Another popping sound thread (1 Viewer)

[Coin]

So I have an occasional popping noise when turning right and the weight of the car shifts rearward.
I recently:
rebuilt the control arms including bushings and ball joints
shock bushings
diff bushings (all of them)
engine mounts
sway bar bushings and links
steering rack bushings with poly

I did not have the popping noise until about 4 days ago I noticed my front sway bar links were not snugged up very well. Is there something about tight sway bar links that might cause binding and popping? The popping is substantial and is felt in the floorboard. I have a road trip Saturday and am feeling a bit nervous now.

Full disclosure, my rack is leaky, but otherwise everything under the truck is new.

 

[Patassa]

So I have an occasional popping noise when turning right and the weight of the car shifts rearward.
I recently:
rebuilt the control arms including bushings and ball joints
shock bushings
diff bushings (all of them)
engine mounts
sway bar bushings and links
steering rack bushings with poly

I did not have the popping noise until about 4 days ago I noticed my front sway bar links were not snugged up very well. Is there something about tight sway bar links that might cause binding and popping? The popping is substantial and is felt in the floorboard. I have a road trip Saturday and am feeling a bit nervous now.

Full disclosure, my rack is leaky, but otherwise everything under the truck is new.

These are always the least amount of fun to track down. A good starting point is undo whatever you did last and see if that fixes it. In this case, it sounds like it would be worth loosening the sway bar links again and see what happens.

 

[excessive]

Agree with Pataasa. you can drive a 100 series with no front sway bar. i took mine off for a few months to see how the truck would handle. I like it better with it, but you can try without.

 

[Coin]

OK, I'll give it a shot. I tightened it even more earlier, but it made no difference. I do kind of wonder if it is torsion bar related, like maybe the rear bracket is moving/slipping and I'm feeling it through my seat and front suspension. Is that possible somehow?

 

[Blue Phoenix]

I chased something similar a few months back. After replacing my L LCA and taking apart a lot more front end than I wanted to and re-assembling the popping magically went away after re-torquing my UCA bolts. Sounds similar, I could seemingly feel it in the floorboard as well. Obviously no guarantee, but it's as easy as sliding a ratchet wrench in there and giving is a try.

 

[Coin]

I unbolted the sway bar links and got the noise as soon as I backed out of my driveway, so I pulled right back in the garage. I then loosened the torsion bar and torsion bar bracket on the lower control arm, because it seemed like the torsion bar was pushed too far forward. After pushing the torsion bar back a bit, reconnecting the sway bar, tightening up the torsion bar bracket, and then resetting the torsion bar it seems my popping noise has gone away. At least I hope so.

Thanks for the helpful thoughts guys.

 

[Mike NXP]

I unbolted the sway bar links and got the noise as soon as I backed out of my driveway, so I pulled right back in the garage. I then loosened the torsion bar and torsion bar bracket on the lower control arm, because it seemed like the torsion bar was pushed too far forward. After pushing the torsion bar back a bit, reconnecting the sway bar, tightening up the torsion bar bracket, and then resetting the torsion bar it seems my popping noise has gone away. At least I hope so.

Thanks for the helpful thoughts guys.

I just went through all of this, luckily your noise is consistent and can be diagnosed easily.

Anything is possible but my money is on the steering stopper on the lower , backside, of front control arms. Other components won't have the same pop symptoms at full lock. If your control arms or sway bar were that shot you'd probably have other problems


At full wheel turn, they contact the knuckle and do what they should. For some s***ty reason, when the weight of the vehicle shifts they get hung up and pop. You can adjust the stoppers a bit to compensate but you don't want to tighten them down too much cause the rack could over extend.


You can test if this is your problem by crawling under the vehicle and dabbing a bit of grease on the stopper. Go out there and make the noise happen again, then go check the grease. You'll see where it contacted and popped. You can probably already see contact marks on the metal where it was popping before any of that.


So this is your problem and you want to know the fix? I have no F'in clue. Mine started after I paid Toyota to install a new rack and tie rods. I think being off center could be a factor here. Also front end alignment could also be at play. I brought to a specialty alignment shop who also said, slap some grease on it and move on.

The grease quiets the pop. Not going full lock also become more of a habit. I also bought these and slapped them on, will see how long they hold up.

 

[Mike NXP]

Of course I just read your recent post where you claim the problem is solved. DOH! well ignore my advice then . I am however going to inspect my torsion bars for proper placement. Can you give more details on what you saw that looked pushed too far forward. Did you get any pics?

 

[Coin]

Actually, I just drove it again and heard the pop, so I didn't fix it. I did just have it aligned, so I'll check into what you suggested. Since, I'm certain every bolt under there is tight, that's got to be it.

As far as what I saw, I just noticed the torsion bar on the drivers side was pushed further into the bracket on the lower control arm than what the passenger side looked like. Obviously my adjustment made no difference in the popping, I was trying anything I could see.

 

[Mike NXP]

Actually, I just drove it again and heard the pop, so I didn't fix it. I did just have it aligned, so I'll check into what you suggested. Since, I'm certain every bolt under there is tight, that's got to be it.

As far as what I saw, I just noticed the torsion bar on the drivers side was pushed further into the bracket on the lower control arm than what the passenger side looked like. Obviously my adjustment made no difference in the popping, I was trying anything I could see.

Good info.

My money is still on the steering stopper then. In my case I think it's a combo of bad alignment, a little too much rake, possibly bad steering rack alignment as well... all kind of adding up and causing that stopper to get hung up just a little bit at full wheel lock, when vehicle is rocking.

You can probably just crawl underneath and take a look, the stopper prob has some marred up bits from getting hun up.


I could be completely wrong but it's an easy / quick check.

 

[Coin]

Well, it’s definitely not the steering stopper. I’m finally about to spend some proper time under there to figure it out. I’ll report back.

 

[Mike NXP]

Well, it’s definitely not the steering stopper. I’m finally about to spend some proper time under there to figure it out. I’ll report back.

Dang, well I tried. How do you know for sure, did you try to dab some grease on them to see where / if they contact anything?

 

[Coin]

I realized the pop/clunk didn’t always happen at full lock, and sometimes when hardly turning at all.

Turns out it was the lower driver side control arm. One bolt was just not torqued enough. I spanned two wrenches and got another 1/2 turn on the nut. That’s all it took. I could have sworn it was something up front by the way it sounded, but glad it was an easy fix.

Thanks for the input everyone.

 

[Patassa]

I realized the pop/clunk didn’t always happen at full lock, and sometimes when hardly turning at all.

Turns out it was the lower driver side control arm. One bolt was just not torqued enough. I spanned two wrenches and got another 1/2 turn on the nut. That’s all it took. I could have sworn it was something up front by the way it sounded, but glad it was an easy fix.

Thanks for the input everyone.

Hope that solves it for you. For some reason if things aren't just right with our suspension components we end up with pops that are notoriously difficult to track down.