Loud Pop?!

[redwolf624]

I also have a very similar issue. I've tracked it down to several things:

First, my trackbar mount is moving around despite being as tight as I can get them. That's a half-inch ratchet with a 14-inch handle with a good portion of my weight hanging off it, or else me pushing upwards against it so hard with the truck on the ground that it lifted an inch or so . Couldn't get a breaker bar in there. I know it's moving around because I can feel it in the floorboards and there are wear marks around the bolt heads.

Second, my steering box bolts were loose, to the point where I could move the box back and forth a couple mm with my hands. After tightening them, some of my popping sounds went away. Since then, however, I occasionally hear a grinding sound when I turn the steering wheel, likely due to excessive wear from the bolts being loose.

Third: ever since I bought the truck (and the PO pointed it out when we were test driving, and said a mechanic couldn't reproduce it) there's been a dull clunk if I hit a hard bump. I recently discovered that the arb is contacting the passenger-side coil spring on extension. I noticed this when I was underneath trying to tighten the track bar bolts. It looks like a PO used the arb as a recovery point at some point and it's bent pretty bad.

 

All of this would have been rectified if I wasn't a full-time student, and don't have the budget to pay someone else to do it or the time to do it myself. Also, I depend on my MJ to get me ten miles to school and back every day, so can't really afford to have it out of commission.

well i've been searchin since i've posted this tread, and i've never seen anything touch or hit, i'll take a look tomorrow when the suns out, the pop sound is deffently comin from the driver side but i can't see anything touchin, although the steerin box does could like a good place to start,

 

Redwolf

[gogmorgo]

arb?

arb= anti-roll bar, aka sway bar. I guess you could say it's the end link, but it's the eye of the sway bar hitting.

Also, redwolf, I had to lift the body 3-4" to make them touch.

[redwolf624]

 

arb?

arb= anti-roll bar, aka sway bar. I guess you could say it's the end link, but it's the eye of the sway bar hitting.

Also, redwolf, I had to lift the body 3-4" to make them touch.

well the sway bar (atleast the upper sway bar) is really close to the coil springs in the front so i might see if those are touchin when i turn the wheel all the way,

 

Redwolf

[HOrnbrod]

 

arb?

arb= anti-roll bar, aka sway bar. I guess you could say it's the end link, but it's the eye of the sway bar hitting.

Also, redwolf, I had to lift the body 3-4" to make them touch.

 

Figured that's what you meant. Longer end links should move the bar away from the coils.

 

[cruiser54]

You have put a wrench/socket on the track bar to frame rail bolts, right? 

[redwolf624]

You have put a wrench/socket on the track bar to frame rail bolts, right? 

i believe so, i checked everything i could see tonight, where is the track bar exactly and what does it look like, i never really deal with the underside of vehicles,

 

Redwolf

[cruiser54]

Track bar runs from the bracket on the driver's side frame rail to the passenger side of the front axle. Bolts that hold the track bar bracket to the frame can APPEAR tight but are actually loose. GOTTA tighten them before spending any more time on the computer. 

[HOrnbrod]

i believe so, i checked everything i could see tonight, where is the track bar exactly and what does it look like, i never really deal with the underside of vehicles,

 

Redwolf

 

That's obvious. So what part of vehicles do you deal with? The radio?

[cruiser54]

 

i believe so, i checked everything i could see tonight, where is the track bar exactly and what does it look like, i never really deal with the underside of vehicles,

 

Redwolf

 

That's obvious. So what part of vehicles do you deal with? The radio?

Perhaps we need to "tune in" to front suspension/steering components, eh? 

 

Chipmaker says:

“Way more problems get solved by using your five senses under your hood rather than your ten fingers on a keyboard”

 

[redwolf624]

Track bar runs from the bracket on the driver's side frame rail to the passenger side of the front axle. Bolts that hold the track bar bracket to the frame can APPEAR tight but are actually loose. GOTTA tighten them before spending any more time on the computer. 

thanks, i'll check those out

 

i believe so, i checked everything i could see tonight, where is the track bar exactly and what does it look like, i never really deal with the underside of vehicles,

 

Redwolf

 

That's obvious. So what part of vehicles do you deal with? The radio?

interior and under the hood, untill i got my MJ i never went under a vehicle cause my dad always said he never needed my help or there was not enough room, but when he had to do work under the hood i was right there watchin and helpin, interior i'm self teachin myself as problems come up,

 

Redwolf

[MJCARENA]

You might want to look for cracks in the unitbody around the steering box area.

[redwolf624]

You might want to look for cracks in the unitbody around the steering box area.

way ahead of ya on that one, that was the very first thing i did cause i thought i cracked the unibody from so many sharp turns, nope, it's all good, mag lights and air craft lights are a wonderful thing for checkin for cracked  :thumbsup:

 

Redwolf

[redwolf624]

This is a Cherokee but it will help you identify the parts the boys are talking about

got to lookin at this picture again, i might wanna relook the pitman arm and the drag link when i go and look at the track bar,

 

Redwolf

[Oyaji]

 i'm self teachin myself as problems come up

 

You're on the right track there.

 

Asking questions of people who have been there before you certainly helps and can save you headaches and expense, but until you get to turnin' wrenches yourself, you aren't really getting anywhere. Experience is the best teacher.

[redwolf624]

 

 i'm self teachin myself as problems come up

 

You're on the right track there.

 

Asking questions of people who have been there before you certainly helps and can save you headaches and expense, but until you get to turnin' wrenches yourself, you aren't really getting anywhere. Experience is the best teacher.

indeed it is, right now i'm waitin for my dad to get back that way i can use his hi lift jack, once i get the front in up it's time to turn wrenches, i'm hopin it's just somethin loose,

 

Redwolf

[gogmorgo]

Longer end links should move the bar away from the coils.

Not really my issue. I'm at stock height with stock links.

My sway bar is bowed outwards, pushing the ends back. Looks like it was used as a tow point.

[redwolf624]

found out what my loud pop is, it's the upper part of the track bar, it's dancin and and gappin when ya turn the wheel, i don't know if it's just loose or if the bushins are bad or if whatever is inside it (my dad's thinkin ball joint) is bad, gonna take a better look tomorrow after the WD40 soaks in,

 

Redwolf

[Oyaji]

 

Longer end links should move the bar away from the coils.

Not really my issue. I'm at stock height with stock links.

My sway bar is bowed outwards, pushing the ends back. Looks like it was used as a tow point.

 

Hahaha. 

 

I've had idiots insist I pull them out after they have themselves hitched to their shackles and axle tubes, but never the swaybar. I told them what would happen if I tried to snatch them out using those points; some listened while others just cussed me. For those latter, without a word I just rolled up my tow strap and left them sitting there. In retrospect, it would have been a lot funnier if I had yanked their axles out from under their trucks... oh well, 20/20 hindsight and all that.

 

Too bad you got the short end of the stick when you bought a truck from just such an idiot. :(

[88whitemanche]

Just a question...isn't wd40 bad for greased components?

[redwolf624]

Just a question...isn't wd40 bad for greased components?

think so but i had it on the nut so i can take it off tomorrow, don't plan on drivin my MJ till i look at the upper part of the track bar then i plan on greesin it up again just in case,

 

Redwolf

[gogmorgo]

I've had idiots insist I pull them out after they have themselves hitched to their shackles and axle tubes, but never the swaybar. I told them what would happen if I tried to snatch them out using those points; some listened while others just cussed me. For those latter, without a word I just rolled up my tow strap and left them sitting there. In retrospect, it would have been a lot funnier if I had yanked their axles out from under their trucks... oh well, 20/20 hindsight and all that.

 

Too bad you got the short end of the stick when you bought a truck from just such an idiot. :(

 

Judging by the stack of inspection sheets in the glovebox, this truck's seen a long line of idiots. And judging from stuff that was flagged during the inspections and stuff I've seen on the truck itself, they've just been dumping the problems on the next guy. And I'm almost happy I don't know these people, and I've made a point to not remember the names on the sheets, because I don't relish the though of 25 to life if I met them. This is the first vehicle I've owned, and suffice it to say that the experience has been very educational... and a lot of it in how not to do things.

But in all honesty, there's no reason why the current owner is an exception to that list of idiots. There are lots of issues of varying degrees of severity that I have yet to deal with, and some things that were rednecked to get me home off the side of the road and never properly sorted out. But the way things are working out with the MJ, the next owner will be inheriting it.  :) For all that's wrong with it, it's never really completely and utterly failed me, even that one time when the engine made an incredibly valiant bid for freedom, it still climbed what passes for a mountain back home under its own power to get itself to a shop.

[redwolf624]

well got under the truck today found out the track bar in shot, do i absolutely need a trach bar to drive down the road, also what can i take one off off (what year XJs) and slap up under my 86 MJ that'll work?

 

Redwolf

[cruiser54]

Yes you need it. I'm pretty sure all years are the same. Why a used one though? You already have one of those.....

[redwolf624]

Yes you need it. I'm pretty sure all years are the same. Why a used one though? You already have one of those.....

just in case it's cheaper and i can find a good one,

 

Redwolf

[cruiser54]

It took you a long time to find the bad one you've got!!!!!