(SOLVED)Help identifying knocking noise coming from driver side UCA

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nwfl4runner said:
might be a stupid question on my part, but is your reservoir hose drooping close to the tie rod?
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Looks like there plenty of clearance for the hose.
CharlieS said:
Did you rotate or grind your bump stops for clearance with the coils? I had to do that on both sides. You might get away with indexing them but i had to grind when I installed my king 2.5s.
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Haven’t modified the bump stop. Curious why you had to do that? Did it help with any issues?
bloc said:
On your second to last picture it looks a bit like the silver lower rod end might be hitting the arm at full droop.. but it's hard to tell for sure.

Off-topic but I'm curious.. there is a texture applied to nearly everything under that truck. Is that done aftermarket or from the factory? And I assume for corrosion protection?
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I’ll check that rod for any traces of contact and come back with an update. The undercarriage has been completely painted with tar-like paint for rust protection. It was done by the Toyota dealership over here after I started noticing some surface rust buildup. They charged me around $160 for the whole job.
 
Have we ruled out any bushing or motor mount kinds of issues where contact could be initiated under the kinds of stress OP described? I wouldn't expect a knocking sound but more of a thunk, but we all hear things differently. Is it a single knock or multiple? If so, any rhythm to it? I know a mechanic friend that has a tool that allows him to place a bunch of microphones around to locate a sound like this. It take a few tries to zero in on the source, but it seems to work for mystery noises.. I think its called Chassis-Ear or something similar.
 
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Had a friend that had a similar issue to what you're describing with a clunking noise over potholes. Thought it was suspension related since the car had miles on it. I did do from the sound of it, he ended up replacing shocks, swaybar endlinks, and something else. Ended up being a caliper bolt had backed out and was what was clunking..
 
How many miles are on your LC?

Check motor mounts, mine were completely shot and caused all sorts of knocking noises

Check reservoir mounting brackets. The king brackets on mine allowed movement which would make a knocking noise.

Do you have uneven tire wear, unpredictable handling?

Make sure the compression settings on the shocks are the same.
 
I’m posting an update after finding out what is causing the knocking, hopefully this will help anybody encountering similar issues.

So i Just came back from a 2 day trip of serious off-roading through all types of different terrain.

I am now 99% sure the knocking is coming from inside the UCA ball joint itself. During the trip I managed to somehow “dislocate” the ball joint, causing the same exact knocking noise to happen consistently over the tiniest bumps. Luckily after jacking the car up I was able to smack the ball joint back into place and continue my trip and now atleast I know what is causing the noise. I believe the bushing inside the ball joint is detroyed, confirming what the technician suspected.

I’m contacting the supplier for replacement parts currently, since it still under a 1 year warranty.

Its a shame this happens after paying a hefty premium for these UCA, but I guess that’s to be expected when going high speed offroading in a 3,000kg vehicle :D
5C334B23-557C-44C8-98E7-074EE01259FB.jpeg
 
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LC4point6GXR said:
I’m posting an update after finding out what is causing the knocking, hopefully this will help anybody encountering similar issues.

So i Just came back from a 2 day trip of serious off-roading through all types of different terrain.

I am now 99% sure the knocking is coming from inside the UCA ball joint itself. During the trip I managed to somehow “dislocate” the ball joint, causing the same exact knocking noise to happen consistently over the tiniest bumps. Luckily after jacking the car up I was able to smack the ball joint back into place and continue my trip and now atleast I know what is causing the noise. I believe the bushing inside the ball joint is detroyed, confirming what the technician suspected.

I’m contacting the supplier for replacement parts currently, since it still under a 1 year warranty.

Its a shame this happens after paying a hefty premium for these UCA, but I guess that’s to be expected when going high speed offroading in a 3,000kg vehicle :DView attachment 2419477
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So is the tapered pin just pressed in there? Not retained with threads or a clip of any kind?
Glad you got it figured out.
 
bloc said:
So is the tapered pin just pressed in there? Not retained with threads or a clip of any kind?
Glad you got it figured out.
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Do you mean the threaded pin going in the middle the ball joint? That pin has been torqued and rechecked multiple times but the ball joint itself is not sitting properly inside the rubber bushing. Atleast this is my interpretation of what’s happening.
 
LC4point6GXR said:
Do you mean the threaded pin going in the middle the ball joint? That pin has been torqued and rechecked multiple times but the ball joint itself is not sitting properly inside the rubber bushing. Atleast this is my interpretation of what’s happening.
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Ohh, ok. I saw the central pin not flush with the ball and thought that was what was pulling out.
 
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