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Front End Crunch Sound
Hello Guys ,
Ever since I purchased the coach I have had a crunch sound when ever driving over a dip in the road , like the ones near bridges. So this week at Prevost they felt I should replace the upper and lower A arms along with 3 tie rod bars along with an alignment . So thinking this would eliminate the only issue I was having I signed off on this work .
Well turns out the crunch sound remains . Being a new owner can someone share with me where else to look /inspect to eliminate this annoying sound ?
Thank you in advance
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10 Replies
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I have about 245,000 miles on my coach and, therefore, have replaced much of the front suspension/steering due to normal wear of the ifs system.
Sorry to tell you I get that noise occasionally and I just live with it. In fact, my previous solid axle coach had a similar noise. I speculate that something is rubbing on the downward deflection of the front suspension; possibly mud flaps along the road or front wheels rubbing on a portion of the wheel well.
Probably the installation of a stiffer front shock absorber would minimize the suspension deflection and thus minimize the occurrence of the noise but that would probably have trade-offs in ride/handling.
1999 XLV X-6872, liberty #440 -
Thank you for the reply on the crunch sound . I can live with it as long as it is inherent of the coach . I did replace shocks and air springs last season hoping that to be the cause with no luck . I then thought maybe ride height but was told 11.5-+ was correct . Well on the bright side I should never need to replace those A arms again 🙂
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As you age and your hearing gets worse, you’ll find it easier to live with. I also turn up the tv.
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and as you get more experience with your bus you will not believe everything Prevost tells you, after all they are the experts. NOT
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We have found the “dogbone bushings” up front since we sit over them can cause the crunching sound. Spraying silicone on them seems to lessen noise until you rin thru a puddle
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Yes. Dogbone issues. Sounds every time front end hits a bump or dip in the road. They are cheap to replace
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If I have had crunching that was caused by dog bones I never noticed, but I have not been pleased with the red urethane dog bone bushings and have replaced all with the black rubber bushings similar to or just like the ones used on shocks.
They not only do not disintegrate rapidly once they begin to crack, they seem to last a lot longer.
If you have the red bushings and you suspect them, get a few handsful from Prevost or a truck parts house and use them in place of the urethane bushings.
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Ok if not dog bone bushings, shock mount rubber bushings. Everyone of our six different busses over the years crunched squeaked. Cold weayher made it worse
1999/2001 Country Coach XL45 dbl slude
2002 Marathon single slide XLII
2000 Marathon H3-45
1992 Beaver XL 40 w/beam axle
2000 Marathon CL 40
1999/2001 Featherlite Vogue dbl slide 45
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Thank you for the reply guys . Out of curiosity how many dog bone bushings do we have on the XL ? I replaced 3 bars that look like a dog bone just longer , but were called tie rod center, tie rod assembly for a total of 3 . So which ones do I change next and I guess i will need another 900 dollar alignment ?
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Al, The “dog bones” are the links between the sway bars that are attached to the chassis and the suspension on the left and right.
The purpose of the sway bar is to minimize leaning when you go around a curve by using the force required to twist the sway bar as a means of preventing the lean. You may have a sway bar, front and rear (in the front for sure), with a dog bone at each end and a bushing at each end of the dog bone for a total of 4 or 8.
Sway bars have nothing to do with the steering linkage.
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