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- #41
Second machine shows the rear is out.
The saga continues, now with VIDEO! Looking for possible en route alignment shop (23 Viewers)
- Thread starter Artie
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- #42
No, I have SPC’s. The ones with the zerks.
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- #43
Drove pavement today, about 90 miles into Moab. Occasionally, we are hearing the popping but it’s much more subtle and seems to only happen on rougher transitions into or out of parking lots and on the droop. I will get this on video later.
My question to the group is:
Could this still be the LCA or could this be axle?
While on the alignment rack the tech only loosened the offending sides rear cam for a tweak but did apply the proper torque to all 4.
We will take the dirt road out of Arches tomorrow and I’ll get this on video then. The only CV axle noises I’m familiar with are the popping while turning and this is not to that level of annoyance. It’s not a creaking sound but a short sharp “pop” but much quieter than before the proper torquing.
My question to the group is:
Could this still be the LCA or could this be axle?
While on the alignment rack the tech only loosened the offending sides rear cam for a tweak but did apply the proper torque to all 4.
We will take the dirt road out of Arches tomorrow and I’ll get this on video then. The only CV axle noises I’m familiar with are the popping while turning and this is not to that level of annoyance. It’s not a creaking sound but a short sharp “pop” but much quieter than before the proper torquing.
I just went through this with SPC uppers, if your SPC have the older bushings then I would bet they are worn out.
Post in thread 'What have you done to your 200 Series this week?' What have you done to your 200 Series this week? - https://forum.ih8mud.com/threads/what-have-you-done-to-your-200-series-this-week.818471/post-15956700
Post in thread 'What have you done to your 200 Series this week?' What have you done to your 200 Series this week? - https://forum.ih8mud.com/threads/what-have-you-done-to-your-200-series-this-week.818471/post-15956700
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- #45
Interesting. If it is this than I feel a lot better about hitting some dirt.
Could you feel the popping in the floor board? How frequently was it popping?
all these components are sitting at 36k miles so I’m not surprised they are showing their age based on the weight and use case they have to endure.
Lots of reports of catastrophic failure of SPC arms, granted earlier in their releases, but still. I dont know why people run them on our trucks. I'd dump them and ger arms made by Total Chaos.
UPR LC
GOLD Star
I've had good luck with my ARB OME UCAs if you do not want the uniball design and poly bushings of the Total Chaos.
I tend to be suspicious of anything aftermarket first as they have always proven to be the liability over OEM parts.
I'm at 180k with my front suspension arms and they still perform with regular hard use. I do have a set of fresh UCAs and LCAs ready to go and I'm interested with how degraded the bushings are. OEM parts are incredibly durable and safety critical parts are further engineered to fail gracefully unlike aftermarket stuff.
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- #49
Mine went on in 2021, I’m not sure where that is in their production run but they offered more adjustment than OEM so it made sense at that time. I’ve been thinking about the age on my suspension and I know rebuilds are a thing so I’m probably going to replace with something and rebuild what I have so my truck won’t be waiting on rebuilds. Total Choas and King’s are looking like interesting alternatives to try having ran the OME set up for a few years.
I considered the ARB arms but the lack of adjustment steered me to the SPC’s. The poly bushing are squeaky.
It seems like chasing caster is a hobby of mine, what numbers are you able to achieve on the ARB’s?
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- #50
Yes, I agree with you on OEM. As pretty as some of the Gucci LCA’s look I’ll stick with the OEM, you can buy multiple sets of the OEM for the cost of the total choas lowers.
I had figured the uppers were less likely to cause issues with something other than OEM, and the added caster adjustments are great but seeing some failures on here does have me wondering.
Are you able to keep caster high enough with the OEM uppers? This last trip to the hunter machine showed me how annoying dialing in our LCA’s can be regarding the cams and caster/camber. I thought those adjustments were a lot more straightforward but in my brief time by the rack it looked more like a sadistic juggling act. The added adjustment on the SPC upper makes sense on that regard.
If your tail is out by a degree it is ~1/16" out fore/aft? might be play in bushings or general wear. you can measure the link arms and try to find any noticeable/measurable difference from side to side / pin to pin. the popping could be poly bushings- I generally avoid poly and heim joints in daily drivers for noise and maintenance reasons
There are some toyota cheat sheets on adjusting the LCAs.
I don't think the alignment rack computers have this info-
There are some toyota cheat sheets on adjusting the LCAs.
I don't think the alignment rack computers have this info-
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- #52
The docs are interesting, over my head but a good starting place for me to delve deeper into this topic… suspension stuff is definitely my weakest area.
The front drivers side cam is maxed out as I recall noticing it on the rack. The others Incant recall where they are.
I don’t daily this vehicle, it’s strictly our camping vehicle. We do a massive 3 week trip, which we’re on now, and bunch of camping weekends during the year. I over maintain it but it gets driven hard. At 36k hard miles is replacing some of these components to be expected?
I could hear it a lot on our recent trip to the North Rim, we did 600 miles of dirt, some of which were quite rough.
I couldn't hear it on smooth roads and I don't really remember it coming through the floor though.
Mine were about the same mileage. The ball joints are still tight.
25025 is the SPC part number for the new xaxis bushing
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- #54
Thanks for the details. I’ll post a video tomorrow to confirm that may allow a solid confirmation of your experience or point to something else. Out of all the possible scenarios I hope it’s this as it seems to be the easiest to resolve and safest to continue this trip with.
Has this swayed you from keeping these UCA’s? I’m debating on trying some different things in the near future just out of curiosity.
No it hasn't swayed me in anyway. I like the adjustability of them, they enabled me to fit a 34" tyre with very little trimming.
I had no interest in running a uni-ball, and other options just didn't seem to have the camber and caster adjustment
turbo8
Supporting Vendor
Another cause for popping in the front end can come from worn spherical bearings in your shocks. Looks like you have ARB BP51s?
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- #57
Yes, I have BP51’s. What’s a good way to diag the spherical bearings?
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- #58
Here is a short video with the popping noises, it happens several times. We tried to video from outside as well but you can’t hear it over the engine and tire noises.
This was shot on a graded dirt road. The popping seems to be more frequent now.
We are in Moab currently but planning on heading to Lake City, CO today unless this noise is something I need to address from a safety standpoint. We still have another 10 days or so before we will be home. Ugh… this is a major bummer.
This was shot on a graded dirt road. The popping seems to be more frequent now.
We are in Moab currently but planning on heading to Lake City, CO today unless this noise is something I need to address from a safety standpoint. We still have another 10 days or so before we will be home. Ugh… this is a major bummer.
Your video doesn’t sound like the spherical bearings are the issue IMO. When mine needed replacement they made a crunchy/squeaky noise over low speed bumps; it first caused me to needlessly replace the poly bushings in my UCAs. We eventually diagnosed by lifting the truck via floor jack and “dropping it” until we finally determined where the squeak was coming from. It was very different from the popping-type noise you’re describing, or I heard in the video.
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- #60
