awful sound when hitting bumps - cant determine the problem

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jasonmrenda

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hey all,
well i've been driving the dart around but the sound is getting worse and i dont want to potentially injure myself, my family or anyone else should something major happen.

basically when i hit a bump - big one or small one - at any speed, there is very audible crunching sound coming from what seems to feel like right beneath my left leg beneath the floorborads. my torsion bar mount is really badly eaten away so i welded in a temporary brace on the torsion bar mount. i need to finish weld it and add some more bracketry but i ran out of argon. i also noticed my home-made hackjob exhaust was rubbing on the frame rail. so i pulled the exhaust from the header back and went for a ride. besides being obnoxious the crunching was still there. reinstalled exhaust and made that torsion bar brace and still get the crunching sound.

bounced the shocks up and down and they "seem" fine. the sound doesnt remind me of bottoming out - its more like crunching/creaking sound. and only happens in front drivers side when going over bumps.

could it be an engine mount gone bad? is it most likely the torsion bar area? i thought the torsion bars twisted so i guess i just dont know why they would make the sound when i hit a bump?
any advice as always, is welcomed.

thanks all and Happy father's day!

- jason
 
Sounds like torsion bar area. You will need to totally refabricate that mount or find a donor car with a good mount that you could possibly cut out and weld in.
 
Its kinda hard to determine without putting it on a lift and checking for play in all areas.

I had the clunking sound, finally put it on a lift and found that all ball joints bad, and play where the torsion bar mounts under my feet.

I called PST ordered a kit but havent put it on yet. I will redo the whole suspension.
 
thanks guys
i actually did ALL new ball joints etc last fall with PST parts. i will have the mechaniclook into it but my guess is torsion bar area. may end up just ordering the safe-t mount piece and welding it in. i'll try a homemade job first and see how it goes.

thanks guys!
 
hey guys
well after ffrying my starter relay while welding in some support plates at the torsion bar on drivers side, i took the car for a test drive, the crunching when hitting a bump is marginally better but still very prevalent. i only boxed 2 /3 rds of the torsion bar area so i will do the other 3rd this week and give that a go.

i also had to have my f250 wheel bearings in front redone. i say this because i took the truck to work today and the truck now rides much "softer" over the bumps. i got to thinking - since the mechanic replaced th inner/outer bearings on both pass/drivers sides on the truck and now the truck rides more smoothly, could the same issue be whats causing the dart to sound awful over bumps? perhaps the fully-boxing of the torsion bar area will fix the prob, but if not i need to figure out what else could be the issue. any thoughts?
 
Maybe some rust scale inside the torsion bar mount and distortion from welding may have cocked the mount so it's rubbing in spots where it did not before.

Have you removed the torsion bar at all during this process?
 
i didnt remove the torsion bar during this process. also the noise started maybe 2 months ago out of nowhere. i can see that the exhaust can rub on the frame at times so to test things i removed the exhaust from the header back (so no way for exhaust to hit the frame) and went for a short spin. other than being obnoxiously loud, nothing changed. i really think its in the suspension/wheel area somewhere. just not sure how to determine the cause. i can also "feel" cruncking on the bump rigt beneath my ;eft foot on the floor. not sure if thats the area of the problem but i def feel it there. floorboards are solid. hoping the frame isnt cracked. i will check motor mounts but they were fine as of the other day. i can hear/feel the issue at literally any bump from 5 to 50mph and i just dont want to drive the car until its figured out.
 
Have you tried any spray lubricant on the rubber suspension bushings such as upper control arms, strut rods, etc?

sometimes that can temporarily quiet things down and pinpoint where your noise was coming from.
 
FYI, AutoRust Technicians in RI make a repair cap that you put over the torsion bar mount and weld in. It's made from metal that is at least twice as thick as the orignal so it's plenty strong, just doesn't look original. I have on on the drivers side of my Barracuda.

Another place to look is the welded in bushing that goes through the k-member where the lower control arm mounts. This had broken loose on my k-member and made a crunching noise over bumps.
 
thanks all - will have another go at it! stinks to not drive it but i am learning a lot and having fun welding. tho i wont be on monster garage anytime soon with my welds!
 
i am about to add some gasoline to the car and toss a match at it. i just finished boxing in the tosion bar area and it made ZERO difference. if anything the crunching sound is worse.

put the wheels up and tried to shake them to see if i had any bearing movement. they seem fine to me and the mechanic already replaced one. now the fender has cracked the mounting tab so that doesnt help things but i am hearing a crunching sound not a metal slapping sound. i will look around again but this is extremely frustratiung. bringing it to mechanic again next week. then it may just get a for sale sign.
 
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