1992 GMC jimmy problems, horrific noise from below.?

[Matt]

I've been having some problems with my 92 jimmy s15, i have a horrible metallic rattling everytime i turn or hit a decent sized bump in the road. I've checked under it, had to tighten the exhaust, and the fuel lines. that didn't seem to help the problem. the odd thing is that the sound doesn't always come from the same place under the car. i checked the shocks, the front drivers side shock seems to be leaking, but the others seem okay. Any ideas what may be causeing this noise? oh, and also i recently replaced all the body mounts

 

[Molson02536]

I've been having some problems with my 92 jimmy s15, i have a horrible metallic rattling everytime i turn or hit a decent sized bump in the road. I've checked under it, had to tighten the exhaust, and the fuel lines. that didn't seem to help the problem. the odd thing is that the sound doesn't always come from the same place under the car. i checked the shocks, the front drivers side shock seems to be leaking, but the others seem okay. Any ideas what may be causeing this noise? oh, and also i recently replaced all the body mounts

Inspect and replace your Torsion Bar Mounts, you have one on each side. The rubber on the mounts are common to deteriorate and fail after a few years and since your Jimmy is 18 years old, most likely that's where your noise is coming from. Sounds sort of like a rat-a-tat-tat, metal on metal. Very loud!!

Difficulty:
Medium - the driver side is easy, passenger side is hard with stock exhaust. Can't jack up the crossmember high enough.

As for unloading the torsion bars, here's what to do:
Jack up the opposite side from the one you're changing.
If you have access to a cut-off tool, here's the trick for installing the passenger side, once you destroy the old one getting it out, cut about 3/8" off the stud. It'll fit in with the clearance you've got. I hear if you can find MOOGs, they actually have two part numbers, a left & right. There redesign and has the shorter stud by design. TRW's Torsion Bar Mounts didn't.

1.Get new mounts, here's the rest of the procedure:

2. Jack up RH side of truck, crawl under LH side

3. Remove nut from torsion bar mount stud that secures the mount to the cross-member. You'll have to feel for it, you won't be able to see it from below.

4. Remove bottom two bolts. Easy, they're in plain view from below. Now the mount is free.

5. Push up on crossmember, remove old mount.

6. Insert new mount - push up on crossmember, slip mount in between frame and crossmember. Drop hole in crossmember over the stud.

7. Loose assemble nut and two bolts. Torque down once other side is done.

Now over to the passenger side

8. Jack up driver side of truck

9. Repeat steps 3 and 4

10. To get the mount out, try pushing up on the crossmember, just like the driver side. If it comes out, great. I couldn't get the crossmember up high enough on mine. I used a big screwdriver and ripped it out by separating the rubber from the metal plate. It came out in pieces.

11. Install new mount. If you didn't have trouble getting the old one out, you probably won't have a problem getting the new one in. As I said, I did. I couldn't raise the crossmember high enough to slip it in. Solution: whack 3/8" off the stud. You'll still have plenty left for the nut.

12. Reinstall nut & bolts, torque down.

13. Remove jack

14. Torque down driver side.

15. Test drive, say " wow Molson, what a difference this makes",

Good luck and be safe