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Noisey front end?(long read w/details)

stephenfarris

NAXJA Forum User
Location
Watkinsville, GA
I know that these are hard to diagnose without hearing but here's the spill. Lets see what you guys think. I have a '99 Sport with 8.5" lift running 35" tires. It seems to be a front end noise coming from the axle when I hit certain bumps or turn sharp lefts, like u-turns. It sounds like it comes from the right/passenger side more. It sounds like a clunk or a series of clunks. The front has a new Yukon Spartan locker with new u-joints on the axles and driveshafts. The driveshaft is new with no play in the slip splines. It was a lot quieter without the front driveshaft hooked up. My TJ with an Aussie locker is not noticable on the street when turning. This jeeps clunks sometimes when hitting certain potholes. The control arm bushings are tight and the track bar is tight so I am just wondering if this locker is louder than the others. My buddy's '88 with a powertrax locker is as quiet as my TJ. I put the lockers in both units and the carrier bearings and wheel hub bearings are also tight with no noise or play. Do these things just make a lot of noise in the front end? The spring retainers are also bolted down tight so I don't think that its the springs. It really sounds like a locker that is engaged all the time on the street but I can put the front end on jack stands and still spin one tire at a time.
 
My 99 made some noise when turning. I thought for sure it was my ARB or ring/pinion gears making the noise. Took the diff cover off and everything was good, oil was clean with no chunks. Hmmm... I rotated the tires and all is good now. The tires were cupped pretty bad.

Edit: Noise was still there after changing unit bearings and ball joints.
 
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Tires are not cupped but I do have a new Maxxis bighorn on the driver's side and a 80-90%(less than 10,000 miles) tire on the right side. These are the best 2 tires on the rig. The weird part is that there was less/no noise when the driveshaft was out. I thought for sure that it was a dry u-joint on the right side that I replaced making the popping noise at full turn.
 
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