Ok, here are the details....Front suspention issue, drivers side, components
Daystar upper strut plate
OME HD Springs (<7monts old)
OME Struts (about 1 year 3 months old)
Rusty's .75 inch spacer
Al's a-arms
balljoints are good

I've had this setup since all together since january with no issues. But Sunday took the Kj through one of those spray car washes. Afterwords I noticed a loud squeking noise from the front end (almost like a body panel, metal on metal), only when i hit bumps, smooth ride = perfect ride. Thought maybe it was the sway bar bushing since I did some beach driving this weekend. Sprayed them down, didn't help.

On the way to work this morning I hit a big pothole with the noisy side and there was a pretty loud bang. Now I get squeking and banging, strut assembly rattle, but only on rough roads.

Took the sway bar off and drove around the block, symptoms didn't go away.
Took out battery, and battery tray, checked stut plate nuts and they were tight.
Started to jack up the kj with the hi-lift at the front hitch, got up a couple pumps and got a bang, spring assembly rattled.
Brought the Kj down, and pushed down on the front fender to mimic bumps. Got squeaking (metal on metal) and then a bang.

My thought is that it has to do something with the upper strut nut. The squeaking I assume is from the strut piston rubbing on the strut plate where it goes through. Another thing I noticed was that the rubber bushing, that goes under the strut plate on the strut piston to keep it from really bottoming out was about 1/4 way down the shaft. I'm sure its not a blown strut since it doesn't ride bad like that. But what can be going on with that upper strut nut or around that upper strut plate area to be causing this bang? It sounds BAD, very loud, people turn and stare when I'm going past.

I'm worried this can be potentially dangerous as this is my only way to work and I can't get to my buddies house to help me tare down that side until Thursday. Is there potential for the suspension coming apart and all heck breaking loose?????

Ideas???? Thanks?

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L.O.S.T. #225019
2003 Sport 4x4
Patriot Blue w/ trail rash
Flex-Zilla 4" Lift
TrailRash hi-lift mounts
Other stuff you wish you had

Remove the strut assembly and check the torque on the top strut nut,it will loosen if not torqued to 30ft-lbs(Rancho and OME),SkyJacker is 15ft-lbs(because of the fine thread).

And yes it could be fatal,had a SkyJacker strut come apart on me on I-90 while doing 75mph,thank good that I still had the stock UCA's and they kept the coil spring from completely poping out .

That would wake anyone up! Glad you were ok.

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My Rig:
2008 Jeep Wrangler JKU
OME HD lift
35" tires (thus far)
plus a ton of other things. J.E.E.P.

If thats the problem, i don't get why the nut waited so long to work its way loose. I've wheeled this set-up pretty hard with no issues, and made a 4 hour trip home after wheeling on the beach. I just hope that crazy nut didn't strip the threads (sorry that was a bad joke).

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L.O.S.T. #225019
2003 Sport 4x4
Patriot Blue w/ trail rash
Flex-Zilla 4" Lift
TrailRash hi-lift mounts
Other stuff you wish you had

i have had this problem ever since i got my KJ back from ADAM's JEEP, when they replaced the ball joints and front DS. not saying that they had something to do with it, since i had heard this sound before with "street tires" on her. never with the TSL's though, they are way too darn locd to hear anything. but when i switched tires to the streeters, i heard it again. so i went to the shop my buddy owns, put it on the lift and performed the same job that JEEP4ME99 did, and also i found nothing. i i guess it would be best to do what TJKJ says and sheck the tightness of the strut nut.
thats what im doing 2morow, im getting tired of the loud banging noise.

Mine took about 8 months to work apart,all the way apart all of a sudden also.

well that seems like one of the only issues it can be....so I'll let ya'll know thursday night when i get back.

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L.O.S.T. #225019
2003 Sport 4x4
Patriot Blue w/ trail rash
Flex-Zilla 4" Lift
TrailRash hi-lift mounts
Other stuff you wish you had

I've had that issue with my Cruty's lift....never got it solved...hence it had to go. But heard others with crusty's have that issue too, i believe it is due to the settling of the springs, allows the extra movement in the assembly as the top plate. Another thing to look at is if your a-arms are contacting the pockets? just look to see if the metal is folded over.

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L.O.S.T. #225019
2003 Sport 4x4
Patriot Blue w/ trail rash
Flex-Zilla 4" Lift
TrailRash hi-lift mounts
Other stuff you wish you had

how do you torque it, dont you have to hold the shaft to keep it from spinning when you tighten the nut? how would you get a torque wrench on it?

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2002 Cactus Green Renegade~OME HD/Rancho
235-85-16 Firestone Destination MT's~Detroit Locker~AL's 4.5 Arms
ARB bumper/Superwinch 9k~PIAA 540 driving lights/PIAA reverse lights~Crane 8.25 diff cover

nolakj was getting the same type of banging an rubbing sound on his KJ
we narrowed it down to the upper strut mount
when I tried to remove the strut assembly it nearly broke my hand because the upper strut mount was bad and the shop that did the work did not properly assemble the strut ,they left off the washer that keeps the strut from pulling out of the bushing
so the spring shot out like a bullet

use EXTREME caution if you are going to remove it your self

you can hold the top with a wrench and use a crows foot in the torque wrench

well i went to the extreme and tighten every darn bolt on the front end that i could find. i have to go play some softball now, so i will post pics up later ong on what i did and how i did it. but to all that have this problem, mine is not foxed yet, i am thinking that i have to replace the bushings (i guess) or place some rubber type of washer between the top of the strut where it meets the top of the "strut placement area" and the strut itself. its really the only thing i can think of at this point. bu yes i will pst pics up later on.

sit on the edge of your seat cuz they're coming!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

dug into mine today too.
took apart suspension, top strut nut is as tight as the day I put it on....hmmmmmmm what the heck is the problem.
push the bottom bushing back up to where it supposed to be on the strut shaft
put suspension back together
shake the heck out the Kj and no squeaks or bangs....hmmmmmmm interesting.
put in battery, take for test drive
squek squeek squeek over bumps...but no more bang
drive back to buddies house.....scratch heads...
shake kj and try to find out where sound is coming from.....sounds like the upper strut plate area still
hmmmmmmmmmm scratch heads.
spray wd-40 on a-arm bushings and strut piston near the top.
shake KJ...hear squeaks...hmmmmmmmmm scratch heads.

If only I could get to that little access hole under the battery try to spray wd-40 at the top strut nut area.....
remove batterty and battery tray.....spray wd-40 into access hole.
shake KJ...squeaks slowly go away.
spray alot more wd-40 into access hole, put back in battery.
Good to go!
still have a bit of a clunk on bigger bumps, but the squeak is gone. just gonna have to take it easy for a bit.
I'm pretty sure its because that bottom top plate bushing is not where its supposed to be. So I have to see if Daystar will just sell those as replacements, then get this fixed for good!

good news----suspension wasn't falling apart, so i can finally unpucker my fudge maker.
bad news---gotta convince a company just to sell me those bushings, take apart susupsion, dissasemble spring/strut, then reassemble hopefully not by hand.

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L.O.S.T. #225019
2003 Sport 4x4
Patriot Blue w/ trail rash
Flex-Zilla 4" Lift
TrailRash hi-lift mounts
Other stuff you wish you had

did you try compressing the spring again then tightening the top nut down on the slack you now have on the strut shaft? The issues with rustys springs is that they sit real tall, so you can only get the top nut so tight. Then they sag to ride height, so there is extra play between the top strut nut and top plate. As the suspension compresses and returns to normal, that extra play can cause banging/rattling or jingling between the struts plate and the top washer. you should be able to compress the spring further now that they are broken in, and tighten that nut a bit more.

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L.O.S.T. #225019
2003 Sport 4x4
Patriot Blue w/ trail rash
Flex-Zilla 4" Lift
TrailRash hi-lift mounts
Other stuff you wish you had

I agree! We can't have loose nuts now can we!

Terry

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2011 Ford F-150 XLT 4X4

ok so here is what i did. i used a hole saw bit and cut a hole at the top of the strut tower to gain access to the strut nut.
i did this to both sides, had the to take the battry tray out and all

Well first off you now just weakened the upper strut mount from drilling that big hole,and not to mention no water and other junk can sit in that area corroding stuff faster.Second you can't properly tighten that upper nut since you need to hold the strut rod with a 8mm wrench(the 2 flat spots pocking out of the top side of the nut) while using a crowsfoot on a torque wrench to torque the nut,A whole lot of work to have to do it the right way anyway since that strut rod will turn with the nut unless held by a wrench.

The time spent cutting holes etc was wasted, you could of had the whole assembly out in that lenghth of time and did the job right.

Just my 2 cents but....... If a job is worth doing , its worth doing right.

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MUDD'S MOTORSPORT'S We do IFS lift installs ,
03 OVERLAND EDITION /Kilby-Skidrow-Mopar-4XGuard skids/ 2.5 inch TOTAL CONTROL JBA coilovers -JBA Arms/MOABS-31 FALKEN WILDPEAK AT3W / 4.10's etc, 04 Kilimanjaro Edition loaded, plus 05 KJ limited

well i talked to my body worj frame guy, and he said that it would not effect the way stress of the strut tower at all and yes i did cover the holes with flat rubber caps that way nothing can get in the holes that i made. all of this wwork and its all fixed, no more knocking noise in the front or rattling noise, so all in all i think it worked. oh and the time spent doing this with taking everything out that needed to be taken out, with air tools, a total of 45 mins. so if anyone thinks that they can take the assembly off in that time, well good for you. but i did find out one thing that im gonna have to replace the bushings at the top real soon.

I can pull both sides out and put them back in in less then 2 hours(no air tools,use my 28V electric impact when I can),it's not hard at all to pull the strut assemblies.With air tools I can pull and install both strut assemblies in about a 1 1/2 hours,maybe a little less.