Finally fixed the rattle...

Had a front end rattle for quite a while I was never able to really figure out. (mind you I never really tried that hard) Finally took a close look at the shock mounts and realized the problem......



Both sides are the same, so I never really noticed. Explains the rattle though. $64 question is why it broke..... I had thought that maybe the shocks were wrong and it was binding before hitting the bump stops, but checking the part number it looks like they're correct. Will have to look at the breaks a bit closer and see if I can find any clues. Truck gets used off road some, but nothing that I would expect to break both mounts. Possible it was preexisting damage, though both were intact when I got the truck in 2003. Everything I know of the previous history is that it wasn't abused then either.

Put a pair of new brackets and new shocks on, so we'll see how long they last.

Funny thing is I never really noticed any issues with the ride, though in retrospect it does explain a few times I though was just bad CA roads.

Easy way to jack the truck up....

No clue why they break, but seems like there are a few here and there get posted about breaking. The design of the mount is crap. It seems to work well enough, but I've seen a lot of bent ones also.

Your bumper Lift is something I've been looking for, but the dept of war, Finance and recreational activities has already declared one of those an act of war. I want a crawler bad.

That is what I call a bumper jack.

The funny thing to me is that both broke. Not sure if it happened at exactly the same time, but I think I'd have noticed one broken and one not, so that makes me think they couldn't have been too far apart.

Poor design, I agree.

The crawler is a fun little toy. One of those things I happened to pick up for a decent price ($1200 but needed a few odds and ends things) and now I can't see how I managed without it. Nice thing is it's small enough (10k lb) that I can haul it on my flatbed trailer but still fairly capable.

I had this problem. Noticed one side of the truck got real bouncy and dived a bunch on braking. My issue was a defective shock from Tenneco (Monroe/Rancho). They only make a token attempt to stand behind their products and ended up stiffing me for part of my costs. Not worth fighting, but I'll be sure to never buy another of their products again and let anyone who asks know. Shame as Monroe was my go to shock for stock suspension and Rancho for lifted.

Bilstein replacements are working great with no issues and feel like they control the suspension a bit better too, worth every penny to buy from a company with better QC. Cannot comment on how well they stand behind their product, but glad to have no issues.

http://www.oilburners.net/forums/showthread.php?74106-Broken-shock-mount-anyone-have-this-happen

The ones that broke it were bilsteins!

Glad you posted though, looking at your thread pointed out that I should have replaced the u-bolts when I was in there. Where did you get yours from?

Ugh, figures. Were your broken mounts very rusty or fairly solid? Mine the broke wasn't terribly rusty and the second that broke was obviously new and stronger than what was originally on there. The one that came off the side that didn't break was more rusty/thinner than the one that broke. Figures... Anyhow, I got the ubolts from Bronco Graveyard. They were a little long, just trimmed a few inches off once installed.