My thunk came back as well. It turned out to be loose sway bar links. I've been clunk free for at least two months.

 

I got my mounts and installed them, they were the "green stud" version. Although it did eliminate the cracking and popping during low speed manuvering and made the steering smoother, it did not completely eliminate my thunk. Did ya'll put the spring isolator thingy on the lower part of the spring (As called for in the TSB)? Also, I think the passenger side LCA rear bushing is bad. Does anyone know if ford sells these seperately? Anyone changed them, is it difficult? Looks pretty straight-foward in the service manual schematic.

 

Like BMR said, try the upper front sway bar endlink bolts. They are right behind the top of the wheel/tire. My driver side one comes loose all the time, giving me the thunking noise about every month. Tightening it takes care of the problem, I have to turn the nut at least 1/4 to 1/2 a full turn, so its pretty obvious that it comes loose.

 

I am still confused.....is it the endlinks or the strut mount? I checked my endlinks and I don't think they are loose but I will check again.

 

I just got back from the dealer this minute. It's a high end dealer that specializes in Roush. I had to pay $135 for them to tell me that the loose chuckle MIGHT be the lower control arms but they're not sure. They want me to spend $600 for new ones and if it doesn't solve the problem, I'll have to eat the six hundred. If it does solve the problem they will cover it under warranty. Mine is a 2007 with only 9k miles. I've already had the updated strut mounts done and that didn't do anything. The mechanic checked everything and it's tight. Heck, he even removed the sway bar at my request and it still made the noise. I drove an 08 and a new 09 while I was there and neither one of them had any noises. This sucks. I don't know where to turn from here as this is the third mechanic I have brought it to and nobody knows what it is but we can all hear it.

 

I changed my Lower control arms just a little bit ago thinking the noise was from them......I purchased the SVT LCAs and it took me about 5 hours to put them on. After all that work....the clunk is still there. I don't think your control arms are bad but again....just my 2 cents.

 

Which nuts on the endlinks did you check? The ones down where the sway bar is? or the ones up that attach the endlink to the strut? The one that attaches the end link to the strut is the one that comes loose in mine (behind upper part of wheel). You need an 18 mm wrench and an 8mm ratchet to tighten the upper nut (8 mm to keep the bolt from spinning, while tightening the nut). You could also use an 8mm wrench instead of the ratchet.

 

I just went and checked my endlinks and they are tight, I can't get them to move. Does that mean my clunking is the strut mounts?

 

Update: I bought the GT500 "green stud" strut mounts from 5.0resto and installed them this past Saturday. All of my sway bar end links were tight when I pulled the struts out, so that wasn't the problem. Although greatly reduced over the worn "gold stud" strut mounts, the "loose lumber" chuckle is still there over bumps. I'm so fed up with the crappy quality of the Ford strut mounts that I ordered the Steeda HD strut mounts. I'm gambling a different design strut mount (bearing) is going to fix the problem! I'll post up what happens after I've got them installed.

Anybody want to buy a set of 1 week old GT500 strut mounts?

 

LOL, I'll pass but would like to know how the new ones turn out!