I've been hearing this rattling noise for some time now, and it's getting really annoying. I had a blowout on the front passenger side at about 45mph and that's when I first began to really notice it. (But sometimes it sounds like it's coming from my side, sometimes from the rear. It's hard to tell.) It rattles/ticks at random times, although it does tend to get worse on some of these bumpy back roads. It seems inconsistent because I can still hear it on freshly-paved roads, too.

The truck has all new ball joints and inner and outer tie rod ends, the steering feels good and tight. The Pitman arm and idler arm were changed less than 50k ago. I lifted the truck and took a rubber mallet to most parts trying to figure out what could be clanking away under there. My experiment has yielded no results. My information is in my sig. The truck is 2wd.

I have 2 new shocks to replace the original ones, but I don't think they're worn to the point of rattling, at least not when I tapped them with the mallet. Any ideas are appreciated!

 

Did you drop the spare when you had the blow out ? My money is on the spare tire Mount being slightly loose and is rattling. my truck didn't the same thing, had no idea that's what it was till my dad followed me one day and noticed it moving.

 

You're right. I did drop the spare. That could very well be it. I'll know for sure as soon as I get my new set of rubber. Thanks!

 

Ive had an intermittent rattle before and it ended up being my dust shield getting rubbed on, maybe it got bent and is rubbing on something.

 

Dust shield? The fender liner? When the tire exploded, it ripped it out. It's all still in one piece, but it snapped all the little plastic rivets' heads off. It seems to me like it's control arm bushings on the passenger side. Lifted the truck, tapped around, couldn't hear anything loose and rattling... but it looks like the upper bushing is actually trying to back itself out, if that's even possible.

Could anyone post up a pic of what the upper control arm bushing is supposed to look like?

 

The dust shield is the thin metal plate that is bolted in behind your hub, keeps dust from getting on your brake rotors. Take a look and see if its being rubbed against. Try turning your wheels all the way to left and right when checking.

 

tracking down rattles can drive you nuts...

on my old mans last common rail he pretty much ended up replacing the entire front end on the truck (steering assembly, track bar, ball joints, hubs, etc.) and none of that fixed the rattle coming from the front end...

turns out the rattle was a damn cb antenna cable that was disconnected from the previous owner and left inside the fender well to rattle... old man was like and i just