Poping noise

[jdxj]

Hey guys
I've got a popping noise when turning( worse when turning right) At first I thought it had to be something loose in the suspension but everything is tight. When I crawled under it and had the wife turn the wheel it sounds like its coming from the firewall end of the steering shaft. :dunno:. I tried lifting the wheels off the ground and it doesn't do it.
Any ideas?

 

[bluejeepkid]

check the u joints on the steering shaft

 

[GrimmJeeper]

do you notice it more when hitting a bump (like turning into a driveway)? is your jeep lifted?

mine did the same thing after i lifted it. never quite figured it out but it went away when i put an adjustable track bar in it. i think it had something to do with the steering binding up.

there are a ton of threads on this exact subject. try searching.

good luck :cheers:

 

[jdxj]

I did try searching! no results for steering shaft.

4.5 lift
It is worse when turning into driveway ect. But I have an adjustable TB

I checked the ujoint that is at the lower end seems fine won't move. But I can't see the upper one. Are there 2? the shaft seems to move a little on the upper end.

 

[Akers87]

mine did the same thing after i installed the 4.5 rustys, but it went away after about 2 months or so, i dont know why, but checking the steering u-joints would make sense too.

 

[Muddy Beast]

Tires hitting the fender, maybe?

 

[Ba-Riedo]

Could be a loose trac bar or bracket, check both ends of the trac bar. Also loose steering box bolts, do you have a brace?

-Alex

 

[cal]

Loose trackbar bracket is my first guess too. Thats ultra common and the noise travels on the unibody, so you hear it from strange places.

 

[Chad29860]

You need to check the steering box bolts, trac bar mount bolts and that should take care of it. That is a common problem on and XJ because of the unibody. When you lift them and wheel them the unibody flexes ands allows the bolts to loosen a very little bit but thats all it takes to make it start popping.

 

[Bent]

Loose trackbar bracket is my first guess too. Thats ultra common and the noise travels on the unibody, so you hear it from strange places.

Had same problem on my MJ; I would have swore it was the steering box. I went at the nuts on the track bar bracket with a breaker bar, no more noise. The bolts didn't turn much with the bar but it was enough.