Front Suspension popping noise

[mtudb24]

Had a popping noise coming from the suspension when turning and a slight articulation from the front end (ie pulling or backing into a driveway etc). Truck drove fine and it didn't happen 100% of the time.
Dealer finally had an opening and got it back today. Looks like all 4 ball joints were loose and they re-torqued the entire MOPAR lift (31,800 miles since it was installed by dealer). I don't know what skid plate they said was loose as the service adviser said the mechanic was gone for the day but he'd text me when he found out.
All good. No more noises.

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[RodRecket]

Good to read they did their due diligence. I have read elsewhere on this forum of others having loose, or not properly torqued, ball joints as well. Not sure if these were friday trucks or something on the assembly line is out of spec. Maybe a design flaw?

 

[Lunentucker]

I don't know how they torque things at assembly but I'm guessing that the last two years have brought a lot of new and inexperienced employees into the workforce, not only at final assembly plants, but all the way up and down the supply chain.
Not even to mention how many plants probably had to shut down entire sections due to Covid protocols, or how many times technicians had to do their jobs and someone else's.
I check every nut sense bolt I can see, and yes, that includes the ball joints.

Even if they use automated equipment, it still has to be setup properly and maintained by people.

 

[QuintusMaximus]

Great they were able to sort it out. Correct me if I'm wrong, but if this was allowed to continue, it could have eventually become a safety issue?

 

[rharr]

I suspect the aluminum knuckles are more susceptible to loosing up over time. I have not seen a single Mohave or EcoD owner complain about loose suspension nuts and those come with steel knuckles.

 

[mtudb24]

Great they were able to sort it out. Correct me if I'm wrong, but if this was allowed to continue, it could have eventually become a safety issue?

I'm not sure. I know the ball joints are secured with cotter pins so not sure it they could have completely come undone, but I don't know 100%

 

[Darkspeed]

I suspect the aluminum knuckles are more susceptible to loosing up over time. I have not seen a single Mohave or EcoD owner complain about loose suspension nuts and those come with steel knuckles.

My 2023 diesel were loose from the factory

 

[jac04]

I suspect the aluminum knuckles are more susceptible to loosing up over time. I have not seen a single Mohave or EcoD owner complain about loose suspension nuts and those come with steel knuckles.

I checked my 2021 Mojave today (iron knuckles), but only one side. I found the lower took about 1/8 of a turn to get it to 45 ft-lbs. I didn't have an offset socket to get to the upper nut, so I used a 7/8" combination wrench and I was able to take up just a hair on it. I'll go back and check it with the torque wrench after I get the offset socket.

 

[gabriela1179]

Had a popping noise coming from the suspension when turning and a slight articulation from the front end (ie pulling or backing into a driveway etc). Truck drove fine and it didn't happen 100% of the time.
Dealer finally had an opening and got it back today. Looks like all 4 ball joints were loose and they re-torqued the entire MOPAR lift (31,800 miles since it was installed by dealer). I don't know what skid plate they said was loose as the service adviser said the mechanic was gone for the day but he'd text me when he found out.
All good. No more noises.

Have you had this happen again or did it fixed the problem?

 

[mtudb24]

Have you had this happen again or did it fixed the problem?

Has never happened again and its been over a year. All good

 

[Vtur]

I don't know how they torque things at assembly but I'm guessing that the last two years have brought a lot of new and inexperienced employees into the workforce, not only at final assembly plants, but all the way up and down the supply chain.
Not even to mention how many plants probably had to shut down entire sections due to Covid protocols, or how many times technicians had to do their jobs and someone else's.
I check every nut sense bolt I can see, and yes, that includes the ball joints.

Even if they use automated equipment, it still has to be setup properly and maintained by people.

The ball joints on our trucks are considered as coarse thread and i believe they tighten them down just enough to align the cotter pins. Tighting to the next slot of the castle nuts usually ended up over torqued. It required 90ft lbs to get to the next slot when i did mine.

 

[FatBaldandWheeling]

Coming back to this, since I am getting some popping under decent flex. I did have a shop put in the Teraflex 3.5" lift and ensured the shocks had all the travel they needed for it. I wanna say that it's normal because nothing shakes loose on flat ground, and I don't have any alignment issues.

At some point I'll need to find someone who I trust enough to drive it or sit in front of it while it's flexing and see if they can hear where it's coming from. It doesn't do it under normal circumstances.

 

[RodRecket]

I'll add to the seemingly never ending list of possibilities....

The body bolts that were replaced when i mounted the rockhard sliders backed off enough to create a popping noise that took me weeks to find. FWIW, I have beat the ever living hell out of those things.

 

[DanW]

Had a popping noise coming from the suspension when turning and a slight articulation from the front end (ie pulling or backing into a driveway etc). Truck drove fine and it didn't happen 100% of the time.
Dealer finally had an opening and got it back today. Looks like all 4 ball joints were loose and they re-torqued the entire MOPAR lift (31,800 miles since it was installed by dealer). I don't know what skid plate they said was loose as the service adviser said the mechanic was gone for the day but he'd text me when he found out.
All good. No more noises.

Sometimes dealers torque everything while the vehicle is on the rack and does not have weight on it. When they do that, this kind of thing can happen, among others. When lifting, everything needs to be left loose and then torqued down when the vehicle has full weight on it's tires. And even then, after 100 to 500 miles, the torque needs to be checked again.

This happened on my dealer installed Mopar lift on my JL. I did the AEV lift myself on my JT and properly torqued it after it was lowered and carrying its own weight. When I checked it 500 miles later, everything was still torqued properly and nothing had loosened. That JL had popping going on quite a bit. I asked them to loosen the control arm bolts and then re-tighten them when on the ground, as per the instructions. When they did that, the popping was gone.

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