Noise coming from front right suspension

Hey everybody. Looking for a little help here as I’m currently getting so frustrated with my truck that I’m ready to just get rid of it.

Background: my truck is a 2016 Sport, has 54,000 miles on it and has never been wrecked. In early February I took it in to the local dealer and had the undercoating from the rust perforation test applied to it, as well as had new tires mounted and balanced on it and an alignment done.

After getting my truck back, I noticed an increasingly annoying noise coming from the front right suspension. I took it back to the dealer and they said the front control arm on the right side was bad. I had that replaced (roughly $750 out of my pocket) but when they test drove it, they noticed a new, different noise. They had to keep it overnight to run more tests, and during one of the tests the axle boot broke. They replaced that free of charge and the noise was gone. Or so I thought.

Fast forward a couple of weeks and although it doesn’t do it near as often, I still hear the noise from time to time. Some days are worse than others (such as today, when I could hear it over engine noise and music playing in the cab). I can’t seem to figure out what exactly causes the noise, so I can’t replicate it for the Toyota technicians. It occurs randomly when going over rough terrain, but it seems to happen mostly when there’s a dip rather than a bump, and the front tires will have to independently react to road input (such as the right tire going into a pot hole while the left stays on flat ground, and then quickly changing to the opposite scenario). It will also sometimes do it when I cut the wheel deep and hit a slight bump with the front right wheel.

What’s really throwing me for a loop though is sometimes when I hear the noise, I feel a “pop” under my driver side floor board. Other times it seems to pop in the center of the chassis. Nothing that causes the noise or results from the noise is consistent.

Any help on what to look for, or tell the Toyota technicians to look for, would be greatly appreciated. I bought this truck new and planned on keeping it for 10+ years. I’ve had it just under 4 years now and really can’t afford to purchase another vehicle at the moment but I’m not going to continue driving this one until something finally breaks and it’s an expensive fix or the trade value on it drops drastically.

 

Any suspension mods or is it stock?

 

Passenger side cab mount. Check it.

G.

 

Mine was a click sound , was factory front shocks.

 

This was my issue as well. In my case the back passenger-side cab mount. Found it loose as all hell. Truck made a weird clack every so often. Drove me nuts ‘til I found it.

 

Stock.

And thanks everybody. Are there any quick checks I can do myself to narrow in on the cab mount being the problem? I’m not really a mechanic but I’ll try whatever at this point.

 

You can find the cab mounts under the truck. They are in circular holes and have a large rubber pad that is between the cab and the frame with a large bolt. Look long enough and you’ll see them. Not hard to tighten. They should be hand-tight. You don’t want to tighten them so much the rubber is damaged, but as tight as you can get them with a normal length ratchet is fine (no impact tools or breaker bar). There are two in the front of the cab and two in the back.

if you can’t find them I can post some pics, but have a look first. Nothing to be afraid of.

 

Sounds like that could be it. I’ll check it out (or take it back to the dealer and have them check it out) and see what happens.

 

FWIW: my clacking began after having the truck about 6 months. I tightened the cab mounts once I figured it out and nothing since.

 

Thanks! I’ll take a look at it tomorrow after work.

 

Here you go sir. Pictures shown zooming into location. Easy to find and check. Should be good and tight.

FRONT CAB MOUNT:





REAR CAB MOUNT:

 

Thanks for the info and posting these pics. My 2016 OR has started making a creaking noise up front when making sudden stops. Also does it after backing up then going forward. I suspect it's the drivers side cab mount so I'm going try this and see if it works.

 

Update: I crawled under the vehicle and checked the passenger side cab mount. It was plenty tight enough, so I don’t think that was the issue.

However, in the process of checking the cab mount, I noticed the axle boot (I’m assuming the one that the dealer was supposed to fix) is not clamped properly and is leaking a good amount of grease. You can see the build up below the axle boot and can see the clamp off the left, not even on the boot. I’m assuming that’s my issue.

First picture is of the leaking boot on the passenger side front wheel. Second picture is the driver side front wheel for comparison.

 

Yup. CV clicking. I'd be pissed at the dealer.

 

4 years and 54,000 on those Hitachis...

 

So I took it back to the dealer yesterday....they fixed the clamp and checked the grease in the axle boot. They said both were fine. I didn’t hear the noise all day yesterday and didn’t hear it today up until it started raining. As soon as it started raining, any bump I hit made the noise happen again. It’s driving me insane.

I will say it sounds just like a bad strut though. Any ideas? Maybe need to change the hibachis out?

 

@EKYTacomaGuy I have a 2016 trd sport double cab long bed. I had lower control arms replaced on both sides and the shocks as well. The dealer found the problem was the shocks. They were replaced and the noise went away. It’s like a clacking metallic sound. It does mostly when the truck hits a dip and sometimes over speed bumps. I have a feeling the shocks are just garbage. Doesn’t necessarily affect performance but is annoying as hell. when I get a chance I’m going to upgrade them. I’m wondering if this problem is only affecting TRD sports or if Off-roads have the same issue. The shocks seem to be good for about 2 years then they’re garbage.

 

Sounds exactly what mine is doing and I’m starting to suspect shocks are my problem also, even though the dealer says they are fine. I’m tempted to have them changed and see if that fixes it. Did you replace them with the OEM shocks or did you upgrade to something else?

 

@EKYTacomaGuy the dealer replaced them with factory shocks. They were good for 2 years and now they’re doing it again. I had to show them the problem and it was hard but there is a nice dip near the dealership is and the mech heard the noise. He said it was the shock mount or housing went bad, something to that affect. I am going to replace them with something better. I hope that helps.

 

Garden hose and a 285lb helper boy. Get your biggest friend on the front to bounce that "wet" front end up and down, side to side while you're under the truck. Raincoat is authorized. You'll find the noise as long as "helper boy" has some weight
Zim