Creaking/cracking sound from front suspension: 2016 tacoma OR

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1nwyA0BVICw

So my 2016 toyota tacoma offroad is making some crazy noises. Currently it is running the 2.5 mid travel kit from Kings with Bajakits Upper control arms. The bushings for the UCA were just re-greased, and the uniball on the UCA was also lubed with tri-flow.

As you can see/hear from the video below, its making a creaking/cracking sound when the wheel is turned. It doesnt do it as bad when going straight forward and back, but will make it when going over bumps.

My last trip was probably 3 weeks ago, and it didnt make any of these noises. The noises started about a couple days ago.

Any ideas?

 

I'd start by inspecting all the bolts and check to see if anything could be loose.

 

Forgot to mention that I haven't really looked at it. Going to lift it up tomorrow and just do a good visual inspection.

 

Front body mounts

 

Is that an assumption/guess or something you know for sure or from experience?

 

Did it start doing it before or after you regreased the uca bushings?

 

I've heard stories of body mounts and radiator supports causing this. Mine is stock in the front and does the same. It was in twice for the noise, the second time they finally were able to hear it and scheduled an appointment to go through the front end.

Then a fucking tree limb fell on the windshield/cowl/firewall two days before the appointment and changed my plans.

I would go through a car wash and see if it changes or temporarily goes away. My first visit to the dealer was accompanied with all day thunderstorms and the creak went away.

 

It was doing it before regreasing the UCA

 

I also did a Thorough cleaning of the truck to see if that would fix it. Sadly still there. I'll peek at the motor and radiator mounts.

 

@Shmellmopwho any idea bro?

 

Mine was making a similar noise for a while and it was the lower control arm bolt (ball joint for you, uniball for me) but that was loose and when I would turn it would make that kinda grinding noise. Like @Stuffs said, I would take a look at every bolt and make sure that it's all tight. The awesome thing about aftermarket suspension is that it's awesome and allows you to get much better performance out of your truck. The bad thing about aftermarket suspension is that you'll typically start hearing noises that will annoy you a little bit haha.

You're on flat ground in the video in what looks like a driveway and not compressing anything so I would have a hard time thinking it's body mounts or bushings but I could be wrong. Usually you'll hear those when going over a bump or something like that where the truck actually creates downward or upward pressure on the bushings.

When you tighten everything, if the sound doesn't go away, let us know.

@glorifiedwelder I know you have extensive suspension experience. Any ideas what could be wrong here?

 

Check where the sway bar mounts to the frame.

 

It's my experience with my 2017 Tacoma. It sounded and did the same thing. Passenger side was worse then driver side but both needed to be fixed. It's an assembly problem. It's metal on metal contact.

 

Thanks for the insight bro, its going up on jacks today after work so i can take a look at everything and make sure its all tight.

 

Interesting. did the dealer warranty the work in this case? I hate taking my truck in for dealer shit besides the maintenance because they always just bullshit about how i have all this aftermarket shit which is probably what caused it all in the first place.

 

the front sway bar is not on the truck

 

Nope, I ended up diagnosing and fixing the problem myself thanks to all the people here on Tacoma world. My truck sounded awful with less than 700 miles.any kind of washboard or off camber or even pulling in the driveway. You cannot see the problem unless you completely disassemble it. The upper rubber mount is cut open and the sleeve on the inside is rubbing directly on the body. As soon as you take it apart it's so obvious. I disassembled mine, lubed it up and just rotated the bushing and installed it correctly and it's been fine ever since. New factory bushings would be ideal but I just took mine apart one night I found the problem wanted to see if it was fixed so I slapped it together as described above and the problem has been gone and has not come back. so I said the heck with it I'm not changing them unless they start making noise.

 

My 2016 is currently making the exact same noise as you described OP. I’m glad I was able to find this thread cause I had no idea what it was.

Sorry for bumping it after no new posts since September.

 

Its alright! i actually forgot to reply with what happen.

I tried regreasing the bushing for the UCA, which wasnt it also. It ended up being my aluminimum skid plates making all that creaking noise whenever i turned. I think i had hit something hard and one of the skids was just rubbing the other one which made the noise.

I dissassembled them, cleaned them, and remounted them and no more sound.

 

Hmm it may not be my body mount after all then. I will check my skid plates (I have the factory skids currently) but I did remove them when I did my kings and ECGS install. So they may just be rubbing each other.

Edit: I should also say, it randomly started Sunday. That was two weeks after my king and ECGS install.