Front Suspension noise, driving me nuts.. ideas and recommendations welcome.

[ejason]

Trail with ICON suspension. It has the tubular UCA and extended icon coil overs. For the life of me i can't find where the noise is coming from. I attached a video. So to all those with more knowledge, Help a brother out.. Can really hear it when coming to a stop or turning slowly. I jacked the passenger side up the other day to check it out and heard a load noise, like a pop, like the spring was caught on something. Only thing is nothing is touching the spring.



4runner 2 - YouTube

 

[jnance50]

Check the tightness of your swaybar connection points / mounts. I've had 2 clunks on my truck - one in the rear and one in the front - both were the swaybar after I did my lift (non-kdss).

The way I was able to reproduce my issue was by cutting the wheel all the way a direction, start moving either forward or reverse slowly (<1mph) and hit the brakes. Mind you my suspension might be softer than yours so that may not be enough "bounce" to reproduce.

The only other thing I can think of (apart from checking that EVERY bolt is tight) is look for rub marks on the swaybar / spring / upper control arms. Sometimes there is contact between the spring and those two items depending on the setup and alignment.

Good luck!

 

[El Diablo 82]

Has the noise always been there since the lift or did it occur after a specific event?

Anything loose in the engine bay? It maybe the sound quality of the video through my phone but it doesn't sound like any suspension noise I'm familiar with. It sounds like something is loose and rattling against a metal part. As mentioned above look for signs of rubbing.

How many miles are on it?

Are the lugs torqued to spec?

Is the noise clearly from the front suspension or can it be starting somewhere else like the exhaust etc?

Maybe some of the more qualified experts can weigh in but that noise would drive me insane so I hope you figure it out soon.

 

[ejason]

Has the noise always been there since the lift or did it occur after a specific event?
No, it was not making any noise right after the install
Anything loose in the engine bay? It maybe the sound quality of the video through my phone but it doesn't sound like any suspension noise I'm familiar with. It sounds like something is loose and rattling against a metal part. As mentioned above look for signs of rubbing. No everything is tight, nothing loose.

How many miles are on it?51000

Are the lugs torqued to spec? yes

Is the noise clearly from the front suspension or can it be starting somewhere else like the exhaust etc? 100% coming from the passenger side suspension area.

Maybe some of the more qualified experts can weigh in but that noise would drive me insane so I hope you figure it out soon.

The only other thing I've added after the install was the front bumper.
Other thing i noticed was the LCA had movement back and forth when going slow that coincided with the noise i little.
I filmed this with the gopro and in HD you can see the movement much clearer than the uploaded video

 

[ejason]

Check the tightness of your swaybar connection points / mounts. I've had 2 clunks on my truck - one in the rear and one in the front - both were the swaybar after I did my lift (non-kdss).I have the KDSS and everything is tight

The way I was able to reproduce my issue was by cutting the wheel all the way a direction, start moving either forward or reverse slowly (<1mph) and hit the brakes. Mind you my suspension might be softer than yours so that may not be enough "bounce" to reproduce.

The only other thing I can think of (apart from checking that EVERY bolt is tight) is look for rub marks on the swaybar / spring / upper control arms. Sometimes there is contact between the spring and those two items depending on the setup and alignment.the swaybar on the KDSS doesn't really come close to the coilovers.

Good luck!

Thanks for the ideas.

 

[Intruder]

 

[El Diablo 82]

Well the LCA shouldn't be moving front to back. After a recent alignment I noticed my LCA bolts weren't torqued to spec which could have been one of the reasons for a recent clank.

 

[QSVeilside]

Your UCA ball joint and bushings need grease. My total chaos UCA's on my 07 FJ made the same noise every three months, (loud creaks with turns - even when turning the wheel while stationary, and going over bumps in the road).

 

[ejason]

Well the LCA shouldn't be moving front to back. After a recent alignment I noticed my LCA bolts weren't torqued to spec which could have been one of the reasons for a recent clank.

I didn't think they should move much.. hmm I did check the bolts and they are spec.

 

[ejason]

Your UCA ball joint and bushings need grease. My total chaos UCA's on my 07 FJ made the same noise every three months, (loud creaks with turns - even when turning the wheel while stationary, and going over bumps in the road).

Just had them greased up and two new zerks installed on the pass. side.
I may just have to turn up the music. Seems like a lot of people have had in some form or another noisy suspensions. I'm not used to it and just don't like it. This is the third lift i've installed and the first where i've had any type of issue. (i 1st gen 4runner and two Montero's).

Unfortunately i crashed on my Mountain bike OTB,, and jacked up my hand. Still can't make a fist and have to wear a brace for two more weeks. Had two small breaks on two fingers and a bad jam on the middle. This stops me from working on this myself and its driving me nuts. On the bright side, i can now tie my shoes.

 

[QSVeilside]

Just had them greased up and two new zerks installed on the pass. side.

I'm still positive it's the either the bushings or the ball joint itself. Try nailing the UCA with WD40, (temporary diagnostic test, not to be used long term). If that works, you need more grease buddy.

 

[enkrypt3d]

Did you figure this out? Im having the same problems with my ICONs...

on the video at 0:37, you can see the LCA pop forward and at the same time it makes that sound which seems to correspond with the issue?

Let me know as I might just replace both upper and lower control arms with total chaos! Thanks

 

[cpadavana]

Did you ever figure out the noise. I've got the same issue with my Trail and Icon suspension. 4 wheels parts seemed to think it was the springs so they are replacing them.

 

[enkrypt3d]

nope i've just learned to live with it... I think it might be the LCA's....