Steering Pop and Vibration

16PW · Post by **16PW** » Tue Feb 12, 2019 9:25 am

2016 38k miles and completely stock other than 37's which have only been on for a few thousand miles. I started noticing a little vibration/stutter when reversing out of a parking spot with little turn in the steering wheel. It was only occurring every so often about 2 months ago. The past couple of weeks it has been occurring more and even when going forward when turning. It only happens at slow speeds like pulling out onto the street or parking spot. Its similar to turning in 4low or the rear locker on when it gives you a stutter feel when turning. I also starting noticing a pop from the front end a couple of times when turning at slower speeds like going around a corner in a neighbor, hitting a small bump. This morning I turned the wheel back and forth, maybe 1/2 a turn each direction and was getting a pretty loud pop usually when I started to return the wheel back straight. I was reading a few threads on here about similar pop noises and seemed a loose/worn trac bar can be the culprit. I have not got under the truck yet to inspect. What does this sound like? Any help is appreciated.

waldo · Post by **waldo** » Tue Feb 12, 2019 11:09 am

Might be the LSD. They can get a little "skippy" now and then.

My 16 has about the same amount of miles on it and I'm not having any of those issues. But I'm on stock size tires.

If it was a gen 3 I'd tell you to go right to the front axle joints. But I guess it's still possible you could have a bad one on a 16.

The other thing is to turn off the hill start assist and see if that makes any difference. I know it would make my 16 ABS chirp on some real steep off camber turns pulling out of some places.

Post by **DamageWagon** » Tue Feb 12, 2019 12:42 pm

Make sure your trackbar is TIGHT on both ends. If that doesn’t fix it I’d be looking st a front u-joint gone bad.

The rear LSD in these trucks does not make noise or lock up and there is no LSD in the front. It is a gear type in the rear.

16PW · Post by **16PW** » Tue Feb 12, 2019 1:28 pm

DamageWagon wrote: ↑
Tue Feb 12, 2019 12:42 pm
Make sure your trackbar is TIGHT on both ends. If that doesn’t fix it I’d be looking st a front u-joint gone bad.

The rear LSD in these trucks does not make noise or lock up and there is no LSD in the front. It is a gear type in the rear.

I'll take a look at the trac bar. Isn't it supposed to be torqued down to a little over 200 ft lbs? How can I tell if the u-joint is bad?

waldo · Post by **waldo** » Tue Feb 12, 2019 1:31 pm

DamageWagon wrote: ↑
Tue Feb 12, 2019 12:42 pm
Make sure your trackbar is TIGHT on both ends. If that doesn’t fix it I’d be looking st a front u-joint gone bad.

The rear LSD in these trucks does not make noise or lock up and there is no LSD in the front. It is a gear type in the rear.

While they are a Torsen type, all of mine have been a little on the tight side on a slow, sharp left turn where you're unloading the LR tire.

Lazarus · Post by **Lazarus** » Tue Feb 12, 2019 2:13 pm

I had a similar issue going on with my previous power wagon. I agree with damage wagon, start with your track bar and then move to the u joints after that. Mine had a bad wheel bearing and was behaving similarly to what you’re experiencing, but I think it was in conjunction with a bad u joint. U joints are tricky to check, it’s almost worth it just to have them replaced if you start pulling apart your front end. You can put your truck in 4wd and jack up the front corner, move the tire back and forth and see if you can tell if there’s any play in the u joint. Do the same to the other side. You’ll notice if the joint is shot, but if it’s just minor play it can be hard to tell.

16PW · Post by **16PW** » Tue Feb 12, 2019 2:33 pm

Lazarus wrote: ↑
Tue Feb 12, 2019 2:13 pm
I had a similar issue going on with my previous power wagon. I agree with damage wagon, start with your track bar and then move to the u joints after that. Mine had a bad wheel bearing and was behaving similarly to what you’re experiencing, but I think it was in conjunction with a bad u joint. U joints are tricky to check, it’s almost worth it just to have them replaced if you start pulling apart your front end. You can put your truck in 4wd and jack up the front corner, move the tire back and forth and see if you can tell if there’s any play in the u joint. Do the same to the other side. You’ll notice if the joint is shot, but if it’s just minor play it can be hard to tell.

Thank you. I'll check that out as well.

Will · Post by **Will** » Tue Feb 12, 2019 8:32 pm

If it's popping while sitting still, 95% chance that's a loose trac bar. Have someone rock your steering wheel back and forth while looking at each joint, including steering linkages and ball joints. Any play at all is not good in any of these.

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Post by **DamageWagon** » Tue Feb 12, 2019 10:25 pm

Trackbars get loose all the time, you need to lean on that thing. 200-225ftlb on both ends.

A bad u joint is fairly obvious from the heard/felt pop while turning. Other than classic signs I couldn’t confirm one was bad until I pulled the axle shafts which is fairly easy. Once I got the joints out one looked good and greasy inside and one looked full of powdery dirt. They’re cheap and fairly easy to fix, and it’s every boys dream to fix something using a sledgehammer bashing a socket against a part. One of the few times such chaos is beneficial

coder · Post by **coder** » Wed Feb 13, 2019 3:05 pm

Popping reversing out of a parking spot is 100% guaranteed a loose drivers side track bar bolt.

Rodeoflyer · Post by **Rodeoflyer** » Thu Feb 14, 2019 9:20 am

Check your drag link nuts. Make sure they’re very tight. Mine felt tight with hands but once I torqued them down the clicking/popping noise disappeared.

The statements above are all possibilities as well.

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16PW · Post by **16PW** » Sat Feb 16, 2019 4:48 pm

Culprit was drag link nut! It was about a full turn from being tight. I dont have the proper tool/wrench for it so I grabbed some pliers, both feet on the axle while laying on my back and went to town to tighten. No more popping! Thanks for all the input guys!

16PW · Post by **16PW** » Sun Feb 17, 2019 4:58 pm

While I was down there I greased the driveshaft and notice some play/clunk in the driveshaft when spinning it back and forth. Seemed like the slop/noise was coming from the very end towards the axle. It could have been coming from the last little coupler (don't know what to call it), last piece before going into axle. Or even from right inside the axle. Is this normal? Doesn't seem like it would be.

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