Right Side Wheel Clicking

[LEO5651]

Went up yesterday to scout out a hunt area with our 40. We were driving in high 4wd slow, when we would turn hard to the right on flat surface or offset surface we would get a clicking sound from the right wheel/hub. When going to the left nothing. Took it out of 4wd and tried both left and right turns again and nothing.
So any suggestions on what we should be checking? Biff's, bearing, wheel stops bumpers?
We are going to jack the rig up later on this week and try to simulate the turning click while all fours are off the ground and turning the steering wheel left and right.

 

[78fj40mg]

It could be a bad wheel bearing or the locking hub is toast that's causing the clicking.

 

[LEO5651]

How about a U joint. Looked at the front drive line and the u joint near the diff could be seen moving in the yoke when pressure is applied, not a lot but maybe enough to cause the noise or would a j joint be a constant sound being that the clicking we get is mostly only when turning the steering hard to the left or right. Well regardless the u joints need replacing. We put the 40 up in the air with all fours off the ground and ran it in 4wd with hard left and right steering applied, no clicking????? So only with weight is on the rig will it do it ???
thank you

 

[78fj40mg]

You may want to also check the center steering arm as that might be the culprit.

 

[sggoat]

I like the idea you have about jacking the whole thing up and trying it again--you certainly should be able to find out what the cause is by doing that---even if the thing makes no noise--now you know it has to do with the suspension--or at least loading--good troubleshooting!

 

[Solace in Solitude]

When this happened to me, in about a 150 mile round trip, on a very rough road, I popped a hubcap off and found very loose lug nuts.

Luckily, it hadn't damaged anything yet.

Now, I make a habit of checking lug nuts as frequently as road conditions dictate.

Check your nuts!!

 

[78fj40mg]

I always check my nuts!

 

[Solace in Solitude]

Good man, Mike!!

 

[shawnfj40]

When you hae it off the ground, lock your hubs, one at a time while turning and rotating each wheel. if its a a broken hub or birfield it should appear that way.

 

[LEO5651]

My wife corrected me about the sound I guess she is right it sounds more like a medal to medal sound like two hammers being smacked together in sync with the speed of the wheel revolution.
What would be at the center steering arm to look for. I did look while the steering was being turn left and right and nothing out of the ordinary was visible, all was tight.
I did check the lug nuts as suggested, all are good.
We did the one wheel locked and one unlocked and rotation and steer as suggested while in the air, nothing other than the front drive shaft was making a slight rumble/tick every rotation, not loud but noticeable. We removed the driveline and not a sound at all when rotating the wheels. Would the U joints if bad and under load like turning sharp magnify the sound if bad. We are going to replace the U joints on the drive line and give it another go on the ground.
Do birfields need a load on them to possibly make the noise while on the ground or would it matter? The hubs seem to be okay.
We did adjust the wheel steering stops as they were bottomed out so we set the stops to were equal on the front and rear when turned to max, almost all the way out with around five threads showing on the back side of the mounts.

Thank you

 

[LEO5651]

My brother called a bit ago and told me he drove the 40 with the hubs engaged but without the drive shaft installed, and turned it hard in both directions and heard no noise of any kind. Would this be a help in tracking down the problem? Maybe eliminate the hubs, not sure about the birfields although when engaged would have some effect on them.
Thanks

 

[LEO5651]

We are still investigating the situation. We wanted to ask where and who makes the best aftermarket Birfield joints for a 80 fj40 so we can be ready if that is the problem.

 

[78fj40mg]

You might want to check the steering knuckle trunnion bearings as well, when they go bad they will click.

There are two trunnion bearings per knuckle that facilitate turning of the knuckle here's what it looks like.

If your steering knuckles look like this then it's time to rebuild them with new bearings, seals, gaskets, etc.

 

[78fj40mg]

I doubt it's a birfield issue but you never know until you take it apart, a birfield is a constant velocity joint with ball bearing that could go bad if there's no grease present to keep them well lubed. You really need to post pics of your knuckles so we can see what they look like, it's difficult to diagnose a problem with out pics.

Here's a pic of a healthy birfield.

 

[LEO5651]

78fj40mg, good information yes pictures will help will try to remember next time out there. As for the trunnion bearings, they are all new less than a year and half old, with new wheel bearing , seals. The complete front axles system was rebuilt and lubed and looks like new, no greasy mess. other than pulling the third member out to adjust the back lash which we should of done, has 1.25" play, but that is for another time. I remember the birfields looked pretty good then and well lubed but now who knows.
Today I adjusted the wheel bearings as they were just needing to be snugged up and were with just a hair of play on both sides.

Updated pic. We keep it clean as possible after hunts. No oil seeps. grease clumps build up, rust.

 

[LEO5651]

Hi folks sorry for the delay but work and such has been holding us up on this investigation we started.
Yesterday we put the new u joints on the front drive shaft and installed. Took the truck out to test for the noise and hoped the u joints were the problem, unfortunately they were not the problem but they did need replacing anyway.
We started driving in first gear in HI 4x4 straight and did a slow (at idle) gradual wide turn to the right, as we reached the wheel stops on the axles we heard the same noise again, a slow and loud clicking. I was out in the front of the truck trying to listen to where the noise maybe coming from. It sounded like the wheel hub but is very hard to tell. It would do the same while turning to the left also but not as loud. No problem from straight and 45 degrees in the turn but when we hit stops......not to bad in reverse but still a click or knock.
Now we are not sure if it's the hubs, or inner axle(s)
Any tests someone can suggest to maybe get a bit closer to the problem(s)
Thank you

 

[sggoat]

Just a thought, but if you marked the wheels at one point and then listened to see if the "click" happened at the same point every time? not sure exactly what that would tell you but it would seem to be rotational in nature. What if you jacked the truck off the ground and tried the same test?--once with the rig running in 4-wheel and then maybe just spinning the wheels in neutral? Might narrow it down a little further--

 

[jestlurnin]

Had clicking from the front end on an 80 series I owned. This was before I really got into wrenching on cruisers and just liked to drive them. Pulled out of my driveway and heard a massive crunch from the passenger side front. Limped back into the garage with the truck making a horrible noise from the front end. Embarked on my first knuckle rebuild. Found my birfield had exploded, cage had been ripped apart the ball bearings were everywhere. If you haven't rebuilt your knuckles all the way down to actually pulling the axle and disassembling the birfield I would do it. Not a hard job if you follow the FSM and have about 20 rolls of the blue shop paper towels.

 

[LEO5651]

sggoat, it is a rotational sound far as I can tell. We did have it off all fours on jacks to see if it would make the same noise and it did not, seems it only happens with weight applied.
jesturnin we could be facing what you described but as said in one post we had the complete outer front axles and bearings seals all serviced and replaced but one never knows they maybe were ready to be replaced, just looked okay. The photos are what they looked like when we first pulled them before the front overhaul.
Read where one guy was having somewhat the same issue and removed both hub dial caps from the hub body and rigged it so the axles were engaged, (not sure how) and tested it out to find one hub was bad causing a knock at one end that transitioned or resonated in the whole axle assembly making it hard to track. If we can figure out how to set it up. You maybe right, we may have to dig into the housing again and give it a good check out.
We are going to take her up to our hunt next week on our dads trailer and just keep it from making hard left or right turns.

Thank you

 

[SimonTrick]

Did you ever diagnose the issue? I'm having similar clicking noises when going to full lock. Checked bearings yesterday and tightened these down (these have less than 100k), adjusted steering box so no play in that. Rebuilt swivel hubs less than 100k ago, have new tie rod ends. The clicking comes from the hub area and only when weight is on the wheels.

Any insights would be awesome