I've got a 2008 F-150 XLT Scab 4x4. It's got a 2" leveling kit on the front (Tuff Country Steel Spacers), and I'm currently running 295/75/18 Nitto Terra Grapplers on 18x9" wheels. I started noticing this noise a few months ago when I would drive slow, or go over a pot hole/railroad tracks. It sounds like a metallic clank to me. It was really intermittent and didn't happen too often. The last week or two it's been getting worse rapidly though, and last night, it got loud enough that when I parked at work, one of my co-workers asked me "what the hell that clanking was" when I parked.

So I did some research on here again last night, thinking my problem was maybe a ball joint or tie rod. I did the basic checks for these this morning to test for play in my wheel, and there wasn't anything that stuck out a lot. There's a tiny bit of play from side to side at the 9-3 position, but I had to use a good amount of force for the play to happen. I might have just been turning the wheel a little for all I know (no extra hands or eyes to help this morning). I also checked the nuts on top of the struts after seeing another member had a noise similar in description to this and loose strut nuts on his spacer were to blame. Mine are definitely tight still.

While I was out this afternoon I managed to get a decent video on my phone that captured the noise really clearly, so I'm hoping someone here knows what it is.

Here's the video:
<iframe width="560" height="315" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/kyoVcBx8rjw" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe>

I could use some insight before I go to the stealership (have to go in for something else, and was going to have them check this out too).

Oh and here's the kicker as far as worn ball joints, tie rods, etc goes: The truck hasn't even hit 30,000 miles yet. Leveling kit and tires have been on for no more than 10,000.

 

Dang, almost 80 views and nobody has come across it before? Well as an update, some guys on another forum suggested some checks for my IWE system and another look at my sway bar end links. The clunking noise keeps happening in 4WD, and I can hear the truck going into 4WD when I switch it (suggested simple test, to see if the noise went away in 4WD). I checked the sway bar end links again this morning, and they're both straight and true, and still firmly attached to the sway bar.

Starting to look like a wheel hub or something expensive, maybe?