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Another Ball Joint replacement ?

Steering box shim... is that the OE Aluminum part that typically breaks apart on these rigs? Is there any way to check that without removing it? I'm going to see if I can get my wife to crank on the wheel while I'm under checking things. It only seems to happen when I'm backing and hit a few bumps. Not like bump steer, just a pop sound and you can feel it in your feet ... hard to describe but I appreciate the ideas here.

Sounds about like what mine is doing right now. Brand new track bar a few years ago (all pavement driving... it's not even 4wd yet.)

Yeah, it's that part. It being aluminum isn't that big a deal aside from it corroding to the bolts and breaking them when you try to unscrew them. I'm not sure about checking it but if you can have her saw the wheel back and forth and pinpoint the pop noise to somewhere between the box and frame rail, it's either the bolts being loose, spacer being cracked, or the frame rail being cracked, so at that point it's gotta come apart regardless.

I'm 99% sure mine is the track bar bracket being loose on the frame. I haven't put my other daily driver crapcan back together yet (broke a bolt off in the engine block reinstalling the PS pump...), so I'm very reluctant to mess with bolts I may break until the other car's ready to go :laugh:
 
So I went ahead and ordered a new JCR Offroad Steering Box Brace to see if that takes care of this noise / pop from the drivers side front.

I've seen various how-to's on this and wondered if I'd need to remove my OE Front Bumper in order to get access to the 3 bolts that hold it on? If so, I'll have to make more time for this project since the OE bumper has never been removed on my '01 to my knowledge.
 
No need to remove the bumper. Easy job. My jeep is a rust bucket but those 3 bolts came right out. Total job took ten minutes....

Sent from my SM-G950U using Tapatalk
 
No need to remove the bumper. Easy job. My jeep is a rust bucket but those 3 bolts came right out. Total job took ten minutes....

Sent from my SM-G950U using Tapatalk

That's good to hear. Just got notification on the shipping f/ JCR. Kinda surprised it took them 3 days to get the thing in the mail given the $15 mailing charge on a $59 part. Oh well... it's the Holiday season so maybe they're backed up. :)
 
Have you tried temporarily removing your sway bar to see if the popping noise is still there? I see that you replaced the bushings with "poly". I have found the dealer bushings at the frame to be the best.
 
Also pay heed to Kastein's comments about the steering box bolts breaking at the aluminum frame mount. Tightening then loosening with an impact back and forth until they start to move will greatly reduce the chance of snapping them off and needing heat to get them out.
 
Have you tried temporarily removing your sway bar to see if the popping noise is still there? I see that you replaced the bushings with "poly". I have found the dealer bushings at the frame to be the best.

I have not. I know the poly bushings have been lubed up good, but that doesn't mean they're not the culprit. End-links and bushings are both f/ Energy Suspension if that matters. If the new Power steering spacers doesn't fix it, I'll try removing the sway bar and see what happens.
 
Update: Got the JCR Steering box spacer installed. Went mostly smooth... other than I started to cross-thread one of the newly supplied bolts f/ JCR. So backed that out and just used the OE bolt that has the "tapered tip" (not sure what that's called) which worked fine. I haven't driven a ton since the install due to the Holiday, but my steering felt a bit more 'solid' and I didn't notice the pop when backing out of my driveway this morning, or on my drive into work when turning ... so could be this was a big part of the culprit causing the pop. My OE Aluminum spacer wasn't broke, but it was bent up a bit.

I did notice that my steering wheel needs to be adjusted as it's not lined up now but that's an easy fix. Hopefully this takes care of the front pop issue. I'll followup if it comes back.
 
So backed that out and just used the OE bolt that has the "tapered tip" (not sure what that's called)

That's a pilot point or dog point. They really do make things a lot easier, the LCA bolts also have this feature. Unfortunately it is a lot harder to find in aftermarket bolts unless you order a large lot of custom fasteners.
 
That's a pilot point or dog point. They really do make things a lot easier, the LCA bolts also have this feature. Unfortunately it is a lot harder to find in aftermarket bolts unless you order a large lot of custom fasteners.

Thanks for the actual name of those bolts. I wish they were readily available at the local Parts store!! They are so much easier for me to use when reassembling parts in odd locations and angles.

I think I have most of the pop taken care of... however I still get a slight pop which I can feel in my heel and sounds like it's still coming from the Drivers Front end. Maybe I'm just over-paranoid now, but it's still there. Could be nothing major now... but I'm going to keep my eyes open and re-tighten everything I can and re-grease my front driveshaft.
 
Update: As the weather turned cold I noticed that the same ole pop was back. Not sure if I have a shock that's gone back (Bilsteins that are ~ 1 year old so should be good) or the drivers front hub (can't get any play out of the wheel when jacked up and prying on it) or maybe the front Differential Control Arm mount bushings. Those weren't replaced when I installed new UCA and LCA about 1.5 years back. Could be elsewhere... it's just a pain to try and diagnose this since the only time I can replicate it is during driving. :/
 
I’m betting money your pop is coming from track bar possibly joint at the mount which is where mine did it but I knew where the sound was coming from and had the new adjustable one in box at the time .
 
Not sure if I have a shock that's gone back (Bilsteins that are ~ 1 year old so should be good) ...

Just for perspective, I had a Bilstein go south on its first trip. IOW, don't rule them out just on the basis of being relatively new.
 
I’m betting money your pop is coming from track bar possibly joint at the mount which is where mine did it but I knew where the sound was coming from and had the new adjustable one in box at the time .

I've replaced the Track Bar recently and the joint on both ends should be good.... but it's something to check.
 
Just for perspective, I had a Bilstein go south on its first trip. IOW, don't rule them out just on the basis of being relatively new.

That's good to know. I may pull the shock just to see if the compression and rebound are good and strong. I don't see any shock oil coming from it but that doesn't mean it's not bad.
 
One other thing... Can the Front Driveshaft cause this sort of noise/pop? There is a little play in the 'pinion'? (where the front driveshaft connects to the rear of the front diff). Also, the part where you can grease my front driveshaft is loose and I can spin it around pretty easily. Not sure that description makes sense... but hopefully you all know what I'm talking about.
 
Not having heard the noise it is going to be hard to give you a real answer, but the driveshaft can certainly make some intermittent noises that could be called a "pop".

The first thing I would worry about would be the centering ball, largely because that component is so often overlooked. It has a set of needle bearings in a cup much like the U-joints have at each corner, and as a general rule no one bothers to do anything to maintain those.

The only way to really rule out the driveshaft is going to be to pull it and run the joints through their range of motion in your hands. If you feel a hang-up somewhere in the range of motion then that could be your issue.
 
Not having heard the noise it is going to be hard to give you a real answer, but the driveshaft can certainly make some intermittent noises that could be called a "pop".

The first thing I would worry about would be the centering ball, largely because that component is so often overlooked. It has a set of needle bearings in a cup much like the U-joints have at each corner, and as a general rule no one bothers to do anything to maintain those.

The only way to really rule out the driveshaft is going to be to pull it and run the joints through their range of motion in your hands. If you feel a hang-up somewhere in the range of motion then that could be your issue.

Thanks, I've been thinking I need to just removed the front driveshaft and see if the noise goes away. It would be an 'easy' way to eliminate or isolate the noise coming from that. Not sure why I haven't done it yet, other than time and motivation to just do it.
 
Still chasing this... So I had my wife come out and turn the Steering wheel while I was checking the suspension and it turns out there was a very slight bit of movement/play in the Frame Side of the Track Bar (ball joint area). So I replaced that w/a Moog part and noticed there was still a very slight pop still yet. Need to keep eliminating issues one at a time I suppose.

One issue I had and could use some pointers. How in the Heck do you bend that cotter key on the castle nut when reinstalling the new trackbar? There is no way to get a pair of pliers or bend that w/my fingers given the hidden location of the top of the castle nut / cotter key? Suggestions would be appreciated. I know this isn't the right way, but I put a blob of black gasket maker on there for now to hopefully keep it from vibrating out of there. Ugh

I also noticed I have a small leak now coming from somewhere up front. Not sure if it's coolant or power steering fluid. It's so slight that I only notice it after it's been parked over night. No drips or sprays yet when it's hot... so hard to track down. This thing is constantly under need of repair it would seem.
 
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