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Popping sound in the front suspension

16K views 32 replies 13 participants last post by  pedalman 
#1 ·
Ok, occasionally I hear a popping sound coming from the front suspension and I'm curious if anyone has experienced something similar. I will admit I haven't looked at it yet (I have time set aside tomorrow night) but any input or suggestions of things to look at it would be appreciate. I've had the LCA bolt recall done already so I'm thinking thats not it. Other than that I have the BWoody traction bars and I'm wondering if the heim joints might have gone mucked up over the winter. Thoughts, suggestions, smart remarks? :)
 
#2 ·
Occassionally, I hear a slight popping sound when it rains...I was thinking it was the swaybar shifting in the bushings or something...it only does it when it rains.
 
#6 ·
Well I haven't found a cause yet but to further refine the symptoms...it only makes the popping sound when backing up and the wheels turned.
 
#8 ·
The backing up issue is odd. Cv Joints will "click" when you turn, has nothing to do with reversing. If its only sounding that way when reversing, id suspect the transmission.
 
#29 ·
So I just got back from the dealership picking up my car and I spent some time talking with my service advisor and then the actually tech that replaced the lower cradle. I wanted to share with all of you what I found out. The tech said that when he placed the order for the part, he got a call from someone at Dodge inquiring about why it was being replaced. After he explained to him the rep went through the history of the issue. Initially from the factory the LCA bolts were to be torqued to 115 lb/ft however the torque was insufficient to prevent movement of the lower control arm. The second corrective action was to increase the torque to 135 lb/ft and while this action was enough to eliminate the movement, it presented the occasional problem of the bolts stripping out of the nuts. The next corrective action was to replace the front bolts with longer ones in the thought that would solve the problem. Well there are still occasional issues with the bolts stripping (as happened to mine). So they wound sending my dealership a revised lower cradle assemble and "lower control arm hardware" kit. I'm supposed to follow up in a few weeks so that they can examine how the parts are wearing.

The moral is...I'm not sure we're doing with the LCA issue yet.

Also some of you guys that have had it done for a while might want to check your front LCA bolts to make sure they haven't stripped out. They said I probably wouldn't have known if it weren't for the traction bars which were loading up the LCA and causing it to bang because of the stripped bolt.
 
#32 ·
I know this is an old thread, but I used this thread and forum to fix my 2007 Dodge Caliber SXT. I had the dreaded popping and clicking sound coming from the drivers front side. The rear LCA bolt was not tight. I torqued everything down to spec (axle nut, both LCA bolts) and now everything is quiet! Thanks to all who took the time to post solutions to this problem!!!

Axle Nut - 181 FT/LBS 32MM Socket
LCA Bolts - 135 FT/LBS Not 100% sure, but I'm thinking 19MM & 21MM sockets on these
 
#33 ·
Yeah, I get a lot of clunking and poping noises out my front end too. Had the LCAs and ball joints replaced around 65,000 miles. (these went 150,000 on my Ford). Now, at 111,000, they making the same noise again. Guess it's time to sink several hundred more dollars into this pile of junk. Mopar SUCKS. Total peice of ****.
 
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