[KaHOnas]

When I got over railroad tracks or down a dirt road with some washouts, occasionally on extension when the front gets unloaded quickly, there is a noticeable (and concerning) thud. You can feel and hear it. I have had new struts put on the front with new strut mounts (Monroe 171451 & 171452 loaded struts) and I've replaced the control arms in June. It's still happening. Any idea what this could be? It only happens on extension and otherwise drives like a 260k mile Pilot.

It honestly feels like there is no rebound damping and the gas tubes are running to full extension and slamming on the stops.

EDIT: Closure found below in post #11 02JAN22.

 

[cnelson0641]

I've been waiting for this moment for all my life (well more like a year since I fixed it on my Pilot): The center nut on the strut (the one between the top 3 nuts you tighten to attach it to the dashboard), is loose. Crank it down. Most likely it was supposed to be torqued prior to installation, or was un-torqued when the strut was "clocked" to get it in the right position.

The manual would say completely unload the strut (i.e. remove it), and then torque to __ ft.lbs. When I fixed my issue, I just hand-torqued with a simple ratchet, and it stopped the thud.

--Chris N.

 

[KaHOnas]

The center nut on the strut (the one between the top 3 nuts you tighten to attach it to the dashboard), is loose.

Man, let's hope it's that simple. I'm heading down to do it now. Thanks for the help.

Question - the center post that the nut threads on to has a 7mm head. Is the entire thing supposed to rotate or am I supposed to secure the 7mm shaft as I torque the 19mm nut?

Edit: The driver's side wasn't making any noise, or at least was overshadowed by the passenger side. The driver side nut didn't move with what I would consider a pretty good amount of torque. The passenger side moved fairly easily about four turns. I'm taking it for a ride now.

 

[cnelson0641]

Keep us posted! Idk what the manual says to tighten the nut, but when I did it I did not need to secure the threads as I torqued the nut.

--Chris N.

 

[KaHOnas]

Took it for a ride and it's still doing it. I've got the front end on jack stands and the wheels hanging free. I'm going to see if I can get a better torque with the weight lifted.

 

[Rocky]

Ever replace the way bar bushings?

 

[cnelson0641]

Interesting. When you take your next ride, can you reproduce your issue (and sound) on video and post it here?

--Chris N.

 

[KaHOnas]

Ever replace the way bar bushings?

I have. It's way louder than any sway bar clunk I've ever felt. It's almost certainly coming out of the strut assembly area.

Interesting. When you take your next ride, can you reproduce your issue (and sound) on video and post it here?

I'll try but I'm not sure how good it'll come out. I'll see what I can do.

 

[Rocky]

At this stage, start with verifying that everything is tight. Did you replace the top mount of the strut? Is it correctly oriented?

 

[KaHOnas]

At this stage, start with verifying that everything is tight. Did you replace the top mount of the strut? Is it correctly oriented?

I'm away for a few days so I won't be able to check anything until I get back. The strut mount was replaced as these Monroes were the entire assembly (loaded struts). As far as orientation is concerned, I will check. I did check all the bolts - the three strut mount nuts and the center nut on the center shaft - and they were all tight.

I was able to get a video of the bang and I'll upload a link once I get the opportunity, hopefully later today.

 

[KaHOnas]

CLOSURE!

It wasn't anything to do with the suspension. It was motor mounts. And oh boy were they in bad shape. Both transmission mounts were split. The lateral mount on the passenger side (the one in the the ring) was likely the culprit for the noise. I assume the engine was banging around and the bolt in the lateral mount was hitting the retainer ring on the mount.

So I went ahead and replaced all of them: both transmission mounts and all three engine mounts (forward hydraulic, lateral, and rear). The rear one was a pain in an AWD model but now it rides wonderfully. No more banging, shifts are crisp and affirmative, and it doesn't wiggle anymore when it's in park.

You'd think I'd have recognized this issue a while ago but I got so focused on it being a suspension problem that it didn't even occur to me to take a proverbial step back and look at the bigger picture.

Not too bad for a 17yo Honda with 276k.

 

[aggrex]

CLOSURE!

It wasn't anything to do with the suspension. It was motor mounts. And oh boy were they in bad shape. Both transmission mounts were split. The lateral mount on the passenger side (the one in the the ring) was likely the culprit for the noise. I assume the engine was banging around and the bolt in the lateral mount was hitting the retainer ring on the mount.

So I went ahead and replaced all of them: both transmission mounts and all three engine mounts (forward hydraulic, lateral, and rear). The rear one was a pain in an AWD model but now it rides wonderfully. No more banging, shifts are crisp and affirmative, and it doesn't wiggle anymore when it's in park.

You'd think I'd have recognized this issue a while ago but I got so focused on it being a suspension problem that it didn't even occur to me to take a proverbial step back and look at the bigger picture.

Not too bad for a 17yo Honda with 276k.

Good to hear the mounts were your issue and problem solved. The struts probably needed to be replaced anyway. Onward to 300K

 

[plplplpl]

take a proverbial step back

Sometimes, that's what it takes: one step back for two steps forward.