Thumping when hitting bumps

SnowBlazer

Original poster
Member
Jun 9, 2014
5,775
Colorado Springs
Hey y'all. The other day, I replaced my OEM shocks and coils with the z71 suspension. Ever since I'm getting this thumping sound whenever I hit a bump in the road. It sounds like it is coming from the passenger side. Could it be the shocks toping out? I don't have any pucks in the rear so I would presume that the shocks would be tall enough to handle the springs.
Ryan
 

Sparky

Member
Dec 4, 2011
12,927
Double check the spring is sitting in the upper pocket correctly with the insulator straight. I got my spring slightly off on my Trailblazer so it would "pop" as the suspension moved since the spring wasn't seated squarely up top.
 

Wooluf1952

Member
Nov 20, 2011
2,663
Milwaukee, Wisconsin
I had a car that would do that. It turned out to be the shock bolt wasn't tight enough. The shock was just loose enough to bounce around making a banging sound. I tightened the bolt and the banging was gone.
 

djthumper

Administrator
Nov 20, 2011
14,950
North Las Vegas
Did you put spacers on each side of the bottom mount? If not the shocks are slipping side to side, if they are not snug there is your problem.
 
  • Like
Reactions: stickypoop

SnowBlazer

Original poster
Member
Jun 9, 2014
5,775
Colorado Springs
Okay so I figured out the issue, it came down to two possible scenarios both of which I fixed with one swing.

Yesterday I dropped the axle once again, (end links and passenger side shock disconnected) noticed my strut insulator was half on/half of the spring, reseated it again and put everything back together. I took my breaker, tightened all suspension components, and then torqued everything to spec. I believe the lower right mounts were loose as a goose causing the rattle. I could shake the lower portion of the shock with my bare hands so that obviously wasn't good. And the fact that the insulator wasn't seated correctly probably helped making it sound like my whole axle was going to fall off.

Thanks for everyone's input, greatly appreciate it!
 

l008com

Member
Feb 19, 2016
886
Massachusetts
Just to help anyone else that's reading this, I too have a thump when hitting bumps. But usually only fast, semi harsh bumps, or multiple bumps in quick succession. At first I thought I had bad sway bar links. Turns out, all of my thumping is coming from my brake pedal bouncing around side to side when I hit a bump! Another possible cause for unexplained bumps.
 

Forum Statistics

Threads
23,273
Posts
637,484
Members
18,472
Latest member
MissCrutcher

Members Online