So I've had a noise coming from the rear since I bought it 3 months ago and it's driving me crazy. I've been underneath and banged stuff with a rubber mallet and couldn't reproduce it. I've replaced the shocks and it's still there. I'm guessing my last resort is that it has to be either the leaf springs or something to do with the sway bar and end links. I tried cleaning and oiling the springs and that didn't help so I wanted to know if I can remove the sway bar and drive it for a few miles to see if that's the issue? I'm going to take another look underneath to see if I can see anything again tomorrow. There's not noise on the highway, just going over bumps like train tracks or a road with a lot of patches. The best way I can think to describe it is if you're playing a board game where you shake a few dice in a plastic cup and you hold the cup at the top and shake the bottom from side to side. And it seems worse in hte colder weather as it got quieter when it warmed up but got loud again the last few days when it's been col. Sounds crazy but as I wrote, the noise is driving me nuts. Any suggestions or tips on how to chase this noise would be great. Thanks!

Ben

 

I have that exact same noise. I have yet to find the source.

 

Well at least it's comforting to know there's someone else looking for the source too. It's a weird noise that doesn't sound to me like a leaf spring issue, but I can't find anything banging around back there so I'm stuck. I hope one of us can figure it out.

 

Lots of people take their sway bars off for offroading as it allows better articulation. I would do as you mentioned and take it off and try to reproduce the noise to potentially rule out the sway bar.

Just know that a certain amount of intelligence and caution are necessary, as street performance will be affected. You'll notice increased body roll around corners/at high speed. Just remember you aren't driving a sports car, slow down before the corner not during it, and stay off the freeway.

On a side note, I had a similar noise coming from a different vehicle. Turned out to be a loose exhaust hanger that was allowing the muffler to slide over just enough to barely touch the drive shaft. It was hard to notice with the vehicle stopped and off, but when driving over bumps the vibration would be enough to let the muffler tap/tap/tap on the spinning drive shaft, causing a weird/scary rattling sound.

Good luck

 

Might be the rear door shifting on the striker bolt.

 

I do have the issue with noise on the rear door latch. Is there anything I can put on the metal? I tried some stick on insulation stuff and that helped a little but I can't think of anything to put on that "D" shaped part that the lock latches onto. I'll check the exhaust again too. I got my big pry bar out so I'm going to see if there is any play in the bushings in the rear too. Does the fact that the noise seems less in the warmer weather point me in any direction? Of course it could be my imagination with that too. Thanks for all the suggestions!

Ben

 

For what it's worth...started a long chase to figure out what the (rear) rattle was on my '98 Eplorer. Ended up being a rear wheel bearing. I know, different car, but....

Good Luck

 

Well I changed the rear sway bar end links since the others were shot and the noise is still there. I'm going to jack it up this weekend and try to put dry lube on the springs and check if there's play in the wheels to see if there's a bearing issue. I'm pretty sure it's the leaf springs since there's only so much stuff back there to make noise. And on flat roads there's no noise at all, so I'm thinking it's not a wheel bearing issue but it's worth a check.

 

Maybe it is shocks, or a bushing of some sort. Anything underneath could make a noise going over bumps. exhaust... there is more than just the leaf. I would say count your blessings you only have or noise. When I hit bumps I get three, one from a load in back usually making the plastic creak or rattle, two the leafs, three the noise of the actual bump impact... I just thought some noises were gonna happen sometimes???

 

The shocks are new so I'm hoping it's not those. When I'm driving slow I turn the steering wheel side to side to get the truck rocking and I hear the crunching noise pretty clearly so I'm guessing that's the leaf springs. Not sure if that's the noise I hear going over bumps, but I'll probably replace the springs when I can find a good deal to at least eliminate that as a possibility for the noise. Thanks for the help.

Ben