Hey all,

Whenever I hit a bump in my 68 charger it makes a nasty rattle. It sounds like my trunk is full of loose metal parts that are bouncing up and down. I can't seem to find where its coming from.

It's done this since I first bought the car years ago, but I never worried about because I knew I was going to replace a lot of stuff, and that would probably fix it. After replacing the rear suspension, shocks, fuel tank and exhaust, its still there.

Everything I've replaced is nice and tight. I can't figure out what else is left that would make this kind of racket. I thought maybe it was the metal pieces that make up the trunk-lid spring mechanism. I covered the metal rods with rubber hose in areas where they might touch. That didn't help.

Any other ideas?

maybe stuff some bolts or something fell into the area between the quarter panels and the drop offs? or something up in the trunk by the backseat?

Had similar recently in the 69 Coronet. The shock sleeve seems to move around on the right rear only and I think that the shock is blown. The sleeve contacts the plunger part as you can see the scraping. It needs shocks anyway so I got 4 Bilsteins from Hotchkis. Have not changed them yet. Put car on stands and check exhaust around axle and top shock mount bolts. They are fun to get at.

At one point I had the entire interior stripped, so I know there's nothing in the back seat area. As I said, all the rear suspension parts are brand new and tight, exhaust is new and tight. Maybe I'll run my shopvac down into the wheelwells in the trunk.....

[edit] -looking at it again I wonder if there's junk in the forward portion of the wheel-wells. I suppose I've have to to pull the back seat and the rear trim panels off and see. But its really a racket, and I can't imagine just a few misc nuts and bolts causing all the noise.

Look over the exhaust routing very carefully. Header to torsion bar, tailpipes to shocks, etc. Wouldn't be the first time.

Bumper bolts tight?

Check your top rear shock bolts.

Pinion snubber screws

If the trunk lid on a 69 is like a 70 (inner skin completely hides the outer skin from the trunk side) the noise you could be hearing in the top skin rattling because the blobs of sealer used to stick the two together is no longer sticking to one skin, had this problem on a 70 charger owned by member rtman , we went crazy looking for it.

Push down on the top skin and see is it oil cans.

fuel tank loose.
rear seat not bolted in
exhaust hitts rear bumper
trunk lid not tight against seal

same problem on my 68 since I bought it.
I've checked..
exhaust
shocks
trunk lid
back seat
contents of trunk
rear bumper
Still cant find it but very annoying.
When its parked and you pound on different areas with your fist, it doesn't make the noise only when driving. I could really use a midget to crawl inside the trunk while I'm driving and locate the rattle.

I spent some time under my car whacking things with a rubber mallet. Everything seems tight. Driving it again this afternoon it sounds like its coming from WAY in the back. I'll have to check the rear bumper and bumper-ettes on the back. That's got to be it. I kicked at the bumper the other day and it seemed tight, but I'll have to check it again.

..i had the same problem on my dart.
the torsion rods on the trunk cross one on top of the other and rattle when i hit a bump.
i don't know how the chargers' trunk works but a piece of hose on one rod where they touch solved my problem
...and it took a long time to find!

Hop in the trunk and have some one give you a ride down the back alley while you listen. Just a thought. It may help pin point where the noise is from.

I have a noise in the trunk area of my barracuda that Is horrible when idling in gear or hitting bumps. I havn't concentrated on finding it yet , but have noticed that it doesn't happen when the trunk lid is open. I'm thinking that the brackets that hold the spring rods are seriously vibrating on something. Prop the trunk lid open all the way with something and take it for a ride.

could be anything...bolt fell into the rear frame rail, rocks between the lower valance and tank, trunk hindges.... I had a bad muffler (baffles came loose) that did that. Drove me nuts!!!

The package tray should be held down with two fastners, sometimes this is overlooked and the 'board' will rattle against the metal.

Check the rear seat cross brace lower section....my spotwelds cracked & this would rattle horrendously. Note my numerous failed attempts to fix it without a welder (finally borrowed a friends welder & went at it)

Did you install the fuel tank pad when the tank was replaced?