[more swearing] brake clunk?

Suddenly, without warning, jmc exclaimed (3/29/2010 5:44 PM):

Hmm. Could it be the ABS? The roads were wet coming home, but I always brake slow and easy so it rarely comes into play. When it does, it usually groans, not clunks?

Sorry 'bout answering my own post, still researching.

jmc

Is it just one "thunk" or a series of "thunks" when you are slowing? Like a "thunkety-thunk" (sorry to get technical on ya'). You may just have a pad that is a wee bit loose in the caliper or worn caliper pins or a caliper wasn't torqued properly.

Mike

Suddenly, without warning, Mike Simmons exclaimed (3/29/2010 6:49 PM):

just clunk. sometimes I can feel it in the brake pedal. It sort of sounds like it's coming from just in front and slightly right, under the body just beyond the firewall. These are new calipers and I had the sound before, so which of those are most likely? Worn pins? Didn't do it for the first couple hundred miles.

After my reading, I'm not too concerned, but it is annoying after putting $600 into the brakes that they're not *perfect*. :)

jmc

I think you're looking in the wrong place for the clunk. I suspect front suspension parts (ball joints? same as the recalled Durango joints?) getting loose, maybe even worn shock absorber bushings. Give the front end a good going over. On the full size Rams, I seem to remember the shocks had to be extremely tight to eliminate noise.

I sorta agree. Sounds like when weight is transfered it happens. Could be a body mount or suspension part.

That'd be my first guess too. Lotta big heavy parts want to move when you put on brakes. Second guess might be a bushing in the calipers, but I don't think there are any.

Suddenly, without warning, BigIronRam exclaimed (3/29/2010 10:21 PM):

I had the ball joints replaced under recall just a few years ago. I don't remember if that was the upper or lower. Lower ball joints got replaced during the transfer case/front drive shaft replacement.

jmc

My Caravan has a "thunk" that happens fairly consistantly, just before the van stops on light braking. It feels like the transmission downshifting, but happens even with the transmission in "N". I'll be watching for ideas here.

And no, the van doesn't flip when put into neutral.

I had a 2000 Chevy C2500 once that I dropped off to get new pads and put new rotors on the front and shoes on the back and have the drums truned., while I went on a overnight trip for work (company paid vacation). When I returned the next day the shop told me that the front was good but he could not turn the drums because his machine broke. He stated that he could not get in touch with me so he put the shoes on and did not turn the drums. He had to clear his rack so he could work on someone elses vehicle.

He stated that if I wanted to leave the truck till the next day he could take the drums back off and send them to a machine shop. I could not be without the truck as I had a planned fishing trip and needed to pull my boat

2 hours to the camp. This was a bad decision. Initialy it was okay but about 100 miles from the house and his shop the brakes start making this clunking sound and then started sounding like it was grinding. Needless to say, I made it to the camp and took the front brakes apart thinking it was coming from the front. Could not find anything wrong with the front brakes. After a short phone conversation with my brake man, a suggestion was made to check the back brakes.

I pulled the rear wheels and everything look good. It was put together correctly and when someone press the brakes it functioned like it was suppose to. When the rest of my fishing buddies showed up, we brought the drums to a machine shop and had them turned. When we returned to pick them up, the shop told me the drums were out of round and he was able to run them but recommended next brake job to replace the drums.

After putting the drums back on, the problem was eliminated.

By the way, the fishing trip was a successful trip after all the problems I had.

So beside some type of bushing or shock issue as others suggested, I would check motor mounts, transmission mounts, rear brakes as possible causes.

Hello. I just went through for about 6 months of the same type of clunk, had my truck to a few so called "mechanics" to check out the noise.Even with the truck in park and shut off, we rocked it back and forth and it still made that same noise! It turned out it was the transmission mount. Truck is a 98 ram4x4 quad cab 1/2 ton. The mechanic who works on semis in his shop behind my place of work,heard the truck one day and had it fixed in about 10-20 min! Just wanted to share, thought it might help.