What could this noise be ?

K

kolelt

New member
Guys, I've changed my rack and pinion. OEM! new OEM outer tie rods, OEM LBJ passenger side 10k under. Driver side OEM LBJ with 100 miles. New sway bar bushings.

Every time the suspension travels up and down or when I make turns I hear a slap/pop/thump noise when the suspension travels up and down or when I make turns. Like yesterday I was turning around in a parking lot and it made a pop noise.

I do have a worn out rear u joint.
 
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kolelt said:
Guys, I've changed my rack and pinion. OEM! new OEM outer tie rods, OEM LBJ passenger side 10k under. Driver side OEM LBJ with 100 miles. New sway bar bushings.

Every time the suspension travels up and down or when I make turns I hear a slap/pop/thump noise when the suspension travels up and down or when I make turns. Like yesterday I was turning around in a parking lot and it made a pop noise.

I do have a worn out rear u joint.
Click to expand...

What about your lower control arm bushings? Those are known to wear out and cause movement and noise like you're describing.
 
kolelt said:
Guys, I've changed my rack and pinion. OEM! new OEM outer tie rods, OEM LBJ passenger side 10k under. Driver side OEM LBJ with 100 miles. New sway bar bushings.

Every time the suspension travels up and down or when I make turns I hear a slap/pop/thump noise when the suspension travels up and down or when I make turns. Like yesterday I was turning around in a parking lot and it made a pop noise.

I do have a worn out rear u joint.
Click to expand...

I had to get underneath mine and bench press the front suspension to find my sway bar links where they bolt to the LCA were loose. I really thought I got them tight.
 
Forgot to mention that I replaced my LCA bushings also while I was doing the rack.

Sway bar links are less then a year old. From [MENTION=98153]MStudt[/MENTION]
 
JRZEE2000TR4LTD said:
I had to get underneath mine and bench press the front suspension to find my sway bar links where they bolt to the LCA were loose. I really thought I got them tight.
Click to expand...

I will try that. But I torqued them.....

Nothing more frustrating then replacing whole front end and still hear noise.
 
I had a front strut on my Saturn come apart internally and would thump over every little bump.


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19963.4lsr5 said:
I had a front strut on my Saturn come apart internally and would thump over every little bump.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
Click to expand...

I have ICON 2.5 Shocks all around. Not even a year old. I don't see anything that would indicate leakage or anything.

The bump is not so much "every time". It's more once in a while when the suspension kinda at slow speed goes down and comes up over whoop or bump. And turning.


I wonder if it could be my UCA ? Maybe worn out uniball ?

More over a slow bump. And it feels on right side. Passenger
 
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Good info in this video:



Edit:

I had a sway bar link get clunky probably six months after I changed them. I figured it out by taking the sway bar apart and securing it. Then when I drove it, the intermittent clunk went away.

Got new links and put a swaybar drop in. Going well ever since.

Good luck. They are frustrating!
 
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kolelt said:
Nothing more frustrating then replacing whole front end and still hear noise.
Click to expand...

I've been dealing with this very issue for over a year, the thing is mine mostly goes away when it's cold out but since it's getting warmer out and I have the windows rolled down, I can really hear it... I even put a camera on the belly in few different positions but can't pinpoint where the sound is coming from. Granted I have not done the rack and pinion or the steering rack/control arm bushings but everything else is done... It's really annoying to say the least.
 
When I bought the 97 Limited "puppy hauler" the bump and thump was the lack of a rubber bushing in the passenger side mount.

You could remove the swaybar and see if a link is falling apart.

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When I was doing my rack and pinion. The sway bar end links were in good shape. The bottom part of the sway bar link is like a heim joint.

I'm going to try to jack up the front and inspect it more. But seriously, the whole front end is brand new. Minus cv axle, and UCA uniball.
 
Just jacked up the front. Checked everything seems all tight and good. I noticed if I take my driver side wheel and wiggle it side to side. I notice little play in the inner tie rod. WTF BRAND NEW OEM RADK AND PINION with 50 miles on it from me. Maybe it's lose ?
 
kolelt said:
...yesterday I was turning around in a parking lot and it made a pop noise.
Click to expand...

Do you have any previous experience with heim joints? I don't & I have no idea how long they are supposed to last but I've heard they can make noise as they begin to wear. Over the last several months I've noticed an occasional popping sound coming from the front suspension area when making slow turns in parking lots. I thought it was my outer tie rods but after doing a very general front end inspection I haven't been able to confirm anything. After reading your thread it made me think to give the heim joints on my sway bar end links a quick check.

If it turns out to be the heim joints for me, I can live with the noise as long as it is not an indication that it's about to fall apart.
 
Just jacked up the front. Checked everything seems all tight and good. I noticed if I take my driver side wheel and wiggle it side to side. I notice little play in the inner tie rod. WTF BRAND NEW OEM RADK AND PINION with 50 miles on it from me. Maybe it's lose ?
 
fourfive said:
Do you have any previous experience with heim joints? I don't & I have no idea how long they are supposed to last but I've heard they can make noise as they begin to wear. Over the last several months I've noticed an occasional popping sound coming from the front suspension area when making slow turns in parking lots. I thought it was my outer tie rods but after doing a very general front end inspection I haven't been able to confirm anything. After reading your thread it made me think to give the heim joints on my sway bar end links a quick check.

If it turns out to be the heim joints for me, I can live with the noise as long as it is not an indication that it's about to fall apart.
Click to expand...

Your guess is as good as mine lol.

I'm going nuts here. I noticed that it's basically when I turn the wheel back and forth while driving. It sounds kinda nasty under the feet.

I highly doubt it's my rack ? It's OEM brand new.
 
fourfive said:
If there aren't any other steering rack related symptoms (decreased steering response/control, leaking, alignment issues, etc) I wouldn't rule it in just yet.
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I wish I could figure out how to duplicate the noise! Ok so here is the break down of my new parts. And this is all brand new. Like not even 100 miles on it.

-OEM rack and pinion
-OEM inner tie rods
-OEM outer tie rods
-OEM LBJ
-poly sway bar bushings

What's old: UCA uniball, sway bar links. But they are like heim joins and seem stiff.
 
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