Clunk clunk clunk
- Thread starter Cuiken
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- drop links suspension
This is a long thread so I appreciate you won't have had time to reread it all (I've forgotten half of it myself 
)
In summary though:
Parts replaced:
Springs (40mm lowering vs previous 70mm lowered coilovers)
Shocks
Top mounts, bearings etc
Wishbone bushes
Ball joints
Drop links (twice!)
ARB bushes
I had the allignment checked when I noticed it was scrubbing. No issues or adjustment needed. This van is a total lemon
.
)In summary though:
Parts replaced:
Springs (40mm lowering vs previous 70mm lowered coilovers)
Shocks
Top mounts, bearings etc
Wishbone bushes
Ball joints
Drop links (twice!)
ARB bushes
I had the allignment checked when I noticed it was scrubbing. No issues or adjustment needed. This van is a total lemon
.
Needs more sound deadening, a louder sound system and driving harder so that the "clunk" whereabouts are more obvious. 
I've just read your whole thread. I'm having so many similar issues, I've just yesterday replaced the meyle HD with 2 more meyle HD ball joints, I've within the past 3 months, replaced the shocks for konis from crs , brand new original T30 springs All round, lemforder drop links, meyle HD top mounts, I'm glad I read the thread as I need to go back take the skutle panel of and swap the 16mm nut back onto the top of the mount, I've already swapped that from I originally had it in the correct position, but couldn't understand why the gap between the too plate and body of the van. And I'll still have a clunk. Next change it s the ARB bushes to polyI'll certainly say that loud tunes do help more than pretty much anything else I have tried
garwoodfire
Member
So what’s the outcome of this now? Are you all fixed up Cuiken?
I have an occasional knock from the front right side. Started making a noise after full new setup from CRS. (Not saying that the noise is from CRS, just that’s when it started)
I have an occasional knock from the front right side. Started making a noise after full new setup from CRS. (Not saying that the noise is from CRS, just that’s when it started)
I am in middle of swapping topmount nuts BACK to 16mm on the top mount and the lock nut on the top plate as this is the order I'm reading from here and others is the correct order.
garwoodfire
Member
What’s the latest update?This is a long thread so I appreciate you won't have had time to reread it all (I've forgotten half of it myself
In summary though:
Parts replaced:
Springs (40mm lowering vs previous 70mm lowered coilovers)
Shocks
Top mounts, bearings etc
Wishbone bushes
Ball joints
Drop links (twice!)
ARB bushes
I had the allignment checked when I noticed it was scrubbing. No issues or adjustment needed. This van is a total lemon
Sorry, been poor at updating. To be honest, I've had my head in the sand with the stereo turned up loud to drown out the incessant racket from the front of the van 
So, in summary, it still makes a lot of low level clunking/rumbling when driving over uneven surfaces like badly maintained or cobbled roads.
Bit weird that all three of us (@marx, @garwoodfire and myself) have had these issues after new shocks from CRS. Which ones did you guys go for? Mine are the Koni ones that have been slightly shortened to work with my -40mm lowering springs.
Not trying to cast blame but the shocks are the only part that I have not changed since the suspension refresh so I guess it could be them? I'm not sure how a shock could clunk though?
So, in summary, it still makes a lot of low level clunking/rumbling when driving over uneven surfaces like badly maintained or cobbled roads.
Bit weird that all three of us (@marx, @garwoodfire and myself) have had these issues after new shocks from CRS. Which ones did you guys go for? Mine are the Koni ones that have been slightly shortened to work with my -40mm lowering springs.
Not trying to cast blame but the shocks are the only part that I have not changed since the suspension refresh so I guess it could be them? I'm not sure how a shock could clunk though?
I've had my konis special active with brand new standar springs ,ARB poly bushes, new HD bottom ball joints, new HD ARB links, new steering link bars and ends, new right hand drive shaft and intermediate shaft, HD top mounts, which to be honest i thought the actual rubber between the body of the vehicle and the top mount was very thin. All the HD gear is Meyle. And still the thumps band bumps clunk persist. So much so that I've had enough. So unfortunately I'm out lol
Okay, it happened!
After 18 months of trying to figure this out, yesterday...... I fixed the clunk!!!! I've got to say, I feel pretty euphoric. This has occupied too many weekends and cost too many thousands of pounds to put right but it is finally done. Here's the whole story and how it finally got fixed:
What have I learned through this?
After 18 months of trying to figure this out, yesterday...... I fixed the clunk!!!! I've got to say, I feel pretty euphoric
. This has occupied too many weekends and cost too many thousands of pounds to put right but it is finally done. Here's the whole story and how it finally got fixed:- Aug 2023 - Clunking noise emerged from front of Van, took it to local garage (Garage A) and they replaced drop links, clunck solved, all happy.
- Feb 2024 - Clunking re-emerges. Return to Garage A who tell me I've got leaking shocks and a broken spring. Fair enough. So I order a set of new shocks, springs top mounts etc from @CRS Performance and employ Garage A to install them.
- This was my first poor choice. Garage A were not happy installing after market stuff and did it on a 'no guarantee' basis.
- They also were happy to 'work to rule' and employed no curiosity to the job and missed/ignored the fact that the ball joints were both shot (though I did not realise this at the time).
- The van came back and clunked as badly as before. Sad times
- March 2024 - After much footering with it myself, I employed Garage B to take a look. They advised replacing wishbone bushes with poly bushes to deal with weight of the van. Seemed odd as existing bushes looked okay to me but, desperate times and all that and how could it hurt?
- While fitting poly bushes they did note the worn ball joints and replaced those. This should have been the end of it but...
- While removing the original wishbone bushes the mangled the bolts that attach the wishbones to the sub frame (the ones that pass through the bush). I know they had a bit of bother getting them out and it looks like they ended up cutting them out of the original bushes. In doing so, they inadvertently removed most of the threads, effectively reducing the diameter of the bolts. Feck only knows why they didn't just source new bolts.
- At this point the original ball joint related clunk was solved but a new poly bush/loose bolt clunk was introduced. I can't help but think the 'clunk' was basically sentient and manged to survive by jumping from one part of the van to another
- At this point I was getting pretty desperate and tried a range of different garages, all of whom were willing to throw new parts onto the van (arb bushes, more drop links, another set of top mounts.......) but nothing helped. Nobody thought to properly check the poly bush install.
- After that we just 'lived with it' but it was pretty frustrating as the van sounded like a bag of loose spanners on bumpy roads.
- Then, two weeks back I went to Garage C to get an unrelated job done and, as part of their 'health check' they noted play in the wishbone bushes. I'm not giving them too much credit here though as they'd had the van before and I'd paid them to investigate the clunk (they did the drop links to no avail on that occasion). After politely declining their offer to install new wishbones (they wanted £2k!?!?!?!?) I went to Garage D to get them done at a more reasonable price.
- Garage D were pretty helpful. The head mechanic was curious to see how a poly bush with only 8k miles on it could fail and did the job himself. It was him that noted the sorry state of the bolts. So, new OEM wishbones and VW original bolts were installed. Was this it you ask? No!!! it still clunked
- While the van was in the garage I also asked them to replace a snapped spring (shout out to @CRS Performance for next day shipping me the spring under warranty, huge thanks for that).
- In a move of desperation, I removed and stripped the whole shock assembly down yesterday and found that they had not quite tightened down the shock top nut. So, we had ~1mm of movement.
- After properly reassembling and installing the strut, the clunk was finally gone.
What have I learned through this?
- Our clunk was like a fecking 'haunting'. Every time we fixed it, it would somehow transfer to another part of the suspension
- Joking aside, my method to figure this out was too haphazard. I changed more than one component at a time so it was never clear what was going on
- As it goes we've had a total of four 'clunks'
- Drop links
- Ball joints
- Loose top nut on strut
- And the more exotic, mangled bolts inside wishbone poly bushes. This one I think is relatively unheard of but the key lesson is simply to replace the bolts when you do any work on wishbones bushes. Pretty obvious really but I assumed the garage would have only reinstalled if they were okay. I'll not make that mistake again.
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garwoodfire
Member
Glad to hear you finally have it sorted. Is it still ok now? When you say
- In a move of desperation, I removed and stripped the whole shock assembly down yesterday and found that they had not quite tightened down the shock top nut. So, we had ~1mm of movement.
I have similar on my new project. I imported from SA a 82 Lancia Beta. Everything bush wise was shot so I replaced - 12 bushes in the rear end! Replace wheels bearings also. Once back together and registered for the road I found on its first drives I had a rear n/s clonk. Long story short after removing everything three times and finding all sorts of issues it was the same as your issue (sort of).
Damper cart was loose inside the rear strut by about 1mm, amazing the noise this made inside the car. Sorted this (these early ones are screw top) and problem is now gone. In the meantime I found all sort of other issues though
Nature of the beast, fix one thing and find five other issues for my list, and yes its hard to track down if you replace lots at a time, but I guess we are thinking the next item sorted should fix the issue.
Damper cart was loose inside the rear strut by about 1mm, amazing the noise this made inside the car. Sorted this (these early ones are screw top) and problem is now gone. In the meantime I found all sort of other issues though
Nature of the beast, fix one thing and find five other issues for my list, and yes its hard to track down if you replace lots at a time, but I guess we are thinking the next item sorted should fix the issue.
The picture above was at the SA side exporter. Its now on a gravel drive with a really good cover for the time being. I am still working through sticking a endoscope up things and rustproofing. Mostly done. TBH its pretty good already. Next is sorting the garage out so it will be inside ASAP
Not quite. Not the nut that you can see when you remove the scuttle tray. The one that sits below the top plate. It's number 9 in this diagram (ignore the highlight on '8', not my diagram):
Key, in my view is to retighten nut number 9 (or at least check tightness) once the shock tower is installed and the van is back on the ground. It takes the load off the nut as the van is now compressing the spring for you.
garwoodfire
Member
How would you go about checking the tightness once it’s on the ground and the shock tower installed? Surly it’s hidden?
