"Clunking" on front end of Ford F53 motorhome.

[Koodog]

Recently developed a clunk in the front end when cruising down the road. Seems to happen whenever coach tends to sway a bit from the road and going over rough terrain. In my searching I've found a TSB about adding "z" brackets to the front sway bar. Anyone had this same issue and have brackets installed? Did it fix problem?
Curious minds want to know. 

 

[Rstrahan]

A "clunk" indicates possible failure in the suspension.  First blush would be A-Frame bushing failure (movement within the connection of the A-Frame and the Frame). 

Get it up on a rack and start looking at the suspension members and a failure of bushings, etc.

 

[jyro]

you might look at you're front shock bushings. The sway bar bushings are really inexpensive.

 

[Koodog]

Thanks for the input. I started where you guys have mentioned. Did not see any bushing failures. A little research on the net got me to my original question about the TSB from Ford. Was just curious if anyone had this done and it resolved the issue. I'll go ahead and install the z brackets and report back.

 

[chuckbear]

Our 1999 Fleetwood Bounder on the Ford Chassis had the exact same problem. The Ford chassis has a plate with bolts that must be torqued to proper tension just next to the front universal that should be checked if the problem is not the u-joints. We took ours to the local Ford dealer and he immediately determine this to be the problem, torqued the bolts and no more clunking. Chuck

 

[Daniel Fieldstone]

Our 1999 Fleetwood Bounder on the Ford Chassis had the exact same problem. The Ford chassis has a plate with bolts that must be torqued to proper tension just next to the front universal that should be checked if the problem is not the u-joints. We took ours to the local Ford dealer and he immediately determine this to be the problem, torqued the bolts and no more clunking.

Thanks for the input. I started where you guys have mentioned. Did not see any bushing failures. A little research on the net got me to my original question about the TSB from Ford. Was just curious if anyone had this done and it resolved the issue. I'll go ahead and install the z brackets and report back.

Did you ever get your clunk resolved. I just developed the same clunk on my 2004 Ford Chassis. Wondering if the z brackets worked.

 

[Kirk]

It was Koodog who used Z brackets and he has not been on the forums since July of 2021. Chuck is a regular so should be around. Have you checked the bolt torques on the plate next to the u-joint that Chuck suggested?

 

[Daniel Fieldstone]

The bolts on the plate next to "u-joint" are all tight. I ordered and installed the Z brackets but the clunk is still there. Shocks were replaced 2 years ago and they look to be in good condition. Sway bar bushings look perfect. I am looking at replacing the spring bushings as they look somewhat suspicious.

 

[RV_Lee]

When I had a clunk in my 4runner the culprit was sway bar bushings. $30 part, I replaced with greasable polyurethane ones. Considering your rig is 20 years old, I'd just replace them

 

[rvlifer]

I dont think this would cause a clunk but one heavy truck i owned had major problems when the tires werent balanced. A weight flew off and the front end bounced violently when i got up over a certain speed. It felt like i was in a low rider with the front end bouncing off the ground. I thought it was a major suspension problem but after they rebalanced the tire the problem went away.

 

[chuckbear]

Our 1999 Fleetwood Bounder on the Ford Chassis had the exact same problem. The Ford chassis has a plate with bolts that must be torqued to proper tension just next to the front universal that should be checked if the problem is not the u-joints. We took ours to the local Ford dealer and he immediately determined this to be the problem, torqued the bolts, and no more clunking. Sorry, but I don't know the torque specs. Chuck