Fox 2.0 coilover clicking

[D Fresh]

Need some advice on what to look for.

Installed Fox 2.0 stage 1 kit last weekend. Everything went smooth.

This weekend I noticed a clicking from the passenger side. Slight bumps, letting off the brakes to accelerate away, and also when steering lock to lock while stationary.

Rechecked torque on everything and tightened up tophat nut as much as I could on the truck. Still there.

Had the old lady cycle the steering while I was under there. I can literally feel the pop on the strut body, threaded part.

Any thoughts?

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[Pinepig]

I also had a little clunk on mine, wasn't in the body, I didn't quite get the sway bar end link tight.

If you can feel the pop when it's turned you have it about 90% found. Take your biggest screw driver and poke it around while you helper repeats the action that makes the noise. Put the handle end of the screw driver right against your ear. Car stethoscope it is. When it's the loudest you have found your spot, should be able to figure it out from there.

 

[D Fresh]

I also had a little clunk on mine, wasn't in the body, I didn't quite get the sway bar end link tight.

If you can feel the pop when it's turned you have it about 90% found. Take your biggest screw driver and poke it around while you helper repeats the action that makes the noise. Put the handle end of the screw driver right against your ear. Car stethoscope it is. When it's the loudest you have found your spot, should be able to figure it out from there.

Thanks for the pointer. I'll give it a shot.

Pretty sure I'm in the right spot. There's an obvious pop I can feel using my hand as a stethoscope, and it's right at the threaded body of the shock. Could be just transferring the load there so I'll try a screwdriver and maybe get a scope.

I'll also make sure to re-address the sway bar link.

Really hoping it's not a bad unit from Fox. Don't want to do it 3 times and my tires arrive this week.

 

[D Fresh]

Before I left work today I asked our mechanic to take a quick look. He's ASE certified, for whatever that's worth, and has built and wheels a nice FJ.

Noise mostly goes away when the tire is unloaded, changes to more of a groan than a pop. Work mechanic suspects sway bar link, or axle nut.

Talking with my BIL he thinks it might be the swaybar link as we had some trouble getting those to torque to spec.

So this evening, after sleep, and before work I'll try to check the swaybar endlink.


Any other thoughts or suggestions guys?

 

[D Fresh]

Checked swaybar endlink. Tried to snug her up but got no where. Probably gonna swing over to the BILs this weekend to figure it out. His tool situation is better.

 

[D Fresh]

Had to try something as it's driving me nuts.

Went and grabbed another 35mm socket to check the axle nut. I left the other one at my brother-in-law's as I figured he'd need it before I did and he lives about an hour away.

My torque wrench only goes up to 150 and is fairly short. It clicked right away. Tried to push past the click some and couldn't.

Had a thought. Let me know if I'm way off base. Is it possible that the two lower shock mount bolts are slightly out of alignment? On that side we had to rotate the shock a bit to line them up. I would think that would self align. However my observation of the shock body popping makes me wonder?

 

[Pinepig]

Had to try something as it's driving me nuts.

Went and grabbed another 35mm socket to check the axle nut. I left the other one at my brother-in-law's as I figured he'd need it before I did and he lives about an hour away.

My torque wrench only goes up to 150 and is fairly short. It clicked right away. Tried to push past the click some and couldn't.

Had a thought. Let me know if I'm way off base. Is it possible that the two lower shock mount bolts are slightly out of alignment? On that side we had to rotate the shock a bit to line them up. I would think that would self align. However my observation of the shock body popping makes me wonder?

They do pretty much self align. Rotation around the shock shaft is automatic and the shaft that has the the " nuts " in it freely rotates in the bushing. I suppose there is a possibility you may have something cocked in there sideways/bound up, it does happen. The cure would be to put it in the air and loosen everything WITHOUT removing the parts, make sure nothing is bound up and EVENLY tighten everything back up, my order would be lower strut, upper strut, upper A arm end, axle, sway bar ends and sway bar bushing last.

 

[DukeCanBuildit]

Had to try something as it's driving me nuts.

Went and grabbed another 35mm socket to check the axle nut. I left the other one at my brother-in-law's as I figured he'd need it before I did and he lives about an hour away.

My torque wrench only goes up to 150 and is fairly short. It clicked right away. Tried to push past the click some and couldn't.

Had a thought. Let me know if I'm way off base. Is it possible that the two lower shock mount bolts are slightly out of alignment? On that side we had to rotate the shock a bit to line them up. I would think that would self align. However my observation of the shock body popping makes me wonder?

This is killing me. I recently had a similar issue with my stock struts with a level kit and I couldn’t resolve it - I was planning on upgrading to Fox so I didn’t get too fussed. It did, however, cause a lot of heartburn. I installed the Fox kit Saturday.

I recorded and posted the sound in this thread….

https://www.ranger5g.com/forum/threads/noisy-suspension-strut-uca-bolt-upper-ball-joint.15183/

Is that the sound?

 

[D Fresh]

This is killing me. I recently had a similar issue with my stock struts with a level kit and I couldn’t resolve it - I was planning on upgrading to Fox so I didn’t get too fussed. It did, however, cause a lot of heartburn. I installed the Fox kit Saturday.

I recorded and posted the sound in this thread….

https://www.ranger5g.com/forum/threads/noisy-suspension-strut-uca-bolt-upper-ball-joint.15183/

Is that the sound?

Nope. Slightly different. More of a click than a clunck, if that makes sense. I'll try to get a video tonight and post it up.

Did it go away with the Fox install?

 

[DukeCanBuildit]

Nope. Slightly different. More of a click than a clunck, if that makes sense. I'll try to get a video tonight and post it up.

Did it go away with the Fox install?

So far, so good - it’s getting aligned - I’ll check again when I pick it up later today.

I know you’ve checked the anti-sway bar link nut at the knuckle but maybe check the nut at the bar itself too. Just a thought.

 

[D Fresh]

They do pretty much self align. Rotation around the shock shaft is automatic and the shaft that has the the " nuts " in it freely rotates in the bushing. I suppose there is a possibility you may have something cocked in there sideways/bound up, it does happen. The cure would be to put it in the air and loosen everything WITHOUT removing the parts, make sure nothing is bound up and EVENLY tighten everything back up, my order would be lower strut, upper strut, upper A arm end, axle, sway bar ends and sway bar bushing last.

Awesome. I'll give that a shot, probably this weekend.

Definitely appreciate the advice.

My inability to figure it out has me frustrated. I'm no ace mechanic, but I can generally apply enough logic to figure stuff out.

Part of me says something had to have worked loose. As I'm 98% positive the click wasn't there after install.

The other part is listening to that 2% and wondering if I missed it after install. Meaning a mistake on our part or failed unit from Fox. We followed the Ford Fox install pdf to the T, except for the new hardware at the swaybar, tie rod, and axle. Which could've led to loosening up.

Think I'll get to the dealership before I go over to my brother-in-laws place this weekend. Hopefully they have that hardware in stock.

Anybody got the Ford part numbers for the axle nut, swaybar nut and tie rod end nut?

Another consideration is that something might have been botched on the alignment. It was done 3 days after the install and 4 days before I noticed the noise.

 

[D Fresh]

So far, so good - it’s getting aligned - I’ll check again when I pick it up later today.

I know you’ve checked the anti-sway bar link nut at the knuckle but maybe check the nut at the bar itself too. Just a thought.

Absolutely couldn't hurt. Will try that too.

 

[DukeCanBuildit]

Anybody got the Ford part numbers for the axle nut, swaybar nut and tie rod end nut?

Should be on this page.

 

[DukeCanBuildit]

For anyone else, the torque specs are here….

 

[D Fresh]

Should be on this page.

Of course it was beyond my reasoning to check the first page for "required" part numbers.

I've gotta get some sleep!

Thanks again.

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