Ok, so I am not a car person at all! I took my jeep to a mechanic due to this rattling noise when going down our gravel drive way and over speed bumps and the outcome was that new shocks were needed! Well I replaced the shocks today and it did decrease the noise but the rattle is still there. Is there a possible chance I need to look into getting new sway bars and bushings for the rear or whatelse could the rattle be? Please help! Thanks in advance!

 

You want to tell us what vehicle this is on?

 

Sorry! Its a 2000 Jeep Grand Cherokee Laredo. 4x4!

 

Swaybar bushings are a possibility, as are the swaybar endlink bushings. You can crawl under the rear and push/pull/shake on stuff to try to recreate the sound. You also have to consider your rear a-arm ball joint as it will rattle when going bad.

But I would also look at those shocks, particularly the upper mount. Chrysler used a goofy sized bushing that is a little larger than the ones that come in most aftermarket shocks. This will cause it to rattle back and forth in the mount. Your options would be to press the old bushings out, but the easy way to go is to just add a washer on the bolt between the shock and the mount to take up the extra space.

 

Have you check the spare tire? It might be jossling around if the nut came loose. This happened on our '03 once

 

I had a rear end interior rattle when I got my 97 JGCL and it turned out my rear hatch only had 3 out of 14 screws in it.. Put the screws back in and no more rattle.