HiDefXJ

Soooo, I finished installing my:
-3" Rustys lift (with shocks, coils, leaf packs and bushings)
-3 degree leaf shims
-1" TCD
My issue is, there is a "clunk" from the rear when I accelerate or decelerate rapidly, or hit a large bump in the road.
This is coming from the passenger side and has been verified by my friend outside the vehicle. He says the leaf spring "hops" and makes the "clunk" when I gas it.
We checked the u-bolts and re torqued them. This helped A LOT!
But it will still make the noise when I hit a large pothole or bump in the road.

Please keep in mind that the u-joints were verified to be good and the suspension in the rear is new, including the bushings on the shocks and leafs.
This just started after the lift. Any ideas? All I got from a forum search was "u joints, worn shock bushings, brakes, slip joint lubrication or broken shackles." What am I missing?

mwdouglas

did your leafs come with poly bushings or oe style bushings i have the rusty's 5 inch short arm lift and my leafs have oe style bushings in them and they dont make any niose i did have a clunk but i solved that by retorqueing the bolts in the shacklesoh i also have a 2" bb on top of the 5" lift so i have a total of 7 with 33's

HiDefXJ

The leafs came with OEM style bushings. As for the shackle torque, I will re-check that. Are the shackles suppose to move freely? When I put the leafs on, I had to use a prybar between the shackle and the frame to "push" the shackle toward the leaf to line up the bolt holes. Is this tension normal?

mwdouglas

im assuming your using the oe shackle and that is normal for the oe shackle they factory torque is outrages my shackles are the rusty's 2inch bb shackles but the oe shackles were the same as yours were as far as the moving of them does your oe style bushings in the shackle have any cracks in them if there dry rotted it can cause tha shackle to move when under a load plus did you use thread lock on all the bolts when you installed them if not then the vibration from driving can cause them to loosen up if you didnt i would loosen them and apply thread locker

HiDefXJ

I don't recall seeing any dry rot on the shackle bushings but I will check again when I apply thread locker to the bolts. Is there a medium duty thread lock? Is it the purple one? Thanks!

mwdouglas

ive only used the blue thread locker but there is a new type out now that looks like the white trhead tape you use on air hoses but its a thread locker i have also used lock tite brand super glue it works good as a medium grade thread locker but thats just my personal expereince i had a prob with lug nuts coming loose on the spacers i have on mine for the back space issue i had with the rims and i used the lock tite super glue and they dont loosen up anymore and i can break them loose with a 4 way so the strength isnt so great that you would need assistance with air tools

mwdouglas

i see your in va what part im close to yorktown and newport news area

93gc40

Do you have a D35 axle, they are notoriously clunky. Have you lubed the slip joint in the drive shaft? Then I'd look to bad shackle bushings.

Colinjohns

My firend just installed this same lift and had the same clunk sound but his was driver side. It is the shackle...the stock shackles just dont work with this lift for whatever reason. The solution is longer shackles....he knows more than i do about it and he is a virginia guy as well.....va beach area. You should hit him up and ask for more details on the problem. His user is no rdplz.

mwdouglas

he's about an hour from me

HiDefXJ

The torque seems to be ok on the shackle, I guess I will need to look into aftermarket ones. Any suggestions?
BTW, I'm located in Richmond and the rear is a 8.25.
Thanks again everyone!

mwdouglas

i have the rusty's 2.5"shackle on the rear of mine it works good no niose at the time from it

no rdplz

It is the shackles themselves. For some reason they simply don't have the correct angle once the lift is on. They end up "clunking" against the under side of the body any time you hit a decent size bump. I've been told that it's due to their shortness so I'm putting a set of MJ shackles on this weekend to fix the issue. They're about 1" longer than the XJ shackles so hopefully it'll work. I'll let you know. I have noticed that it's not as bad since I got 31's though.

Bob_esper

this sounds very similiar to my issue, put a 3 in rc lift on and two weeks later i get this clunk, does it whenever i hit bumps or if i get on the brakes or the gas much.