Loud snapping sound coming from the passenger side tire area

Hey there,

I'm having a loud snapping / sound coming from under the the passenger side tire area when driving or having the truck rocked side to side while parked.

It comes and goes over the last two weeks, sounds very loud in the cab and can't always be recreated.

I removed the skid plate to get a better look and made a video. I've narrowed it down to the area I filmed.

Would someone be willing watch my short vid and see if they have any idea what it might be. I'd appreciate it:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pya6qzFdJ0U

thanks!

 

Have you tried listening to it using a long screwdriver with your ear to the end of it? It might help narrow in on it even further. Either that or a stethoscope.

 

That’s your lower ball joint, replace it asap with oem units

 

I'm pretty sure its coming from the area on the wheel that I was filming. Near the lower control arm / brake assembly. I was hoping that someone else had this same issue and might recognize the snapping metallic sound. Sort of like a slapping a crowbar against an empty gas tank. Tong, tong, tong.

 

OK. Do you think its vibrating against the thin metal plate that it protecting the brake disc.

thanks!

 

Either the joint is toast or not torqued to spec, zoom in on the joint and you can see it separating, there should be little movement

 

Man that's wild. How many miles are on the truck and what maintenance have you done to the suspension? I agree with Mo that it looks like your LBJ, especially towards the end of the video when you zoomed in on it.

Lower ball joints are a weakness for our trucks. At least once a week someone on the 1st gen Tundra Facebook page posts a picture of theirs failing. It usually causes a lot more damage once it fails. Really important that you replace them with OEM ball joints from a Toyota dealership. Most of us recommend McGeorge or Serra Toyota as they have the best prices and free shipping over $75.

Replace the bolts too.

 

Loud snapping sound


Could be a nipple.

 

It’s broke you can see the crack in it on the bottom!!

This would be my guess

 

Looks like a shock mount busing to me...

 

Lower ball joint or the LBJ bolts are backing out… either way, it may lead to catastrophic failure if you continue driving on it. Get new OEM LBJ’s and the OEM bolts.

 

I don't think so. What you're pointing at is an artifact of the LCA shape and the direction of the light coming from the camera.

 

WTF, if that is a ball joint it must have been in a state for a long while to get to making that racket!

 

Well, I went out this morning to try to replicate the sound and now I can't it to make the sound again. That's the part that's making it hard to diagnose.
...and also my battery died this morning too. It''s reading 11.3 VDC

Could a lower ball joint make an intermittent snapping noise? The bottom of the shock mount is pretty bad too.

*sigh*

 

Loose Sway Bar Link

 

If you jack it up you will find it

 

Yes. Your LBJ about to fail is a very likely source of that noise. The guys telling you to jack up the truck are suggesting you take weight off so you can “see” if the LBJ can be made to move when you manipulate it. Here’s a photo a buddy sent me, showing where to insert a tool to manipulate it:



I don’t keep a video hosting acccount anywhere, so I cannot post a video, but you can probably find one on YouTube.

I can show you from experience why you should go ahead and replace both LBJ’s though:
I was lucky this did not fail on the freeway at speed… as we’d been hearing the sound, which seemed to correspond to tire revolution, for a couple of days in numerous driving conditions. Even at less-than-freeway speed, sustained damage to the firewall, so now I have increased wind noise in the cab. Seriously, don’t drive your truck until
you replace the LBJ’s or confirm it’s something else.

P.S. Mine failed because bolts sheered off— probably one backed out and the rattle/ popping was the LBJ shifting around on the remaining, eventually working them out. I found a sheered bolt in the dirt behind the truck.

So start by torquing all your LBJ bolts to spec. Maybe you’ll get lucky and that will fix it. But, apparently, I’m the only one anybody in here knows that had bolts fail; usually it’s the actual LBJ.

 

Wow. Sorry about your truck. But thanks for the advice. So what am I looking for by jacking it up. What type of ball joint movement is considered bad? Should it not move at all? I've never dealt with a ball joint issue.

And why is it intermittent though? Last night I could make the sound by rocking the truck back and forth. But this morning I can't get it to make the snapping sound again. This started around two weeks ago then went away for a week, now it back again. And today it's gone again. I took it to a shop last week, and they said everything looked OK. They were the same shop that installed new lower control arms with new lower ball joints. I don't know/think if they were OEM or not.

thanks all,

 

That’s what I was thinking but I didn’t want to be the first to say it.

 

It's certainly possible that it isn't the ball joint but it would still be a great idea to replace if they have never been done. They are a notoriously weak point for our trucks that are getting old at this point.

 

Just sound alone sounds like a ball joint miles away from poping apart. At least that’s the noise they typically make.

 

With that kind of racket, if you put a lever between the two parts that a ball joint connects and can see any kind of movement it would be bad, the ball is supposed to rotate in the socket not move up and down (for a LBJ such as the one mentioned).
What kind of shop did you take it to? Rather than looking they should have used a pinch bar to test joints. If they are kosher and a new control arm was fitted then you should be safe looking elsewhere...unless they omitted to replace the bushes in the control arm at the chassis end and whilst I haven't owned an older model that kind of noise is something I've only seen when those bushes are shot. IME balljoints make a lot more subtle noise whilst a bush that has fallen apart would make a right racket.

Edit: I should probably add that I have never let a ball joint go so far that it would make that kind of racket, you should have felt knocking through the wheel for a considerable amount of miles before a ball joint would sound like that (assuming the ball isn't made of Chinese cheese, anything is possible nowadays).

 

I've always found bad ball joints, by noticing tire wear.

But really, that sound could be half a dozen things. Just have to get it up on a jack and start eliminating things by test.

 

Let us know your findings by checking for play when you jack up the lower control arm. Pics of said shock mount would be helpful if nothing found.

 

Watch on mute. The fun begins at 1:15
https://youtu.be/ZSq8ut682po

 

Guessing he didn't use OEM LBJs I guess word hasn't gotten far enough around yet (shockingly), or people REALLY want to save a couple of bucks buying shitty aftermarket ones that aren't over-engineered?

Music was f'ing terrible, but at least the fail centered right at the drop.

 

Some people like to drive their Toyotas until the wheels fall off.

 

I’m still leaning on lower sway bar bolt.

 

I went back and looked at OP post video again and the sound stopped just as he put his finger on the backing plate near the end but its also when his friend stopped rocking the truck so I'm not sure if the knocking stopped because the rocking stopped of because he touched and put pressure on the backing plate/dust shield. If I recall correctly, when I did my front wheel bearings, that backing plate is held onto the knuckle with 3 or 4 bolts. Removing the wheel, caliper and rotor should give access to those bolts, maybe its a loose bolt on the backing plate/dust shield. I've circled 2 bolts here but I think there are 2 others on the other side.