Popping sound from front right

When trying to reverse I would sometimes hear this horrible popping, as if the front axle was slipping and trying to re-engage and it came from the right side. I'd immediately push in the clutch. I am going to assume this is not normal. It would occur between 1500-2000 RPM in 4H or lo. 4L would happen faster than 4H, and 4H would usually need a bit of time with the clutch engaged before it happened. There's a similar sound if I'm in 2wd and turning the wheel. The suspension parts are less than a year old and it was doing it before I had the lift on as well. I'm a little worried about the axle here. The hubs are both less than a year old as well, and the U-Joints are 2 years old (sound was occuring before they were replaced as well).

Depending on how much you wheel your rig and how good of care you take of your joints depends on their lifespan, quality of the axle U-Joint also comes into account. If they're re-greasable are you doing it at every oil change? Also you should ALWAYS grease your axle U-Joints before and after every wheeling trip.

When you had the axles apart before, did you torque the axles back up REAL good? Like 175 ft/lbs? This is critical for the bearings and axle splines.

An easy way to tell if your axle U-joints are bad is to park your car on a flat surface, put the e-brake on and make sure its in 1st gear. Get under the car and try to turn your front driveline. If it turns in the slightest bit either your axle U-Joints or driveline U-Joints are bad. You can tell pretty much by listening and looking, i.e. see where the slop or movement is coming from, is it one of the driveline joints or one of the axle ones.

DT|Ac1d said:

Depending on how much you wheel your rig and how good of care you take of your joints depends on their lifespan, quality of the axle U-Joint also comes into account. If they're re-greasable are you doing it at every oil change? Also you should ALWAYS grease your axle U-Joints before and after every wheeling trip.

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Haven't wheeled it yet, still getting it ready. WHen I purchased it, it was in SAD shape and I've had to do a lot of work on it. Ujoints were replaced about 2 years ago. They are sealed.

winterbeater said:

When you had the axles apart before, did you torque the axles back up REAL good? Like 175 ft/lbs? This is critical for the bearings and axle splines.

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I had the axle ujoints done at the same time I had the engine replaced. I didn't have the time to do an engine swap so I had a good friend do it as his shop, so the answer is I don't know.

DTjAc1d said:

An easy way to tell if your axle U-joints are bad is to park your car on a flat surface, put the e-brake on and make sure its in 1st gear. Get under the car and try to turn your front driveline. If it turns in the slightest bit either your axle U-Joints or driveline U-Joints are bad. You can tell pretty much by listening and looking, i.e. see where the slop or movement is coming from, is it one of the driveline joints or one of the axle ones.

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This is how I figured out they were bad in the first place sort of, only I took the wheel off and could see the slop. I can't put it in first as it's manual, it would simply stall out.

I'm fairly certain it's not the U-joints, but I'll check again since there's a lot of suggestions saying to check them and I could easily be wrong! Could it be anything else besides Ujoints?

Well, when you were talking about popping in 4WD, and the different speeds between Hi and lo, it made me think about the chain in the transfer case skipping. Sorry to even bring it up, but you need to consider everything and try to separate symptoms.

And I don't think your problem is your new(er) U joints, but they can also fail by drying out and getting stiff, without having slop and free play. This is harder to detect than being sloppy. You have to pull the axle and check to see if it still moves freely or is freezing up.

winterbeater said:

Well, when you were talking about popping in 4WD, and the different speeds between Hi and lo, it made me think about the chain in the transfer case skipping. Sorry to even bring it up, but you need to consider everything and try to separate symptoms.

And I don't think your problem is your new(er) U joints, but they can also fail by drying out and getting stiff, without having slop and free play. This is harder to detect than being sloppy. You have to pull the axle and check to see if it still moves freely or is freezing up.

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The chain..I hadn't even considered that! The trans, tcase, and front end are the only really original parts left (other than the steering components). I may just purchase a tcase and rebuild it then put it on. What's left of the original parts are over 300,000 miles now.

If you take the cover off, you should be able to tell.

winterbeater said:

If you take the cover off, you should be able to tell.

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As old as it is, I generally go by the better safe than sorry practice and replace the parts anyway. 300,000 and not maintained well, I'll probably just rebuild a tcase and replace the one I have with it.

Well, the front passenger side ujoint was bad. I replaced it. I am hearing a rather suspicious squeak still, however, and it's coming from the tcase, but I can't tell if it's from where the tcase and the front ds meet up, or if it's deeper in the tcase. Sound seems to go away above 25 MPH.