Rear end rattles

[gran coupe john]

Took the coupe for it's first long trip about 70 miles. The back end of the car made a rattle on every small bump in the road. Is there a cure, or do I live with it?

 

[Mr Cuda]

Clunk, or rattle?
Check that the upper rear shock bolts are tight, tight, tight.

Then anything in trunk that can move.

 

[Jeff K]

First couple things that come to mind. Check your shock absorber bolts, upper and lower. Check your exhaust system. Make sure everything is tight back there. Is there anything in the trunk that's loose? Jack? Spare tire?

 

[gran coupe john]

Nothing in the trunk. Will tighten shocks. Took wife she said rattle, and a couple chunks The ride was good, but rattles and clunks were annoying

 

[Chryco Psycho]

heat shields , jack , spare tire hold down

 

[Ricks72Chlgr440]

Took the coupe for it's first long trip about 70 miles. The back end of the car made a rattle on every small bump in the road. Is there a cure, or do I live with it?

At my age I have some rattles and clunks too. Everything is tight though!

 

[Challenger RTA]

Took the coupe for it's first long trip about 70 miles. The back end of the car made a rattle on every small bump in the road. Is there a cure, or do I live with it?

Jimmy Hoffa? Disappeared 1975. Just saying?

 

[gran coupe john]

Got to be shocks, no spare, no jack, no heat shield. Same clunk, and rattles on wife 09 sentra. I Didn't tighten the shocks. I will being doing that next week too. Thanks for all the input.

 

[moparlee]

Like others have said, get underneath and shake the exhaust components to see if something is hitting somewhere.

 

[Challenger RTA]

The above information is good. The obvious. shocks loose or wore out. The shock mounting area top and bottom broke or loose. Exhaust, hitting, loose clamp or hanger. Exhaust not clamped tight enough. Exhaust tips hitting. The not so obvious. The lug nuts tighten up the whole way but wheel is loose. The rear shackle bolts or the bushing loose. Front spring bushing wore. Front leaf spring mount. Check the 4 nuts on each side. Anti sway bar mounts links and bushings bad or loose. Rear valance loose. Gas tank straps loose. Rear snubber loose or hitting. Rear axle? Pinion bearing. Rear U joint. Rear axle loose inside. Taillights, side marker lights loose. Trunk lid not closed tight. License plate loose. bumper loose. Filler tube.

If it's none of the above. Start looking at all the body panels.

 

[gran coupe john]

That is a long list. All those things are new, and or rebuilt. Will have to check all on your list Thanks

 

[Challenger RTA]

All those things are new

There is a good possibility something might be missed.
My son bought a car from a "Master Mechanic". That's what he called himself. Said everything was good or new.
Car did not drive right. He had it aligned two times. The last time the guy aligning it took well over an hour to do it. Still wasn't right. So I tore into it with my son. Found that there were no camber bolts. I don't care how good you are there is always a chance something is missed. Or the "Master Mechanic" didn't know better!
I myself changed steer and aluminum wheels. Use impact and hand tighten in a few miles there loose from too much rust or corrosion. They don't look it but it happens.

 

[Ricks72Chlgr440]

There is a good possibility something might be missed.
My son bought a car from a "Master Mechanic". Said everything was good or new.
Car did not drive right. He had it aligned two times. The last time the guy aligning it took well over an hour to do it. Still wasn't right. So I tore into it with him. Found that there were no camber bolts. I don't care how good you are there is always a chance something is missed. Or the "Master Mechanic" didn't know better!
I myself changed steer and aluminum wheels. Use impact and hand tighten in a few miles there loose from too much rust or corrosion. They don't look it but it happens.

Yes sir, assume nothing...

 

[gran coupe john]

Got cha.

 

[don selleck]

I had a vibration in the back area of my cuda going down the road sometimes I could feel it and sometimes I could not duplicate under the same conditions. It was like if the wind was blowing from a different direction would affect it. I took the car out on the interstate (having a 2.73 rear gear). Never had a highway gear like that and doing 80 and not turning 4500 rpm was pretty cool, when I first felt it i told my wife to check this out as we got on the highway. Well i got up to 65 and could barely hold it on the road the rear end vibrated so bad, I searched and searched for the culprit. I eventually found it when I tore the car apart completely. Under the dirt, oil, rust, and greese my shock mounting crossmember was almost completely broke off, hang on by about a half inch of metal on the passengers side. it would lay back down in position under the goo. Also found that the brace from the shock tower to the fender support was never welded together from the factory, the weld was there but it was off the edge of where the metals overlapped. and yes never assume nothing. Good luck.

 

[Mike73Dodge]

Shortly after rebuilding my car I got a clunk or rattle in the rear end. clunk or rattle sound depended on how bumpy the road was. What I found was one of the rear antisway bar bushings had walked out of the clamp. This did not happen right away, took a couple hundred miles for the bushing to migrate out. Fix was to add a shim to get more clamp up compression on the bushing.

 

[gran coupe john]

The coupe has no antisway bar. Maybe that is why it rattles. Probably did come with them and never put them back on through the years?

 

[sixpactogo]

There are plenty of things to rattle inside and under any car. If it is a clunk, it is more then likely underneath like exhaust or as someone mentioned a shock. My charger had a rattle I thought was in the deck lid. I finally found it a while back. It was the torsion bars for the deck lid rattling. I found it by accident and slit a chunk of 1/4" fuel hose and slid it over the rod to shut it up. It is amazing how much something can be such a PIA and yet so hard to find. Those sounds can travel and end up being no where near where you thought they were. Good Luck finding it!

 

[gran coupe john]

Thanks, glad this is going to be an easy fix, lol. Could be hunting that rattle down for months.

 

[Xcudame]

When I was a kid, Snap, Crackle and Pop were the three elves on Rice Crispy cereal. Now Snap, Crackle and Pop are the sounds my joints make when I move!

Sound advice given up above by the great folks here. Don't be afraid to disconnect the bottom of the shock and test for the problem Don mentioned! It's certainly not likely to be to hard the fix!