Popping thud noise 2010 tahoe ltz only hear it when roads are wet

[kemperboy01]

so i have a 2010 tahoe ltz with a 7 1/2 rough country lift. i bypassed the front air ride struts and rear i bought a cheap kit on ebay for this came with struts and shocks (not sure if the strut was too cheap and it broke?). so the noise sounds like its coming from passenger front you can hear and feel it , strange thing is i only hear it when it rains like if the roads are wet on take off and sometimes brake never when turning so i dont think its and axle. i have replaced front diff mounts, motor mounts, trans mount, both front and rear sway bar end links and bushings, hubs are new, brake calipers and rotors are new , new driver side axle. i have also went under several times and torqued and retorqued every bolt. things i have not replaced are the upper and lower control arms bushings and ball joints passenger axle and i have not tried another strut to rule that out. so after i did the sway bar bushings it almost seems as if its not as loud of a clunk but its still there. every time i replace a part i have to wait until the roads are wet to see if i fixed it or not. any suggestions tips or anything would help. i did buy some struts and going to try that just to see but its driving me crazy. i have also went over the back as well everything looks good nothing looks out of place or loose i also dont think its the famous driveshaft clunk because i have that on another tahoe and it sounds different than this and all u joints look good and feel tight i did take them off to inspect them as well as grease the slip yoke just in case. thanks in advance and sorry if i posted something wrong

 

[kemperboy01]

also to add the sound is almost like a bad motor mount but the motor mounts are only 3 months old and the are not cheap ebay mounts i know there is such thing as a bad new part etc but it has been drove real soft since i did that and has not been off road

 

[Doubeleive]

mine will do this from time to time and my gmt800 would as well.
I have found that greasing the front sway bar D bushing's sometimes helps, sometimes not
you could try as a experiment, disconnect the front swar bar and see if it the noise goes away (I never tried it)
but doing that would rule the sway bar in or out. It won't hurt anything to drive without the sway bar just be aware it may not handle the same if you had to make a emergency manuever.
other than that my thoughts are body mounts, which I don't why they would make noise when damp but who knows......

on my gmt800 the dealer told me there was a tsb on the crossmember making noise and the fix was to remove the bolts swap them around and re-torque, which did not help in my case but it is another thing to consider.

 

[kemperboy01]

thank you for the reply i thought about the body mounts but was not sure i will check those out. i will also try the bolt swap method and see where that gets me as well as pull the sway bar and see what happens i also thought about trying to spray a garden hose on each part then making test runs until i find it otherwise i have to wait until it rains lol on a dry day like today in central ms it drives like a dream no noise at all

 

[kemperboy01]

quick update i looked at the body mounts they do look pretty bad so im ordering some and going to replace the side i hear it on to see if that solves it

 

[kemperboy01]

new body mount installed at the place i think i hear it here is a pic of the old one i will keep updated on if this solves it when it rains this week

 

[swathdiver]

We had a guy on here a few years ago with a similar complaint. Only when he took the strut out of the vehicle did he learn that it (strut shaft) had snapped in half.

 

[kemperboy01]

i am leaning that way right now because driving this morning when roads are wet and i still hear it. it sounds like it is coming from the strut area. i have a new strut i am going to try to replace it today and see what happens. i did try the methods above and i still hear it so hopefully its just a bad strut

 

[kemperboy01]

replaced strut driving this morning its still there but not as bad of a thud so i guess something i did during strut install or i have multiple issues resulting in the thud noise

 

[Geotrash]

replaced strut driving this morning its still there but not as bad of a thud so i guess something i did during strut install or i have multiple issues resulting in the thud noise

Bummer. Did you check the wheel bearing and ball joints for play while you had that wheel in the air? For the ball joints it will take a pry bar due to the spring pressure.

 

[kemperboy01]

both hubs have been replaced recently so wheel bearings should be good and i have checked the ball joints for play did not find any play in them but i will check them again just to be sure

 

[kemperboy01]

if it makes any difference i did hear a slight bump when in my driveway on gravel while driving more of an up and down type bump

 

[Geotrash]

if it makes any difference i did hear a slight bump when in my driveway on gravel while driving more of an up and down type bump

Gotta be something like a control arm bushing, sway bar link, or ball joint. There's play in that setup somewhere. I wonder if the folks who frequent the lifted suspension subsection here might have some additional thoughts unique to your specific setup.

 

[kemperboy01]

its looking that way i did try pulling the entire sway bar out and i still hear it so its gotta be like you said control arm bushing or ball joint. i am going to pull the bottom control arm up with a jack and double check that the top bolts are tight holding the strut maybe my dumb self did not get them tight enough

 

[Dustin Jackson]

Since the day I bought my Tahoe there has been a thud/clunk when turning left over uneven ground. Everything in the front has been replaced except for the steering rack and body mounts and the thud is still there to this day.

It seems to be coming from the front driver side area it could be body mount but I don't know if it's worth the effort to keep chasing

 

[kemperboy01]

i am getting that way where its almost like its not worth fooling with because almost everything has been replaced.mine is comming from the passenger side in under motor or that side of suspension it just annoying because it makes you think something is about to fall off

 

[kemperboy01]

update i impacted the crap out of the top strut bolts and took it for a spin without the sway bar in line it seemed fine i did hear still some up and down metal to metal sounds but not as concerned about that but from a stop sign on take off i do not hear it i then came back put the sway bar back in line and i hear a faint thud so to sum it up i think the 2 main problems was orginally the strut (which i never removed until yesterday)and the sway bar link even though i replaced the end link but i did go cheap on sway bar link. i think my up and down metal to metal (maybe) is coming from the top control arm hitting the frame with it being stretched out but not sure. so all in all as long as it does not do it on take off i can deal the rest of the crazy noises this thing has made. the pic i attached is where i think the top control arm is hitting. hopefully all this will maybe help people who have the same issue that i did

 

[kemperboy01]

i officially call the black tahoe the money pit

 

[kemperboy01]

and also thank you to all who helped me figure it out and point me in the right direction

 

[Dustin Jackson]

@kemperboy01 That is a common situation when you lift the Tahoe, most people just chop that droop stop off. I've cut mine off