Novak Conversions Jeep Wrangler TJ engine mounts

Front end pop driving me nuts

DropTopDon

DropTopDon

TJ Enthusiast
Original poster
Joined
Nov 7, 2019
Messages
642
Location
VA
I am having this popping noise/feeling in the steering wheel when I turn my steering wheel. I have done a dry steering test and noticed my track bar was loose. Replaced the bushings in both ends of it and re-torqued it. Coincidentally the pop went away for a few days. It is back now and I have no clue what it is. The track bar is still tight. It is harder for the pop to come out during a dry steering test, as I only heard it once during a dry steering test but whenever I am driving I hear it more often on tighter turns and parking lots. The tie rod has been replaced recently also. I also have a slight shimmy in the steering wheel at 45 - 55 mph, though I have heard shimmy's are caused by unbalanced tires which would be unrelated to the popping. The U-joints have no play either. I was thinking maybe control arm bushings?
 
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You're absolutely certain the axle shaft u-joints aren't the source of that popping sound? When it's a bad u-joint it makes more noise during turns, especially tight turns.
 
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Jerry Bransford said:
You're absolutely certain the axle shaft u-joints aren't the source of that popping sound? When it's a bad u-joint it makes more noise during turns, especially tight turns.
Click to expand...
Well I had the front end jacked up and tried pushing/pulling on the tire and there was no movement. That is all the diagnosis I have done as far as the u-joints go. Is there a more efficient way of checking them?
 
I'd jack up the front-end and shift into 4Hi or 4Lo and rotate the front tires back & forth to see if there's any movement on the u-joint where there shouldn't be. The u-joint's bearing caps held in place by the ears on the axle shaft and knuckle are supposed to rotate when turning left or right but there should be no slop or cocking of the bearing caps where they seat against the u-joint's body.
 
This video does a good job showing how to check ujoints. I don't recommend changing them with a press like he does in another video, though.

 
There was no slop or cocking in the bearing caps. I marked them with sharpie just in case and I’ll check after a day or two of driving if the lines still line up.
 
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Do you have track bar drop bracket? That used to cause a pop for me.
Since removing it the pop has gone away for some time but after doing a few tight turns over bouncy obstacles it is back and just like yours is hard to replicate.

Do you have another person to help you? If someone can observe, it will be very obvious where it happens when it happens.
You can also use a phone, use double sided tape or zip ties to fixate it in some location and record a video.



PXL_20220530_172645810~2.jpg
 
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I have a very similar pop. It's loud, you can feel it and almost sounds like energy being released. It only happens when the wheels are turned and you are taking off, or reversing to a stop with the wheels turned to almost full lock. Like the OP Che ked the entire front end, springs and play in the axel u joint.
 
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eastbloc said:
Do you have track bar drop bracket? That used to cause a pop for me.
Since removing it the pop has gone away for some time but after doing a few tight turns over bouncy obstacles it is back and just like yours is hard to replicate.

Do you have another person to help you? If someone can observe, it will be very obvious where it happens when it happens.
You can also use a phone, use double sided tape or zip ties to fixate it in some location and record a video.



View attachment 366525
Click to expand...

I had a dropped pitman arm bracket do that once, like to never found it, and also had a transmission crossmember do it as the frame flexed.

It is amazing how visible everything is yet a pop can be so elusive.
 
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Finally caught it on video during a dry steering test. You can hear it in this video when I turn hard passenger. Nothing looks loose. The marks I put on the U-Joints are still linear but not sure if I should rule them out yet.
 
DropTopDon said:
View attachment 366774


Finally caught it on video during a dry steering test. You can hear it in this video when I turn hard passenger. Nothing looks loose. The marks I put on the U-Joints are still linear but not sure if I should rule them out yet.
Click to expand...

It is possible to get enough axle movement when you turn the wheels sitting still to cause the coil springs to pop-

I would for sure make sure your gearbox is not loose at the frame-

- You can spray some WD-40 around your upper track bar bushing’s (if you are running the stock clevite) if the passenger side is loose in the mount it might quieten it down enough to tell you there’s a problem.

- Sometimes you can put your hand on a component and it will help you to feel where the movement is coming from

Keep us posted when you learn we all learn
 
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What Andy said.

Video shows a slight jerk of the body after snap, but poor quality is not revealing anything.
When mine was snapping it was very obvious, yours is very faint. If you gonna try again, turn on the light and bring camera closer.
 
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Have someone else turn the wheel so you can be down there. Put hands on components, joints so you can feel where it’s coming from.

On another note.. I had a knock. Solution was to re-toque every bolt underneath. The irony was I thought it was in front, so I re-torqued just the front initially. Still had the knock, so I went over everything from middle back and it was all good. Lesson: you can’t always tell from inside the Jeep where the sound is coming from.
 
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Went wheeling and had the sway bar removed. Not sure if it was a coincidence but with the sway bar removed I don't think I heard it pop. I may not have been looking for it though. The sway bar is back on now. I am hearing a binding/clicking noise at low speed acceleration and braking also which is new. I wanted to change my diff fluid anyways so I am going to open the diffs and check the gears to see if it has anything to do with the binding/clicking noise. If that all checks out, I think I am going to go ahead and replace the axle u joints in hopes of fixing the popping but even if not it will be good preventative maintenance since I think they have never been changed before. I guess the only question I have is can I jack up the rear and move the tires while the diff is open to check if everything is all good? As for the pop I will try re torquing everything underneath and more dry steering tests before replacing the u-joints.
 
@DropTopDon

Yes, you can open the diff and turn the wheels to check the gears.

I would definitely torque everything underneath before doing anything else. All body mounts, control arms, shocks, trackbars, sway bars
 
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So it only does it one time per tight turn.
Sounds like something is catching, then jumping.
I would look for bolt heads that might be too close to a bracket at full turn.
 
Have someone turn the wheel back and fourth while you look at the top of the passenger side spring. I chased a popping noise for a while and discovered the spring was binding on the shock/spring tower then releasing in a pop. You can see it binding in the picture.

gstkna1-jpg.177969
 
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