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Bad cv joint in the axle? Sway bar?

thegipper

thegipper

New member
Ok, I'm having two problems.

1) Occasional popping from the front end, not a very sharp pop but more of a clunk. Usually happens while turning and hitting a bump. Inspected tie rods, ball joints, all look fine. Nothing on the sway bar looked bad (that I could tell, maybe i'll post pictures) Did notice this with the control arm busing but I asked a few people on here a while ago and they said most likely not causing the sound.
20140427_135431_zps2egnosdt.jpg

2) Second problem that i just noticed is a faint gear/groan noise from the front left wheel while turning sharply at low speeds like pulling into a parking spot. It almost sounds like a tire rubbing on a piece of plastic which i checked for and thats not the case. First thing that came to mind is the axle (new wheel hub installed like 6 months ago). It only makes noise when turning as hard as you can to the left (forward and reverse) and noise is definitely coming from the drivers side. I took a look and found this.
20140504_172546_zps8cpebgbw.jpg

Clearly the boot is torn to some degree and I'm losing grease. Not sure if that is a lot or not but its definitely leaking.

Do these two problems seem related? Like, could the pop/clunk noise be coming from a potentially bad drivers side axle if that is whats bad?

Lower motor mount was just replaced, I thought that was the problem because it was starting to go but still makes the noise (although it seems to make it less often now which seems odd).

Thoughts?
 


Looks like new LCA time, also my axles look like that but I would put money on a wheel bearing for the girding sounds. You can check for wheel play would also indicate the bearing is goin bad. What brand wheel hub did you use?
 
It was a Moog installed last May to be exact. The last one I put on was from napa and it only lasted like 18 months. Wouldn't it make noise at all speeds if it was a bearing though? It only makes noise at lower speeds but of course your only turning all the way to the left at lower speeds. And it only makes the noise when turning to the left, makes no noise at all when turning right.

The LCA bushing is definitely on its way out, think that is the popping noise?
 
Actually those LCA bushings look okay, they are considered bad when they start to separate. Mine completely came apart, and I noticed it getting loose months that happened. and the sway bar bushings go bad way before they look bad. Inside the rod starts rubbing on the sway bar and/or control arm mount. And wheel hubs can go bad after a few months or year of new ones if they're cheap ones. Even timken's have been said to do that before. Bearings make more noise on turns because a lot mroe stress is put on them.
 
the front lower control arm bushing can appear to be ok but if you pry up and down on it lightly with a prybar and it slides up and down on the rubber bushing then its bad. I think by the way the bushing is mounted you need to pry the control arm upward to see if it slides off. I just changed my right one for that same reason. turning right and hitting a bump caused a clunk.
 
Well here's what they're like when they get bad enough to make a noise. This is when the noise just started, and trust me it was way worse than your pic even 6 months ago and was silent then.

[video]http://s760.photobucket.com/user/combat11/media/wornbushings.mp4.html[/video]
 


Just thought I would close this out. I found the cause of both noises. The "gear noise" or rubbing sound ended up just being the tire hitting the plastic shield on the passenger side wheel well. I thought the sound was coming from the drivers side so I didn't even look on the passenger side.

The clunking/popping noise ended up being a broken sway bar end link. Again, I thought the noise was coming from the drivers side (doh) but it was the passenger side.

Fixed the plastic shield, and installed a new sway bar end link. Noises gone.

Thanks for the help guys.
 
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