[hntr45]

Hey guys, need some help isolating a popping noise coming from the driver front side of my truck. I have a 2013 PRO4X. I notice it going at a crawl going straight in parking lots, talking about 5mph, seems to get a little worse when I hit the brakes. It also seems like I have to drive the truck for a little while before it will start popping. Suspension articulation does not change the noise, it still remains on flat ground. I have replaced my lower control arms with OEM ones with adjustable bolts, also replaced sway bar bushings, struts with Bilstein 5100's, outer tie rod ends with OEM ones, and wheel bearings. I would not think this is a CV axle issue since I do not have to be turning for it to occur, I have physically tried to move the CV axle by hand, but it is tight, no play. Front drive shaft seems OK as well. It does it in 2wd as well as 4wd, so would not expect a front diff issue. Any advice on what to check next? Thanks.

 

[dubyam]

Maybe R&R your upper ball joints?

 

[hntr45]

Maybe R&R your upper ball joints?

I have thought about it, but am a bit worried about it knowing how tough it was to do the lower control arms, dont really want to deal with the rusted bolts.

 

[busemans]

we just did the front end stuff on my son's car and his popped prior, and still pops in the exact same way you are describing. we have narrowed it down to the cv in the new front bearing and hub assembly. i don't know if the cv has some wear since it was in the other bearing or if the new bearing just has a little more clearance then the original one but thats where its at.

we found out by retightening everything one part at a time and it got a lot less when we did the cv axle nut to more then the torque spec called for, unfortunately. probably have to replace the cv to get rid of it now thats past torque and still doing it

 

[54warrior]

The lower control arms DO slide back and forth in the mounts. I've read of stories where that causes a popping/clunking type of noise. P R G makes special washers to install in there to prevent that. Or just buy some 1/8" thick plastic washers and notch them into C-Shapes to slip in there (thats what I did)

 

[Kevkno]

If it wasn’t popping before you replaced things there’s a good chance something isn’t tight. One time it was my upper control arm bolts, recently it was my lower control arm adjustable cam bolts. That one drove me nuts as it would only pop loudly when reversing while turning. I found that one myself after taking it to my shop to fix. They couldn’t tell where it was coming from. Just today I got the truck back after chasing down a popping sound under hard acceleration. Recently had all the mounts replaced and I suspected something was loose after install. Took a different shop a while to pinpoint it but yep, one of the engine mounts was loose. Retorqued the mount bolts and no more popping. So there is a pattern here. Loose bolts can manifest as pops and creaks. They may seem tight but sometimes if they are not torqued to spec they will be “loose”.