Pop/click?!

I need help narrowing down diagnosis of a weird issue with my 2021 TRD OR (I bought brand new, now has 27k miles) that's driving me crazy!

Upon acceleration (primarily from a dead stop), I am getting a single pop/click sensation and slight sound. I *think* it's coming from passenger-side rear. Think of the sound/feeling you'd get if stepping on a piece of bent sheet metal or aluminum, but hard to tell exactly.

I'm stumped too because this happens often, but does NOT happen every day. It's happened with weight in the bed and with an empty bed, on cold days and warm. There's no pattern I can pick out, so can't always replicate.

The truck is mostly stock, except for: RCI aluminum engine skid, steel sliders, TRD PRO exhaust, TRD PRO Fox shocks, and ICON RXT leaf springs with Archive Garage u-bolt flip kit. Therefore, I suspect it's related to the suspension, but I've checked torque specs on every bolt that was removed (u-bolts, shock mounts, leaf spring eyes) about 4x and they're all tight to spec. Also, the pop/click doesn't happen on speed bumps, etc.

What should I start checking?!

 

Is there anything in your bed compartment? I keep my draw bar in there and hear it bang around occasionally.

Inspect the U-joints, they can make noise long before they fail.
Might not be the problem but doesn't take long of cost anything.

Good luck & keep us posted.

 

Those shocks work with that rear lift?

 

Thanks for chiming in. I thought it maybe could be something stupid simple like stuff rattling around...but noise replicates with the bed empty and it doesn't do it under hard braking. Just acceleration from a stop, like when something is under immediate load. I thought for sure it could have been a leaf spring bushing, but I've loosened, reset, and torqued back to spec like a few times lol

It would be unusual for U-joints to be having some play/noise for a 2021 with 27k miles, no? Plus, it doesn't really do the pop/click when decelerating...

 

Yes, people have reported good results pairing the TRD PRO Fox shocks with the ICON RXT leaf springs.
https://www.tacomaworld.com/threads/2021-trd-pro-with-icon-rxt-leaf-pack.750937/

 

Are you sure it's from rear. I had pop/click, it was front brake pads. Pads were shifting. I removed pins, pads, shims. Cleaned, applied thin coat of brake pad grease to back of pads, shims and pins. Noise gone, road dirt/debris builds up on them and causes the pop/click from shifting.

 

I'm assuming from what you've said that the noise does not fit the pattern of the ABS self-check.

 

Good idea. I’m not 100% sure and hoping I can recruit someone to sit in the bed to identify the location/sound while I try to replicate.

They don’t shift or make any noise under normal braking. Still probably wouldn’t be a bad idea to regrease the brake shims+pins anyway.

Since it’s my first brand new car purchase, just kinda weird to me I’d have to do that on a pretty new and low mileage vehicle

 

I had to do mine at around 20k in miles.

 

Check your rear axle u-bolts for the correct torque. Its been mentioned here before. My truck had 3 that were loose. I had a rear clunk until I found that thread.

 

Thanks. My mind keeps going back to ubolts. I just checked them the other day with my torque wrench (80 ft lbs), but let me know if you come across that thread in the meantime and I’ll check it out.

 

Are you on the shortest rear lift? How about the front clip bolt torque? Missing any liner pads?

 

ICON RXT leafpack set to “stage 2”. Great question about the pads…Will have to check.

I don’t have a torque spec for the clips, except “1/2 turn past snug”