Suspension rattle

[shaheenk]

Hi all , please can you assist, I have swapped out the follwing on my 73 stang

1. Lower arms , ball joints, sway bar links and bushings , shocks and ball joints.

Having the car on the lift I cannot find anything that is loose, however when driving and I hit a bump or uneven surface I have a rattle which sounds like something is loose. I cannot seem to locate it and its driving me crazy . 

Any ideas what else or how to check this?

 

[tony-muscle]

Are you sure is coming from the suspension? 

 

[Hemikiller]

If the car has disc brakes, the calipers have a sheetmetal stabilizer bracket (2B295) on the back side, which will rattle like crazy if someone leaves the bolts (381985-S) that attach it to the caliper bracket (2B292) off. It could also be missing some of the other clips or the rubber bushings. 

 

[shaheenk]

Pretty sure its the suspension, cannot see anything else that could be banging about 

 

[giantpune]

Mine had a similar rattle to what you describe.  Turned out to be the battery tray come a bit loose and made noise every time the passenger side of the car went over a bump.

I tried several time to get the car up in the air and jiggle things to track down what was making the noise.  I sat in the car and had a buddy rattle everything he could get his hands on - inner fenders, hood, fenders, splash shields, wheel, grille, emergency brake cable - to see if any of them made that sound.  He made a lot of sounds but none of them were the right one.  I considered mounting a goPro under the car and recording while I went over bumps.  And after that, I was going to start taking off the hood and fenders and any other part of the car I could, piece by piece until the noise went away.

Another thing you can do is roll your windows down and try to find a place close to a wall to drive so the sound will bounce back at you.  This is helpful in determining which side of the car its coming from, and if its front or rear.  If you have a buddy and a rough parking lot, have them stick their head out the window or pop the trunk and have them ride in the trunk and listen out over the edge of the car and see which side it making the noise.

It just turned out that I was replacing the radiator support and while I was tearing the front of the car apart, I put my hand on the battery and rocked it back and forth and found my culprit.

 

[shaheenk]

I am also thinking about a go pro or something to rig up , will take some time this week and figure it out.

 

[Bill73Ragtop]

Might be worthwhile to check torque on all bolts related to the spindle.  Which will mean dismantling everything and reassembling with lock-tight and correct torque settings.

I had a similar issue at one time and found hub / spindle bolts (20310 above) loose.  Could not find it or see it on while on lift, but driving over bump created a rattle.

You have replaced a lot of components - 1. Lower arms , ball joints, sway bar links and bushings , shocks and ball joints.  - so you will need to carefully inspect all fasteners related to each and ensure they are secured correctly.

 

[Kilgon]

Need to ask the question but did you have the rattle before or after you replaced everything?  If it is new then most likely something related to the work you did.  If it already existed then the list of things to check just got extremely long.  

 

[shaheenk]

Thanks everyone who responded. I was driving the car today and gently put my foot on the brakes. Yeah rattle goes away , seems there are some rubbers for the pins on the calipers that have disintegrated over time. 

Guess I found my rattle , and the heater matrix gave up , now I have water .