Front end 'pops'

[DJb]

Drove the truck around town today and drove her kinda hard... lots of popping going on. Then a cold front come in and has been raining and I had to go into town again this evening and since the dually was outside and wet already, I drove it. Didn't pop one time. I'm beside myself! TKingsbury, the sound is coming from the left front of the truck but I guess it could be something further back and the sound is traveling forward..... I'm going to give it one more go this weekend and try and find it. If I don't, I'm giving up. If I can't sell it whole, I'll part it out. What's a first gen engine worth with 103k miles??? :{

 

[Paychk]

EASY EASY!!



Djb do me a favor; next time you go out to your truck, open the drivers door and look into the rear of the fender just above the top hinge. See if this is what you see:



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This is a side view, but it will give you an idea of what to look for. The picture above is the dreaded cowl crack; Dodge issued a service bulletin for it and there are repair panels that fix this, mine is quiet as a mouse now. This happens to both sides of the truck look at the passenger side too.

 

[DJb]

Haven't seen anything like that but I'll double check. I recently wiped everything down doing a wash job. Black trucks look nasty when the jambs etc are dirty but black makes it hard to see into the dark areas. Thanks for that pic.

 

[Mhannink]

Drove the truck around town today and drove her kinda hard... lots of popping going on. Then a cold front come in and has been raining and I had to go into town again this evening and since the dually was outside and wet already, I drove it. Didn't pop one time. I'm beside myself! TKingsbury, the sound is coming from the left front of the truck but I guess it could be something further back and the sound is traveling forward..... I'm going to give it one more go this weekend and try and find it. If I don't, I'm giving up. If I can't sell it whole, I'll part it out. What's a first gen engine worth with 103k miles??? :{

ok i have to say one more thing this is to irresitable it seems like you have a weather predictor as in you can just drive your truck around and it will act like an old knee that hurts when the weather changes sorry for the jokes just trying to put a little humor in this problem

 

[cerberusiam]

On top of the front springs is a rubber gasket that is supposed to stop noises of the springs popping and squeaking when they move. I would hazard a guess the rubber gaskets are worn thru in places and allowing the spring to go metal on metal causing an intermitent pop/squeak/groan. That would fit quite nicely with driving it in the rain as the water is lubing things up and no more noises. Just another thing to check.

 

[DJb]

Mhannink, I don't mind the humor. I'm pretty easy going... except when it comes to my kids mouthing off to me lol.



cerberusiam, I was thinking of squirting some oil into the spring seats to see if it made a difference but didn't know there was rubber pads in there. I'll check that...

 

[rlyons]

Mine had the same pop and it was the lower ball joints. Not worn out but did pop. I made the mistake of buying new ones at Autozone. After less than 1 year they were poping again. I bought new TRW joints from my local parts supplier and corrected the pop and have been fine since. More expensive is not always a bad thing. I found mine by placing the end of a long screwdriver on the joints and bouncing the truck slowly up and down with the handle of the screwdriver on my ear, very easy to determine it was coming from the joints. Now the front end will pop if you turn the whells against the stops and back up, just the sterring stops poping against the lower control arms. But mine was poping with the wheels straight and with a light bounce.

 

[PToombs]

. Now the front end will pop if you turn the wheels against the stops and back up, just the steering stops popping against the lower control arms. .

Jeez, it can't be that simple can it? I changed all my front parts and it still does it in this position.