and pin and problem solved. but i also have a squeaky seat and my drivers side window ****ing shakes in the wind my box has to be repainted because of a rust spot and because the dealership some how ****ed up putting the mopar hard tonuo cover on and rubbed the paint out. the r/t is nice and pretty fast but i should have stuck with the Chevy. i told the guy when i was signing the papers "boy im going to regret this"
 
#34 ·
Ok, so I've driven the truck a bit more since encountering the original noise. I stated in my first post that I thought it was coming from the right rear but like others on here, it is the right front.

The other day I was driving over some washboard roads as well as a long bumpy gravel driveway and it did it then too. Not all the time but when it gets choppy, it seems to do it. I also noticed that if I move the wheel back and forth quickly and get the body to roll a bit, it does it then too. I'm leaning toward something in the suspension.....

I'm going to have to take it in and see if the dealer can find it. I'm not happy about it, but maybe I'll get lucky and they'll track it down. So as a test, try moving the wheel rapidly back and forth to get the body to roll. Don't do this on the highway though. I'd be curious as to whether anyone else hears it then like I did.


OJ
 
#35 ·
I have the same issue. It is driving me crazy having a new truck with only 5000 miles that sounds like it has something wrong with the front passenger side suspension. Took it to dealer once with no luck. I'm so busy I haven't had time to take it back yet. This is very unusual that the issue seems to be unsolvable by so many so far.
 
#36 ·
I'm beginning to wonder if it's the stupid fender liner. It seems like on mine, that the passenger side is looser than the other. Driving down the road today it sounded like my new Weathertech mud flaps flew off but found everything was ok when I pulled over.

When I got home, I made sure to use the optional 3rd screw to tie the liner to the mud flap a little better. I haven't had a chance to test it out though.
 
#37 ·
Don't have personal experience on a Ram truck with this problem, but I can offer a suggestion you may want to try. A couple of years ago I had done some extensive brake work on one of our Miatas. In addition to this, I was building an engine for the little car.

Anyway, after six months of having the car torn apart, I finally got it back together. Everytime I went over a bump, I heard this metallic noise coming from the right rear. It sounded like something was loose and would only do it when you upset the suspension a little. After careful inspection, I realized I did not tighten the two bolts for the brake caliper mounting bracket. (this is not the caliper itself, but the bracket the caliper goes into). Once I tightened it up - problem was solved.

Can't hurt for you guys to quickly check your caliper mounting bracket bolts. Just one more thing to try to eliminate...
 
#39 ·
Noticed the same passenger side front end noise on my 12 starting at about 9000 miles. Thought the K&N CAI box came loose at first, but was not the case. Clunking noise on bumps/washboards more noticable at lower speeds just like everyone else. Also thought it was the inner fender liner, as it does not seem to be held in very well - surprized it is still hanging on. Sounds like the front end is going to fall off. Please keep the updates coming. Will check the engine and body mounts when I get home tonight.
 
#40 ·
take it to a non dealer shop and see what they find, go to one you trust and if it is something found go back to dealer.... real simple, there is not a brand of car or truck on the road that does not have problems, anything man made is going to break. i always think of that when i get on a plane, oh boy this was made by the lowest bidder..
ha ha
 
G
#42 ·
Inside about a ft of the right inner fenderwell towards the front bumper is a long peice of plastic vertically. the bottom is not attached and vibrates and thunks on the metal. I put a buffet between it and my noise disappeared.. also had a squeak. It was the alignment cams. Impacted. Solved problem.
 
#43 ·
I looked all around that area you mentioned and even taped that area down today and I still hear the noise. I need to try to get something between the liner and the top of the strut tower since it seems like that's making some noise too.

What's weird is that I was turning in to our subdivision this evening (which has a bump) and I heard the noise again, but this time it sounded like it was coming from the back.:4-dontknow:
 
#44 ·
I hit the fiberglass/plastic thing underneath the truck (under engine fan area near front) and it seems to make a sound similar to the clunk I hear inside the truck. No real good way to tape that panel though. Taped it up in a few places (as well as the vertical plastic piece mentioned in the post above). Haven't tested it yet, but I'm thinking this large piece may be making the noise (or the piece just in front of it which is hard plastic that sits on/above the metal bumper area).
 
#45 ·
It's driving me nuts! I have an appointment at the dealer next week. Hopefully they can figure it out. I hope I get a good tech like the one that tracked down a mysterious loose object noise in my Hyundai Sonata. It sounded like it was somewhere behind the glove compartment...after removing the passenger side seat to narrow down the noise, they finally found it! It turned out to be a jawbreaker candy that made its way into the air duct that runs under the seat. Needless to say, I let me son know that he had dropped a $115 piece of candy in the car!

So...I'm hoping I have a tech that perseveres enough to track it down, and put things back together correctly if need be.
 
#47 ·
I have a 12 Big Horn Crew (no flares), 450 miles on it and I noticed what I think is a noise similar to what is being described. I was driving about 45mph on a somewhat bumpy country road and there was a pretty stiff directional wind. Coincidently I had just installed Weathertech mud flaps. I pulled over and looked at the liners and flaps. There is quite a bit of play in the whole assembly on both sides, front and back. I then drove back over the same road in the opposite direction. No noise. I reversed and drove the mile again... noise. Back the other direction, no noise.

I'm thinking that (in my case at least) maybe these plastic wheel well covers are prone to vibration noise and the mud flaps accentuate the situation, especially when hit with bumps and wind from just right direction. I can tell you it sounds much more substantial, but maybe these big wells act like sound diaphrams. Donno, but I'm gonna look into it more.

This "drill-less" mud flap thing is great for avoiding potential rust, but with half the flap hanging on nothing but a flimsy wheel well, I'm not so sure I like it. I'm going to try to see if I can stiffen the whole thing up. I do see that there are some holes in the well/fender that aren't used. I assumed this was for flares, should the vehicle be so equipped?
 
#49 ·
I wish mine were that easy, but my noise is more like a clunk. Maybe like a shock or spring vibrating and bumping against something.

I had to look a couple times toward the back seat because I thought it was the seat belt rapping against the back of the cab, but the way it's designed that doesn't happen.
 
#50 ·
I wish mine were that easy, but my noise is more like a clunk. Maybe like a shock or spring vibrating and bumping against something.

I had to look a couple times toward the back seat because I thought it was the seat belt rapping against the back of the cab, but the way it's designed that doesn't happen.

You may want to still check it out. Mine didn't sound like a wire bundle and washer but the sound just echoes through the truck. I thought my front end was messed up.
 
#51 ·
Had the truck in today for this noise. The tech rode with me and heard it, but it was hard to find a road/area long enough to keep the noise going to make troubleshooting easier. He actually rode under the hood (don't ask me how he did this..) and couldn't hear it but he could hear it inside.

Long story short, they didn't book a long enough time to work on my truck (couldn't find it in the 3hr time slot) so it's going back next week for a second try and a longer block of time. For grins I'm going to mention looking at the A pillar like trmat79 mentioned. Couldn't hurt...
 
#52 ·
For some reason my truck has stopped making the noise altogether. Even on the roads where it always made it very loud and obvious. It finally rained some here so I don't know if having the undercarriage getting wet did something or what. ??
I have no clue, but it isn't making it at the moment and I haven't changed anything.
 
#53 ·
Sounds similar to my symptoms. Brand new '12 Outdoorsman, drove over some potholes with 250km on it and heard this noise coming from right front. After a few more days of this I found that one of the mudflap screws had pulled through the plastic inner liner (brilliant fastening by the installer). Bolted that down, did not fix the noise.

Noise was very repeatable, driving it on the same rough city street it would always show up. Take it in to the dealer, they take it for a drive and later tell me a couple of the clips holding the inner fender were loose. So I take it home (on the same rough street I usually drive) and the noise is still there.

Took it back one more time. The salesman is a good friend of mne so he gets me some priority in the service dept. Tech comes along for a ride with me on the road I know will make the noise, he can definitely hear it. He's a front-end specialist, checks it all out. Tightens up all the strut mounts on that corner, noise is gone. It's been 1200 miles since and have not heard it at all.

Shouldn't have to go through that agravation with a brand new truck, but the dealer was really good, never tried to tell me it was normal, and made sure I had something similar to drive while it was in the shop.

Good luck with yours.
 
#54 ·
I was driving mine the other day and heard something fly up from the wheel well, kind of like a stone getting flung off the tire. After that, the sound went away. Maybe something was lodged in there somewhere that is gone now, but it's noise free now. Hope it wasn't something important the flew off!
 
#57 ·
Had the same issue with a new at the time 07 Ram 1500 CC. On the way home from the dealership i started hearing rattles coming from the front end while hitting bumps and driving on ruff Alabama roads. After having a friend kick the front tire while i was lying under the front end (whatever works)i isolated the rattle to one of two large bolts holding the rack and pinion to the frame. Snugged down the bolt (rattle stopped) until i could get the truck to the dealer the next day to check it out and tighten to torque specs. Dealer felt it was not a big issue and said it would be a week till they could check it out and let me drive off without even taking a look. I have built cars for a leading car manufacturer and they consider all suspension and steering bolts critical torques and the production line would stop automatically if not torqued properly.... I'm just sayin... I recently traded the 07 for a black 2012 RCSB Express i think is ASSUME especially since after two trips back to the dealer they finally got the windshield to stop pouring water in the passenger floor every time it rained...but that's several other threads
 
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