Pop, Snap, Clunk on front axle.

Anyone can :helpme: me on HP Dana 30 axle. I felt popped, snap, clunk on front of xj. I thought front U-joint went bad. I replaced U joint and new wheel bearing same time on passager side. It still make same noises everytime I sharp turn over small/bigbump. I replaced driver side too. It stumped me :explosion because it still make noises. Is it possible bad axle from hard trail couple months ago. Give me any advices and I will check. :eyes:

It could be a lot of things. Track bar, ball joints... What year is it? Disconnect axle?

English isn't you're native language, is it?

As lowrange2 said, lots of different things: shock bushings top or bottom, crumbled aluminum spacer between the steering box and the unibody, cracks in the unibody.

Crawl under there with a bright light while a second set of hands turns the steering wheel slowly lock-to-lock while you observe/listen. Do this with the front wheels on the ground.

Good luck.

EDIT: always post up your BASICS--year/engine/trans/etc.

1996 Sport without disconnect axle. I will ask someone to listen while I turn steering. Thanks for input.

You may not get the exact same sound by turning the steering. If you are physically able, crawling under there for a look see while things are moving is very informative.

Post up what you find.

Good luck.

Any luck correcting this? I have the same issue that started after a case of bad death wobble recently.

Welcome to !

Have you crawled under the front of the XJ, with a bright spotlight, and observed the steering/suspension components while a second pair of hands slowly turns the steering wheel from left to right?

Things to observe: TREs--tie rod ends, not just for the tie rod either, they are on the draglink too. The axle and unibody mounts for the tracbar. Watch the steering box to see if the pitman arm shaft is wobbling, and to see if the aluminum spacer between the steering box and unibody has crumbled--common--or if the unibody has cracked at the steering box mount.

Jack the front end up and rest on a stand against the unibody. Grab the one of the tires at 12 and 6--see if you can wobble it--checking your ball joints. Next, grab the tire at 3 and 6--see if you can wobble it--checking your unit bearing. Now, do the other side.

Use a pry bar and slip it up where the UCA and LCA attach to the unibody and see how much the bushing gives. Repeat at the axle end of the arms.

I also have a pop/bang sound when the suspension travels in the front end.. I think I know what it is though.. (on my truck) Just something to check..

I was out in the woods last year (alone *shakes head) and wound up dropping the front of the truck into a deep hole where a tree had uprooted.. It looked like a small mound maybe 2 feet high, drivers side.. I had the front sway bar connected as I didn't foresee any true obstacles just out back of my house.. (hard trail.. riiight..) I put the left front tire up on it, and creeped forward.. And boom, slam, ow.. 3 hours later, a lot of digging, my girls XJ, and one heavy as a mofo chain later and I was out..

I wound up bending both of the front sway bar mounts / tabs on the axle.. I've hammered them mostly back, and had tabs welded in to strengthen them, but on the passengers side, the mount on the axle is still bent towards the tire a bit.. The sway bar quick disco is tilting towards the tire at the bottom.. Also, the cotter pin on that side always gets bent on the bottom.. I'm not sure if it's the pin or the disco itself, but it is loud enough to hear through moderately loud music / local CB chatter.. (the JKS disco's are fine btw.. lol)

Just exiting the driveway lip, backing up and turning to go right makes it pop/bang everytime.. I learned to disconnect my sway bar every time I go off pavement though..

I checked it with my friend under body and discovered the steering gear box are bad. I replaced it from junkyard. Now it doesnt make loud noises. Just small clunks. Possible bad ball joints or uca/lca bushings.