Hi,

I dont know how old my front shocks are, nor the brand, etc.
All I know is that, particularly when its very cold out, I get a loud crunching sound when going over speedbumps.
Pushing the front of the car down, I find that it is up and not shaking after the one corrective movement up.
Going fast over the road, it seems like there is a little bit of jiggliness when going over bumps. ALl the rest of the suspension is fine and looked over by a coupel independents. But they didnt check the shocks, just the rubber and hardware.
Ill probably install some bilstein HDs in the front anyway, but do you think shocks are most likely my problem?
Thanks,

JMH

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Current Diesels:
1981 240D (73K)
1982 300CD (169k)
1985 190D (169k)
1991 350SD (113k)
1991 350SD (206k)
1991 300D (228k)
1993 300SD (291k)
1993 300D 2.5T (338k)
1996 Dodge Ram CTD (442k)
1996 Dodge Ram CTD (265k)

Past Diesels:
1983 300D (228K)
1985 300D (233K)

Just the car waking up in the morning. If the car syops as it warms up, that's your problem. Mine does the same.

Did you check your ball joints?

had my indy look at them and he said they were fine. Car handles really well besides the steering wheel play which is common.

And it does go away as the car warms up...

JMH

__________________
Current Diesels:
1981 240D (73K)
1982 300CD (169k)
1985 190D (169k)
1991 350SD (113k)
1991 350SD (206k)
1991 300D (228k)
1993 300SD (291k)
1993 300D 2.5T (338k)
1996 Dodge Ram CTD (442k)
1996 Dodge Ram CTD (265k)

Past Diesels:
1983 300D (228K)
1985 300D (233K)

I know exactly what the sound is, and it is relatively easy and cheap to fix. The crunching noise comes from either the right or left side, or both, and from just in front of the firewall near the left or right quarter. This crunch is from dried out/old rubber bushings for the front sway bar. The left one is under the brake booster, the right one under the battery tray. Buy new ones and coat the inside with silicone grease before installing. the right one is easy to get at by simply removing the battery and tray...do this one first to see how the old comes out and new goes in....self apparent. The left one is more of a challenge because it is hard to get in there under the brake booster....to do mine I unbolted the booster from the fire wall and pushed it forward a bit (without disconnecting the brake lines) to give better access. Put these in and the crunch goes away for another 15 years!! Make sure you use silicone grease on them, not petroleum grease. To remove, take off the metal bracket, and slide off the bushing...there is a split in the bushing so it can slide onto the side of the bar...i.e. you dont need to slide it over the tip of the sway bar. Once in position, just re-install the metal bracket.

Good Luck,

Mark

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1984 300TD Wagon, 407,800 mi (current daily driver)
1985 300DT Sedan, 330,000 mi (gone to that great autobahn in the sky)