Front End Popping.

I went through countless threads on popping/clunking front ends and still am unsure of my problem. I have an '11 DCLB with a full OME lift, 885 coils, dakar springs, no diff drop, CB drop, axle shims, etc, and LR UCA's installed by myself, Truck has ~15,000 miles .

For about 3,000 miles everything was fine, picked up my buddy yesterday and as we drove over a speed hump we heard a rubbing/clunk/hard to describe sound. Tried to replicate it and it happened on sharp bumps at high or low speed.

Now, when I am backing out of the driveway, I can hear a faint popping noise up front and can't tell what side it's coming from. I'm usually at low speed ( it may happen at high speed but can't hear it due to tire/wind noise), not necessarily turning and it doesn't seem to happen all the time.

I jacked the truck up and pulled/pushed everything. CV joints had a little movement side to side and a little more movement front to back. Sway bar was tight, skid plate tights, LCA and UCA bolts tight, Put hands on sides of tire and shook back and forth to check tie-rod ends and it was fine as well. No rubbing anywhere I could see (270/65/17's), top plate bolts are tight on shocks. oh yeah, it happens in 2wd AND 4wd.

Only one thing I can think of and it's that I haven't had an alignment done yet. It pulls every so slightly to the right and I hope to get it done this week. Other than the things I mentioned is there anything I might be missing? It's such a pain in the butt!

My guesses are CV joints (Already?), diff bearing, or LCA bushings. Any other ideas?

thanks for the help.

 

If a cv is worn out it will generally pop when turning, so I think you can mostly rule that out. Especially with the low mileage on the truck.

I would guess it is from a change you made, since it has only been 3000 miles. Maybe what is clunking is loose enough to clunk but not loose enough for you to wiggle by hand.

Look for shiny or polished looking spots on your add on or changed parts for signs of movement.

Or just keep on driving and the loose parts will become obvious eventually...like when they fall off.

 

I'll get my alignment and see if there is a change, if not, I'll recheck all the torques.

There are no shiny spots to indicate any rubbing. My prime suspects are still the CV joints and bearings. I hate tracking down this crap!

 

It's the steering stop, I was having the same noise.. So I put some grease on the steering stop and it went away.

 

Not my picture Used this for another thread:

The big red circle is the actual steering stop, and the smaller circle is what rubbing together thus causing the sound.

 

Where is the steering stop? Is it that piece of metal that is slightly concave mounted low and forward of the rest of the UCA, knuckle, etc?

Did you get it when you were not turning? I'm getting it just going straight and turning. I can only detect it at slow speeds (less than 10-15 mph).

 

Thanks, I'l check that out!

 

I do not get it going straight, I did get it when I was turning out of my driveway. Now, if you are getting it while driving straight, I have no clue what could cause it... But I do know what's causing the popping noise while turning.

 

Steering stop won't rub anything if you're going strait, only if you're at full turn you'll hear it. You have an OME lift, did you get the trim packers with it as well? They are small top plates. Whether you did or you didn't, I can almost garuntee that it's your sway bar contacting your shock. If you look from under the front, you will see that the sway bar comes very close to the shock and the spring cup. When your sunspension shifts, the curved portion of the sway bar may come in contact with that area. A few web sites offer a sway bar relocate bracket to remedy this problem. I believe Toy Tec is one of them. I put an OME lift exactly the same as yours on some one elses truck, and this is what it was. Hope this helps.

 

Yeah, I was addressing the issue while turning. I did not get the trim packers.. At first I thought it was my sway bar touching that was causing the popping noise, so I looked into getting A relocate kit. But I asked my mechanic, what could be causing the popping noise while I'm backing out of my driveway because I too thought it was the sway bar. He told me it was the turn stop and put grease on it and the popping noise would go away. So I did and haven't heard it since then. There are no rubbing marks on my struts where the sway bar was touching it.. I forgot which thread it was, but some guys with spindle lifts where having popping noise coming from the LCA bushing, and one actually video taped it and you could see the actual LCA bushing moving.


To the OP, Look at the strut to see if there are any rubbing marks meeting with the sway bar and strut.

 

Didn't put the trim packer or the sway bar relocate and I DID notice that it comes very close to the shock. I may do this before my off-road trip in july.

I jacked up the truck, let the truck down real fast to get some rebound with no results. I then got under it and grabbed the sway bar and pulled and pushed real hard. Got it to creak/pop. UCA bolt was slightly loose. I already checked them!!!!!! Anyway, went driving and no noise! I can't believe a slightly loose UCA bolt was making all the noise!

Anyway, lesson learned. Check and re-check.

Thanks very much for the feedback guys.

 

That's whyv it's always good to retorque everything after 100miles and then at 1000miles. I've seen guys wheels fall off because they didn't use proper torque.

 

I put it on the actual steering stop just enough to cover it. (picture above, the smaller circle)

 

Just every time you grease your U joints, wipe the excess grease off of them and put it on those contact points. Supposed to do it every oil change or when you go through low water crossings.

 

I'm not exactly sure what was wrong with mine but I had the same problem, there was a popping noise in the front end after I had an alignment done, I took it back to the shop and the guy working on it said that they hadn't tightened a bolt all the way when they did the alignment. He said the bolt was about to fall out.

 

subbed

 

Thread revival. Lol. Cortland.. did you have the same issue? I just installed my LR UCA's, and now have this popping sound. Only while sitting still and turning, and backing out of my spot. I was gonna go back to the alignment shop and have them re-check everything. Hopefully that will fix the issue.. if not. Tie rods maybe??

Also, can the alignment shop re-align and stop some rubbing I have now? Everything was fine before the alignment, now I rub my cab mount, and either the front lower corner or rear lower corner of the fender.

I already plan on a cab mount chop, but hoping I won't have to trim anymore of the already trimmed renders.

 

Yes I do still have the popping noise when backing up and turing the wheel. I don't really think it is anything to worry about.

 

About your rubbing, what do you have the LR UCA's set at? There was a LR UCA alignment thread somewhere, where a guy had them set to give too much caster, and it pushed the wheel far enough back to where he was having alot of rubbing, so he set them forward to the next setting and it eliminated the problem. As for the popping, did you hear the popping before you put on the UCA's? Check your torque on all the nuts n bolts including the ball joint to spindle nut. LR says it should be 45ftlbs, seems a little light to me, but that may be your culprit.

What UCA's do you have?

 

Checked the torque on your LCA bolts after having it aligned ?