Chasing an Elusive Noise

You'd be surprised by just how loose these things were. Just moving it with my finger was enough to generate a bunch of jingling noise...and they were the same on both sides. I was going to make a brief video, but then I'd have to host it somewhere and paste a link and blah, blah, blah...now I wish I had.
 
Not sure if this is a solution albeit temporary. What if I were to run a zip tie around the uca joint above or below the c clip? If it were to be snug but not super tight it really wouldn't inhibit anything I don't think. IF the ball joint would fail I don't think a zip-tie would interfere.

May give that a whirl today to see if it works.
 
I'm sure it will work...anything to hold it steady. I'm still trying to figure out what the c-clip is actually holding there.
 
Threads like this make me thankful I have tinnitus. Yes I have heard this noise. No I haven't looked at those. I did do a cursory search and determined nothing was about to fall off, which satisfied my concerns. Thank you for your OCD condition in tracking down the part Hondarider, and for assuaging my fears of catastrophic failure. :becky:
 
Hondarider said:
Well folks...it seems that the root cause of my jingling noise has been confirmed. I went out to breakfast with the fellas this morning and came home via the bumpiest dirt road available...I rode with the windows open and I intentionally hit every bump, hole, and rock...complete silence...not a jingle...not a squeak...not a rattle...just the smooth articulation one comes to expect from a Toyota (my JK sounds like a grocery cart full of empty beer cans and wind chimes going down this same road). I think we've got it.

The fix wasn't exactly professional looking as it was executed by the light of the moon with the wheel in place, but it did the job. Smearing some black RTV around the c-clip has prevented it from rattling.
Click to expand...

:nicethread:

Thanks for running this noise down!

You may want to take it to your buddies at the dealership, let them know that this may come to them from other owners as a "ghost rattle" so they can be aware.
Heck, they may even replace yours with new clips to see if that will solve your issue for good!


EDIT: I checked mine and they are tight.
 
Last edited:
I have had this problem since ownership. Been making me nuts.

Just checked, and its the exact same thing!

You are awesome.
 
Just dug my stock UCAs out of the old parts pile. My retaining clips are tight and couldn't possibly move without leverage.
 
Went out and checked mine this morning, their loose as hell and when I move them around it replicates the sound I've been hearing. Luckily for me, my wife also has a '15 SR5 and I've never heard the noise when driving hers. Going to check hers when she gets home and see if there are any obvious differences.
 
If this thread helps one person who has been annoyed by that nagging jingle, I'm thrilled. I'm usually getting valuable information from forums...not giving it.
 
Hondarider said:
OK...I'm not going to lie...this is some extreme obsessiveness on my part...but I thought I might share. I've had a 2015 Trail since June and I've put just over 7000 miles on it. I absolutely love the vehicle, but I've had one nagging issue that's been making me mildly crazy. When I'm riding with the windows open...and I hit a bump...I hear a jingling noise of some sort from outside the vehicle. I've crawled around underneath...wiggling everything I can...tapping...banging...compressing the suspension...rocking from side to side...but I haven't been able to find it. I thought it might have been the chain for the spare tire so I secured that with a bungee cord to prevent rattling...that wasn't it. It's such a small noise, but what kind of OCD nutbag would I be if I just ignored it and moved on with my life. Today I pulled all 4 wheels off and put it up on jack stands...partly to clean the insides of my rims...partly to detail the wheel well areas...and partly to chase the little gremlin that's been taunting me. After an exhaustive search...laying hands on nearly every single suspension component...I think I might have found the source of the jingling. There is a c-clip on the upper ball joint that sits very loosely in its perch. Its completely free to rattle up and down...to and fro...at least a little bit. Enough to jingle when you hit bumps and the suspension does its thing. I checked both sides and they're exactly the same...loose. It appears to be fully assembled, but I can't be exactly sure.

Has anyone ever heard of this? Anyone hearing the noise? Anyone laid hands on their upper ball joint? I know its minor, but I figured I'd ask. Google isn't coming up with any hits so I suspect this is not a big complaint.
Click to expand...



HAHA Hondarider, I hear you! I am just as OCD when it comes to my truck. I purchased my 2015 TE a few weeks ago and that jingle was driving me crazy. It definitely is those c-clip rings. I just took a bit of hot glue and dabbed a few spots, that stopped everything......for a little while...... until I got my Camburg UCA's :thumb3: Good luck dude!
 
hi all.. are we sure that this issue is a loose c-clip?

there is literally a small chain hanging from the middle of the spare tire mounted under the vehicle? i assumed that this was the noise i was hearing.
 
A lot of folks have the spare tire chain hanging below the spare. I see 4Runners driving down the road, chain hanging down all the time. For whatever reason if the spare tire has been removed, it changes things. I had never removed my spare until my lift was installed and never saw the chain hanging down. Suddenly the chain was hanging below the wheel. I was getting noise going over bumps, during excessive braking, curvy roads, going in my driveway.... it was driving me nuts.


I removed the spare and zip tied the chain in four places to ensure absolutely zero movement. No more noise. When I get my new spare, I will make sure the chain is up, out of the way and secured.


http://www.toyota-4runner.org/2125140-post113.html
 
jb2496 said:
hi all.. are we sure that this issue is a loose c-clip?

there is literally a small chain hanging from the middle of the spare tire mounted under the vehicle? i assumed that this was the noise i was hearing.
Click to expand...

I had already eliminated the chain as the culprit early on in my investigation. Even when the chain was held taut by a bungee cord, the sound persisted. That's why I kept looking. However, when I first crawled under there and spotted the chain, I thought for sure that was the source of the noise. It was the right type of noise and it seemed completely logical. I was hugely disappointed when that wasn't it. That being said, there may very well be a noise associated with the dangling chain.
 
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