Back in Jersey with the luxury of a garage, oh the glory.

Put in new inner tie rod ends, mine were shot, they had a ton of play and dropped immediately rather than holding themselves up. That was a really easy job




Also replaced my rear sway bar links, they were pretty beat up. Here is a pic of the one that was in better condition - it’s got 3 washers on it, is that normal? When I replaced them I only used 2 washers.



Anyway, the truck drives better, but the noise is still there!

Tomorrow I will take another look at the front LCA cam bolts although I swear I’ve checked them twice and have had it aligned at least once since this noise started.

It also seems like I might have been able to recreate the sound today when I was jacking up the rear axle on one side to do the sway bar links. I might play with that some more to see if I can pin it down.





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Have you checked your propeller shaft grease situation?

Slip Yoke Binding Fix

Lots of information about slip yoke binding and causing strange hard to pin down noises, mtbtim has a good video about greasing.

Gary

When I have a noise that can't be solved I just keep turning up the radio until it overpowers the offending sound

TT

The picture you posted here is correct. Two washers on the bottom, one on the top. The top washer on the lower side centers the link rod and keeps it from rubbing on the frame mount.

-Charlie

What an eventful day!

Figured out the cause of the sound...turns out it was...wait for it...a loose rear upper control arm nut! So it all comes full circle and my very first hunch was correct. The nut connecting the driver’s side to the axle was hand tight.

Flash back to my first post in the thread I mistakenly said I had checked and tightened the rear UCA. I misspoke, it was actually the LCA. I somehow missed this one bolt, I think it was hard for me to get to until I jacked it up today and removed my spare so I could sit up.

I can’t believe I’ve been chasing this down for months... the good news is that in the process I’ve put on a lot of new parts and checked and rechecked tons of fasteners.

Also in OTHER good news, I hooked up my Baja squadron sports in my bumper

And in the BEST news - today I also did the gray wire mod with the intent to troubleshoot my e-locker. Once I put the back wheels in the air, pressed the e-locker button, and pushed the wheels by hand it engaged fine for the first time ever in the 1.5 yrs since I’ve owned it.

Took it around the block testing the e-locker and it seemed to work great. So I’m stoked on that too!

We’ll consider this thread solved...unless the dreaded clunk comes back.


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Congratz! I'll re-check all mine over the weekend and go from there! Thanks for not giving up and giving periodic updates after each mod and troubleshooting step. Much appreciated!

You owe us all a beer

Touché

Meet me up at Vermont Overland Rally end of Sept - beers on me all night!

Thanks for all the help and support everyone, hopefully this thread helps someone in the future.

The front end of my 96 started making some creaky noises about a month ago, Ive only had it for a couple months and the previous owner had recently installed 99 springs and bilsteins. Also looked to have new sway bar end links and new steering rack. The noise gradually worsened. I replaced the lower ball joints and tie rod end links which were in bad shape. This did nothing to improve the creaking and groaning. Finally a couple days ago I started spraying everything down with grease. Barely any improvement. Finally I realized that something must be loose. I went under it this morning and sway bar link was not tight at all both sides. Also the lower shock bolt was way loose both sides. Tightened it all up and now much less noise. Still a little creaky when I brake from slow. The top shock bolt is also very loose but has quite a few threads showing. I'm guessing this is normal. Any idea of how to tighten it while its attached? the small shaft out the top is pretty fixed to the big nut and they turn together. can't get enough leverage to turn the nut while holding the shaft still.
Think it could be causing some noise?

The top shock bolt, front or rear? Either way, no it would not be normal for that to be loose. Don’t know if it’s causing the noise, but if it’s in the front then I believe tightening it would require you to pull the shock/spring assembly, use a spring compressor to compress the spring a bit, then tighten the nut.

That top nut is what holds the shock/spring assembly together, so I suppose if it’s not tight enough it could allow for movement.


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Well, I've read a bunch of posts on this noise, but yours was the only one with a video that sounded like mine. I have a 4th Gen, not a third, but that popping sound is exactly what I get at about that same speed and situation (a bit of twisting/flexing the rig). I guess I'll check all the nuts & bolts around my suspension to see if that's the deal. Thanks for posting all this! Also, 4th Gens don't have rear UCAs, but I'll check all the connections anyway.

4th gens have generally the same rear suspension design. There are 2 upper arms back there...

-Charlie

[QUOTE=JohnOfTheJungle;3036730]What an eventful day!

Figured out the cause of the sound...turns out it was...wait for it...a loose rear upper control arm nut! So it all comes full circle and my very first hunch was correct. The nut connecting the driver’s side to the axle was hand tight.

I'm happy for you, but bummed for me. I have the exact same pop/crack sound that was in your video. I checked my rear UCA and all was torqued to spec. I guess I'm just starting off on the same journey, but with what'll be a different solution I guess.

Can't wait to try this, this weekend. Been trying to get to the bottom of it in my truck for ages now.

I have the same problem.... Anyone else have a different solution that fixed it?