which front end components tend to wear out first, with lift

barley00 · **Posted:** Fri May 06, 2016 12:47 pm

Hello CRDers, I am having some hellacious noises coming from the front end of the CRD. I have an OME lift, been in for over 75K. The sounds occur when coming to a stop, as the body rocks back after stopping, sounds on "liftoff" from a stop, and on pretty much all turns but moreso on left turns. It has been getting progressively worse over the course of the last year or so. I am ASSUMING it is bushing related as it sounds like a metal to metal "pop/tap".

Has anyone else had these problems, or does anyone have an idea what kinds of things tend to wear out first up front?

When she was up on the lift for an inspection I asked the mechanic and he said the swaybar bushings looked worn so I replaced those, very easy and cheap but didn't make a bit of difference.

Thanks a lot.

PZKW108 · **Joined:** Sun Apr 06, 2014 5:23 pm **Posts:** 461

I had the exact same symptoms on mine, last week I change the "boomerang" but it didn't make a big difference, even if the ball joint was pretty loose.
this morning after reading many thread about this problem I took off the rear drive shaft to clean and apply some of the thickest grease I could find on the yoke splines......... the slack is gone !!!! for now at least.

it's a 20min job , give it a try

barley00 · **Posted:** Fri May 06, 2016 3:57 pm

I'll try it, thanks a lot!

twulf · **Posted:** Mon May 09, 2016 2:03 am

Check your engine mounts.

PZKW108 · **Joined:** Sun Apr 06, 2014 5:23 pm **Posts:** 461

twulf wrote:

Check your engine mounts.

what is a good way to check the mounts ?

barley00 · **Posted:** Wed May 11, 2016 2:20 pm

PZKW108,

Check this thread and search for more:
viewtopic.php?f=5&t=76063

twulf, thanks for the input. I've been down the busted engine mount road before and I don't think this is it, although I'll give them a closer look next time I'm under there.

Rixram · **Posted:** Fri May 13, 2016 11:35 am

Upper ball joints. I lost one back in February. The fact it was -8°F out likely contributed to the failure. Regardless, I had a Skyjacker 2" spacer lift, so it put additional stress on the ball joints.

AZ CRD · **Posted:** Sun May 29, 2016 9:50 am

Any luck as yet identifying the cause of the noise? Mine has started making a knocking-clunking noise during the exact same situations you describe - stopping, accelerating from stop, slow speed left turns.

barley00 · **Posted:** Mon May 30, 2016 8:29 am

AZ, not yet...planning on taking much of the front end apart one of these days and look at shocks, upper ball joints and whatever else I can get access to. Will post what I find and you do the same please!

AZ CRD · **Posted:** Mon Jul 18, 2016 10:56 pm

So the noise was coming from the worn out JBA UCAbushings and ball joints. They were installed 5 years ago which for me was about 60K miles. Total miles on the Jeep are 108K.

I also replaced the LCA bushings and ball joints and the tie rod ends with Moog.

mass-hole · **Posted:** Tue Jul 19, 2016 7:31 pm

Woof. I don't wanna have to take my UCAs off ever.

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ATXKJ · **Posted:** Tue Jul 19, 2016 8:39 pm

might want to check rack and pinon mounts - allows the rack to drift

http://jeepkj.com/forum/f196/steering-rack-bushing-replacement-50363/#post559016

click on the photo to see the bolt move with as the steering wheel is turned

sounds like a gentile squeak from inside - but when you open the hood to look - it's loud.

which front end components tend to wear out first, with lift

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