Thud sound coming from Passenger side air suspension
I own a 2011 Jeep GC Overland. It has the quadralift air suspension. I have noticed that 3 things are happening. The 1st is the sway of the vehicle has increased a large amount even at low speeds (5-6 mph). The 2nd thing is there is a loud "creaking" sound when I go over bumps - even driving into my driver way as it cover the expansion joint at low speeds. The last thing is there is a loud "thudding" sound coming from the location of the passenger front side where the air strut/shock is located. It happens when I go over a joint in the road, a small pot hole, really anything. If I take the same obstacle with on the driver side it sounds - well it doesn't sound like anything. The suspension soaks it up and its pretty quite. I was wondering anyone have this issue and what might it be? Is the air shock failing? I have replaced the end links, anti sway bar, and unibody braces. Nothing helped. The air suspension on both sides up front raise and lower as they should. The select drive works just fine. Should I just replace the passenger FR air shock?
We'll since I've gotten no response I decided to go ahead and replace the passenger air shock/strut. It's one piece and took me about 2 hours. I was surprised with the proper tools that it went so easy. One thing to keep in mind you'll need a Allen wrench for the ball joint on the upper control arm otherwise the bolt will continue to turn as you try and tighten the nut. Good news is the JGC doesn't dip when braking, it turns flat and doesn't Rock back & forth like a land yacht. Also the front brakes seem to head quicker. The thudding sound when I go over bumps or small expansion joints is totally gone, soaks them up like brand new. The bad news is there is still a "creaking" sound like an old leaf spring. I'll have to do some more investigating but it's not the air shock. More to come. FYI I found a new air shock/ strut for $385 and put it in myself saving $600+.
Ok so the thudding sounds came back-great & the only got louder. So I decided to replace the upper control arm. Guess what the bushings on both sides were completely cracked and torn. I put replace the upper control arm and now the Jeep rides like the $45K luxury SUV it was meant to be.