Noticeable pop after lift/wheel

[zookii]

Hi all,

I recently put a Readlylift 2" kit on my 21 trailboss and it was driving just fine until a few weeks ago. When turning the wheels or going over bumps, occasionally you'll hear/feel a pop. Sometimes its driver side and sometimes its passenger side. Any thoughts? My fear is the CV joints are having issues. Truck only has 48k miles but I am the second owner and almost certain the previous owner took it to a deer lease and hauled things fairly often. I do have the certified pre-owned by Chevy but not sure if it's the CVs and the lift kit being put on that they'd even cover any of it.

Any thoughts or advice would be appreciated!

 

[Transient]

I wouldn't be surprised if it's the CVs, but there's no way to really tell over the internet. ReadyLift emphasizes a lot of caution about the cv axles when installing the kit. Did you do the install? If so, did you follow the instructions to the letter about removing the CV from the hub assembly? If not you may have over extended the axle when the knuckle drops after removing the upper control arm. That over extension most likely occurred on the inner joint. If a shop did the install they may have neglected that step. I did my own install and put a lot of emphasis on taking care of the CV axles. No problems so far, but it's been only a week. I not only used a jack under the knuckle, but also used a Ratchet to prevent side to side movement of the knuckle when the upper control arm was removed.

 

[buckshot85]

I was told by Shocks Surplus to not go over 1.5” lift on a TB. Their opinion is that it is too much and too hard on the CVs.

 

[The Raven]

I had this problem on my Tahoe - it was the camber/caster cams on the UCA mount...the bolts would not stay tight. At first I used the Moog bolts that came with the kit that I bought but ended up switching back to GM bolts. I have no idea if that's the issue here but it's a place you could look. I have the 1.75" Readylift level on my truck with stock CVs with no issues. It's very unlikely that the little bit extra you have on yours would suddenly cause CV binding to the point where you'd hear it.

 

[zookii]

I wouldn't be surprised if it's the CVs, but there's no way to really tell over the internet. ReadyLift emphasizes a lot of caution about the cv axles when installing the kit. Did you do the install? If so, did you follow the instructions to the letter about removing the CV from the hub assembly? If not you may have over extended the axle when the knuckle drops after removing the upper control arm. That over extension most likely occurred on the inner joint. If a shop did the install they may have neglected that step. I did my own install and put a lot of emphasis on taking care of the CV axles. No problems so far, but it's been only a week. I not only used a jack under the knuckle, but also used a Ratchet to prevent side to side movement of the knuckle when the upper control arm was removed.

I did not do the install but had a local offroad shop do it. It's just odd that it was fine for the first month. It's not ever time either. I can hit the same bump in the road one day and it not make a noise but the next day it will. I'm half tempted to take it back to them and have them take a look.

 

[zookii]

I had this problem on my Tahoe - it was the camber/caster cams on the UCA mount...the bolts would not stay tight. At first I used the Moog bolts that came with the kit that I bought but ended up switching back to GM bolts. I have no idea if that's the issue here but it's a place you could look. I have the 1.75" Readylift level on my truck with stock CVs with no issues. It's very unlikely that the little bit extra you have on yours would suddenly cause CV binding to the point where you'd hear it.

I had a 19 Silverado 4x4 that the dealership did an alignment on and every time I'd turn the wheels full lock it would pop when going in forward or reverse. I never put two and two together because I didn't go full lock all the time but one day the whole front end felt like it shifted when I was turning and it popped very loudly. I took it back to them and they said it was something similar to what you described. They blamed the original tech didn't put some "clips" back on when he did the alignment. They fixed it no charge several months later thankfully.

 

[mrcolieman]

I agree with Raven... start by checking for loose bolts/nuts. The torque spec for the front struts has always seemed a bit light to me, particularly the bottom ones that mount the strut to the lower control arm (37ft/lbs). Give everything a good re-torque and see of your noise goes away.
CJ

 

[zookii]

Wanted to update this, took the truck back to the offroad shop and we went over what it could be. The passenger side is where it was coming from. They checked out everything and it was all to spec. Turns out that strut was the issue. It went out at some point over the past few weeks but a lot of my driving is highway with relatively little bumps so I didn't notice until it was worse. Getting all of it replaced tomorrow. Might as well upgrade them all right?

 

[Stormin08]

Lower Control Arm Alignment Cams

Includes (8) Lower Control Arm alignment cams (Reuses Factory Bolts) Compatibility 2019-2022 Chevy Silverado 1500 & GMC Sierra 1500 2WD / 4WD

www.bajakits.com

you can try these, and crank to 240 ft. lbs...they need to be TIGHT

otherwise, balljoint and CV are common

 

[Gangly]

The pop is almost a guarantee if everything is buttoned up without a load on it. Once you have installed a shock, or suspension component, you NEED to put a load on the suspension (vehicle on the ground) when you go through your final torqueing sequences. If you torque everything to spec while the suspension is at full droop, you will most likely get popping from the suspension when you start going over off camber surfaces that compress one side of the truck and unload the other. When I installed my Eibachs, I would get a loud pop when transitioning from my steep driveway to the level road, with the wheels turned. This would always happen when reversing, and only sometimes when pulling into the driveway depending on how sharp I was turning the truck into the driveway.

I couldn't figure out the popping noise since everything was snug, and I had people try to tell me it was everything from a busted CV to broken shocks. With the truck on the ground and the suspension loaded, I finally loosened the suspension and re-torqued everything.....no more pop.

 

[zookii]

It was definitely the passenger side strut. The factory rancho fell apart when they took it off and leaked oil all over. Everything is back to normal and as it should be now. Ended up going with Bilstein all around. Truck rides a lot smoother now too. I'm thinking the other front strut was going out as well but not as bad as the passenger side was.

 

[Gangly]

It was definitely the passenger side strut. The factory rancho fell apart when they took it off and leaked oil all over. Everything is back to normal and as it should be now. Ended up going with Bilstein all around. Truck rides a lot smoother now too. I'm thinking the other front strut was going out as well but not as bad as the passenger side was.

Glad you got it sorted, just another reason to go aftermarket shocks

 

[Stormin08]

couldnt agree more, my 13K mile ranchos are off as soon as the new Fox's arrive early next week