Help needed with popping sound and alignment.

Alright so here goes nothing trying to explain what's going on...

2017 DCSB OR 4x4 with eibach stage 1 at lowest setting.

We went out for a trash clean up event in the desert and were cleaning up along the trail. Took one hard dip on the passenger side front and didn't think anything of it. Truck was just fine along the dirt roads. Got out on the highway and my steering wheel had to be turned to the 1' o'clock position to go straight but it wasn't pulling either direction. Prior to the trail it was centered. We drove about 3 miles to the nearest gas station so I could take a look underneath and while pulling in something popped/thunked (sounded/felt like passenger side front) and it was centered again. Couldn't find anything obvious upon inspection. We started driving again and it slowly migrated back to 1 o'clock to drive straight and then pops again going back to center. In 10 miles it did this maybe 5 times. When it happens it feels like tension is releasing. Parked at a friend's house not wanting to make the 25 mile drive home where tools are if I am going to damage something more but for the life of me don't know what it could be. Any help would be appreciated!!!

 

**update**
So I made the drive home and figured out when under acceleration and the front end lifts, when the suspension levels out, the steering has to be at the one o'clock to go straight. When brakes are applied to slow down and nose goes down that is when it clunk/pops back to center. When it does that you can feel something in the front end jump a little to one side then settle in where steering wheel is centered and it drives straight.

 

When was the Eibach lift installed?

 

I’d be looking at your LCA bolts and cams for any sign of looseness / movement.

 

About 6k miles ago and 3 months...

 

Did you do it?

 

Yup yup, had alignment done a few days later. All was good until today.

 

Huh. So you've put an eye on what you touched & nothing is loose, yes?

 

Nothing loose to touch, now that I am home I can get it jacked up and check everything a bit more throughly. Everything was put back together and torqued to spec, and double checked after 3k miles when I was rotating tires. Just going to wait for the damn sun to go down a bit(Phoenix, AZ).

 

I can imagine. Man the heat is a different level there!

Someone else chimed in on the same thing I was thinking, new lift, shit settled, maybe a re-torque and re-align.

Was thinking maybe you got it lined up too soon after lift or something but looks like you did things 100% right and let it settle

Did you torque at ride height?

 

I torqued with weight off wheels (which I am now learning is a nono). I hope and pray it is just settling and requiring tightening/retorque lol. Between doing that and taking a look at the LCA cam bolts I am hoping the issue is resolved. I will update when I can tonight.

Thank you for your time and help!!!

 

Keep us updated

I'd bet that's all it is

Cheers

 

**update**

Tightened/retorqued damn near the whole front end. Marked my LCA alignment cam bolts with a sharpy so I could check if there was movement and had pettry much given up. That's when I looked down the truck from underneath towards the back and saw the drivers side u-bolt plate hanging off. Turns out I torqued the read end to factory specs (37ft/lbs) during my install of Headstrong aal and was MISSING 2 nuts with the other 2 barely hanging on. I had rechecked the rear @ 500 miles and 1k miles post install. A few lessons learned here. First, 37 ft/lbs *may* be fine for factory hardware but I would recommend going to 75 ft/lbs. Second, Follow ALL the damn instructions when you are swapping parts (HS instructions have 75 ft/lbs). Third, Not a bad idea to check your u-bolts tightness every couple thousand miles. The whole issue above was caused by my rear axle shifting and could have been catastrophic. She is all fixed up and good to go again. Overall humbling experience that worked out and I am beyond grateful it did.

Thank you everyone who chimed in for you time and help.