2 year long popping sound still unsolved..

[knightsfs4]

I took my car to an alignment shop and the guy who worked on my truck checked every bolt on the front suspension. He claimed that this issue could be the upper strut mounts, but I replaced both of them with moog mounts over a year ago and have still had this persistent sound. I set up my gopro and took a video of each side of the suspension and I will put the links below.

I really have no idea where this sound could be coming from and its pretty frustrating considering my front suspension is all quality aftermarket parts and I have had this issue for over 3 years now. Any help is greatly appreciated.

LISTEN CLOSELY!

Left Side: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vDP-haFeI5w&feature=youtu.be

Right Side: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CWYi_cvtVqY&feature=youtu.be

 

[shahsmerdis]

I took my car to an alignment shop and the guy who worked on my truck checked every bolt on the front suspension. He claimed that this issue could be the upper strut mounts, but I replaced both of them with moog mounts over a year ago and have still had this persistent sound. I set up my gopro and took a video of each side of the suspension and I will put the links below.

I really have no idea where this sound could be coming from and its pretty frustrating considering my front suspension is all quality aftermarket parts and I have had this issue for over 3 years now. Any help is greatly appreciated.

LISTEN CLOSELY!

Left Side: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vDP-haFeI5w&feature=youtu.be

Right Side: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CWYi_cvtVqY&feature=youtu.be

skid plate and everything has all the bolts in it right? Start wacking the tire with a hammer like eric the car guy here

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=scFbb43fwqk

Maybe it will help? Man, you seem very sad in your first video, hope you find it.

 

[knightsfs4]

Better videos from under:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hQvny_R90l0&feature=youtu.be

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l-PU3hPvck4

 

[exo_toy.]

I had a smiliar noise that your having i found the noise coming from the lower control arm. I took my impact gun and tighten it down the guy at the aliment shop didnt tighten it down enough. Since then i have not had a noise if i was you ill take the impact and start zapping every nut or bolt just dont break them off

X3.

My LCA adjuster bolts creak once In a while. Especially when I back out of the driveway off the curb with the wheels turned. It's hard to pinpoint the noise, but that's what I found. It started after I had done the front struts and got it back from the alignment shop. I've tightened them a few times, but I think I'll put some blue loc-tite on there next.

 

[blackoutt]

The clank in video GOPRO107 at 0:23, I am able to replicate this sound when I push/pull on my CV shafts rapidly along their axis. The CV shaft has some freedom to float in/out of the hub as well as the cup on the diff end. I've heard this sound while driving when turning and going over the steep curb into my driveway both forward and reverse. I can try to take a video to show you what I mean.

The other thing that concerns me is the amount of lift you have. When I tried to put a 1/2" thick (for more lift)+ 1/4" thick (for drivers side lean) spacer on top of my 885's on 5100's at lowest notch I had severe CV binding at the inner cup on the driver side. This was a continuous clunk clunk clunk on acceleration (when the front suspension drooped slightly), and when I jacked it up to full droop I could not spin the drivers side wheel. Maybe your binding isn't as bad so it just barely binds at full droop when you bit a bump. You could either pull the top plate spacers, jack it up and spin the wheels while pushing the CV's into the diff for least clearance, or pull the inner CV boots back to look for witness marks on the shafts.

Just a couple more ideas that I hope will help!

 

[blackoutt]

Any updates? I get a popping sound and a jerk when I turn full lock left then it seems like it'll pop over ever bump until it settles back out. No pops for a while until I crank the wheel again. I'm going to retorque my LCA bolts and see if that helps.

Similar setup and parts replaced to the OP, just about everything is new on mine except the axles and steering rack. It sounds like a ball joint pop but they are new and tight:

OME 885's on 5100's
New wheel bearings and seal
New upper strut mounts/bushings
Moog LCA bushings and greasable bolts
Moog LCA ball joints
SPC upper control arms
Moog inner/outer tie rods
Moog sway bar links
Poly sway bar bushings
Sway bar relocate brackets

 

[tc05runner]

I had a similar issue turned out to be my Lowe control arm bushings. Everything is gone now. Now that I had pretty much everything replaced up front it's all nice and tight

 

[Sisente]

Pull your skid plates, and paint/prime all frame parts, and oil/grease all moving parts. Give it a drive, and then see if you can see some wear either on the painted, or oiled/greased parts. Leave your skid plates off while testing, simply to eliminate them. my two cents

 

[blackoutt]

I had a similar issue turned out to be my Lowe control arm bushings. Everything is gone now. Now that I had pretty much everything replaced up front it's all nice and tight

Even though my lower control arm bushings and bolts were new, when I was jacking the front end up slowly I heard the POP! and saw the driver side control arm jolt a little bit. So I dropped back onto the ground and slowly lifted it again to confirm. It wouldn't do it everytime but cycling it I could get it to pop one way and then back. It looks like the bushings in the LCA are binding/catching on the sleeve and then once wound up to enough spring force in the rubber they release and make a pop/clunk. I didn't want to mess with the alignment so I pumped them full of more grease and found that the rear bolts were barely tight. Tightened those up and cycled it a bunch then road test. Clunk is gone for now.....

 

[tc05runner]

That's good you checked it. I think mine wore out pretty much from having full time 4wd. Driving aggressive I'm sure doesn't help either, causing premature wearing on those bushing. Didn't have any problems with my Tacoma with optional 4wd. That's my opinion unless some one knows that a lot of the runners have this problem, correct me if I'm wrong please.

 

[shahsmerdis]

Even though my lower control arm bushings and bolts were new, when I was jacking the front end up slowly I heard the POP! and saw the driver side control arm jolt a little bit. So I dropped back onto the ground and slowly lifted it again to confirm. It wouldn't do it everytime but cycling it I could get it to pop one way and then back. It looks like the bushings in the LCA are binding/catching on the sleeve and then once wound up to enough spring force in the rubber they release and make a pop/clunk. I didn't want to mess with the alignment so I pumped them full of more grease and found that the rear bolts were barely tight. Tightened those up and cycled it a bunch then road test. Clunk is gone for now.....

where did you jack it (any where in specific?) everytime you jacked it up and down you could reproduce the sound? This clunking sound is really ruining the feel of the car. Ill try sway bar bushings first when the weather warms up.

 

[t-rex grrr]

I had a popping sound that would happen only when reversing out of a parking lot with the wheel fully locked towards the driver. I never figured out what caused it, but when I removed my front sway bar, the sound went away.

 

[blackoutt]

where did you jack it (any where in specific?) everytime you jacked it up and down you could reproduce the sound? This clunking sound is really ruining the feel of the car. Ill try sway bar bushings first when the weather warms up.

I was jacking up right in the middle of the front crossmember with the front skid plate removed.

As an update, after driving a bunch of backroads this weekend the clunk/pop became noticeable again. It's definitely coming from the LCA and sounds like the videos in this thread...

LCA bushing failure - Toyota 120 Platforms Forum

I guess this means my "new" LCA bushings replaced less than 5,000 miles ago are shot already somehow? I just put new ball joints in those arms at the same time too but I'm thinking of buying complete new arms to avoid the headache that the bushings were.

Things that me and the OP have in common, we both used the Moog parts so I think I'll try something else this time around.

Edit: I order OEM bolts and adjusters to replace the moog greaseable bolts after reading about how they can round out the adjuster eccentrics and slop around in the bushings. Will replace the bushings next with another brand if the issue persists.

 

[blackoutt]

As an update for anyone following this issue, I replaced the Moog greaseable front lower control arm bolts for the rearward location with OEM parts (bolt, cam adjuster, and nut) and my clunk is gone. I've driven it for a couple days on these bolts slamming pot holes, speed bumps, tall curbs into the driveway, k turns and all sorts of things that used to throw my suspension off, no clunks. The steering wheel feels tighter now and doesn't shake over potholes like it used to, now I really like the heavier return to center feel of 3.5 degrees caster. While in there I also inspected the Moog control arm bushings. They were not torn, loose, or damaged so I think I'll keep them for now.

Moog bolts measured 14mm dia down the entire length of the bolt, Toyota bolts measures 12mm dia for most of the bolts length with a 14mm shoulder on the bolt head end. I don't believe the diameter difference has any effect, but more the cam plate play when mounting on the bolt, and strength of the cam plates to resist being bent into dish shapes when torqueing to spec and being able to hold that torque. Moog cam plate D holes were slightly wallowed out so they could be moved to show estimated 15-20 degrees difference from one cam to the other. Toyota cams could be moved maybe 5 degrees difference. The Toyota hardware made the Moog stuff look like the cheapest chinese knockoff imaginable when placed side by side. Lesson learned on this one.

 

[shahsmerdis]

As an update for anyone following this issue, I replaced the Moog greaseable front lower control arm bolts for the rearward location with OEM parts (bolt, cam adjuster, and nut) and my clunk is gone. I've driven it for a couple days on these bolts slamming pot holes, speed bumps, tall curbs into the driveway, k turns and all sorts of things that used to throw my suspension off, no clunks. The steering wheel feels tighter now and doesn't shake over potholes like it used to, now I really like the heavier return to center feel of 3.5 degrees caster. While in there I also inspected the Moog control arm bushings. They were not torn, loose, or damaged so I think I'll keep them for now.

Moog bolts measured 14mm dia down the entire length of the bolt, Toyota bolts measures 12mm dia for most of the bolts length with a 14mm shoulder on the bolt head end. I don't believe the diameter difference has any effect, but more the cam plate play when mounting on the bolt, and strength of the cam plates to resist being bent into dish shapes when torqueing to spec and being able to hold that torque. Moog cam plate D holes were slightly wallowed out so they could be moved to show estimated 15-20 degrees difference from one cam to the other. Toyota cams could be moved maybe 5 degrees difference. The Toyota hardware made the Moog stuff look like the cheapest chinese knockoff imaginable when placed side by side. Lesson learned on this one.

I know everyone is trying to save a few bucks, but unless you are doing some serious off roading, OEM is safe choice, and like most poeple here doing their own work, going from 2k quote from dealership to 600 dollars just for the parts, especially how most of these cars are going to last if properly maintained, and if rust doesn't get to it first.

Now that its warmer, I am going to order oem sway bar and bushings (sway bar boots are already ripped), see if that fixes my clunk. if not ill use a pry tool to try and find out what my clunk is.

 

[blackoutt]

It's best to find the source of the clunk first - then replace parts otherwise you're wasting time and money. A huge pry bar, a floor jack, jack stands, and 2x4 scraps for wedging the pry bar various ways can be helpful. I was able to replicate my clunk by cycling the suspension and watching the LCA move off of an axis where it should have been constrained.

 

[blackoutt]

Since I'm jacking this thread to chronical my findings I guess I'll post up here again. Current status is OEM LCA's rebuilt with Moog bushings about 5k miles ago, Moog greasable bolt in the front location and OEM hardware in the rear location about 1k miles ago. Source of clunk is from rear LCA location when cycling suspension, or loading sideways. It really just sounds like a bad bushing. When I first put the OEM rear hardware in the clunk went away but then came back. I've noticed that it's worse when offroading (clunking every little flex all day long) and also for some reason it's worse when wet (raining or drove through a water hole).

I've since sourced the from OEM hardware and new Mevotech Supreme LCA's to be installed when I get a chance. I plan on measuring all the critical dimensions of both sets of parts when I do the job and hopefully come to some meaningful conclusion.

 

[EdmundGTP]

I had a few mystery sounds (popish clunks) coming from the front of my Runner a while back. Mostly when reversing out of a driveway with the steering cocked far to the left or right.

Didn't really try to do an acute diagnosis of the source. It was time for me to upgrade the suspension anyway so I put in all new coilovers, LCA's, end links, brake rotors and pads, pins, springs, etc. Made a list and pretty much replaced everything that could possibly cause weird noises along with doing the coilover install. I bought the Moog replacement LCA bolts, but decided not to use them. My OEM's were in good shape and the Moogs just didn't look as strong for the application.

Noises gone. Not 100% certain but I'm pretty confident the noises were LCA related. I used replacements from 1A auto, and saved my OEM's with the intent to rebuild them and keep them on hand as spares if needed. So far the 1A's are working just fine.

Don't know if any of that helps. Just figured I'd toss it out there.

 

[blackoutt]

So I finally got around to installing new mevotech supreme LCAs to replace my OEM rebuilt with Moog bushings. As promised I took a minute to measure all the dimensions of the two bushings to compare. My findings were that they were equivalent in inner diameter at both ends as well as length for both bushing locations. It's also worth noting that the mevotech had a thicker sleeve running between both end plates while the Moog's end plates appeared to have bent off axis with the sleeve they are part of. During the measurements, the front bushing fell out.... I think I've found my problem. The bushing was free to rotate in the arm. Moog bolts dimensions did not match OEM bolts. The diameters were slightly small and threaded length was longer although that would only allow a tighter grip on the bushing so not sure if that's an issue. The moog alignment cams were bent and wallowed out as expected. I'll report back once it's back together and test driven.

And the other side was like that too. 2 mile test drive is much quieter and stable. I should have done this months ago.

Got an alignment and did another 100 miles, it even rained which is when previously they would clunk the most. 0 clunks. Hopefully this is my last post in this thread and good luck to the OP.