I have an 05 F-150 4.6l with a little over 55k miles. I have been noticing a pop/clunk noise coming from the front driver's side wheel area. It sometimes feels/sounds like it's coming directly underneath my feet.

The sound occurs especially when I come to a complete stop, and then go. It make a pop/clunk noise. It also occurs intermittently when I go over bumps (rare rare rare occasion) and when I take turns.


Some of the Jeep guys are saying it sounds like I have a UV joint gone bad. What do you all think? Is this a common issue? Can I fix it myself?

I ask because I just had both of my parking brake cables and assembly replaced at the dealership since it wasn't fully depressing and causing the vehicle to shake violently. Cost me $500!!! HELP

 

1. not your front u-joints2. Check your sway bar endlinks

 

I also did a little bit of searching before posting. Other threads replied with a possibility of a bad motor mount?

I just went outside and turned my wheel all the way to the right to gain access to the sway bar links. I shook at it pretty hard and there was no play what so ever. Do I need to jack up the vehicle to test for play?

 

I have to agree that the Sway Bar End Links was certainly the place to check first for the popping noise you were hearing. You heard it at all the right times as well. I was hearing the same noise on my 2004 F150 which has 114K miles on it. Sure enough, they were very loose! We replaced both of them and that stopped the noise! I opted for new Moog links instead of new Ford links. They were only about $25 each and they have grease zerts on them. See the new link installed in my pic below. The ball was very loose in the socket on the old ones, so check yours out close. Good Luck!

Dan Herrmann
1969 F250 Arizona truck
1975 F150 Explorer
1978 F150 Ranger XLT (Restored then Stolen)
1986 F150 XLT Lariat
1988 F250 Custom
2004 F150 4x4 XLT Daily Driver
2001 Buick Century (wifes car)

[IMG]<a href="http://s73.photobucket.com/albums/i221/fordtrucknut/?action=view&current=100_1456.jpg" target="_blank"><img src="http://i73.photobucket.com/albums/i221/fordtrucknut/100_1456.jpg" border="0" alt="Photobucket"></a>[/IMG]

 

Thanks for the posts. I will stop by autozone/advance auto after work and hope that it fixes the loud popping noise at take offs!

 

I replaced both sway bar end links. I still have same issues. Could it be bad set of upper/lower ball joints? Maybe cv joints?

 

Check your rear u-joints. Could be one of them is extremely worn out, and when you take off, picks up the slack, then bang!

 

Is there CV in the front? My jeep front keeps insisting that he thinks its the front CV joints.

I feel the clunk underneath my feet tho...IM SO CONFUSED. I just hate buying parts and spending time repairing them, only to find out that the problem still exists.

 

Is your stx a 4x4? if so, does your 4x4 operate the way is should? smoothly and almost quiet. Check for clunking, or non-engagement in the 4x4 system. It could be a problem with the front IWE actuators. the drivers side tends to go out first.

 

it is a 4x4. In the winter time, when I engage in 4x4, I hear a slow vacuum leak in the passenger side ( I think that is another issue that I will have to deal with when the winter months come )

 

umm, you shouldn't hear a vacuum leak with 4x4 engaged. The actuators are DISENGAGED when vacuum is present. When you ENGAGE 4x4, vacuum is withdrawn and spring pressure is exerted to keep the IWE locked in. I would check that soon, IWE actuators are expensive, and if they are engaged and the transfer case is not, you could be hearing the entire front driveline taking up slack as you initially accelerate. And if you can hear a vacuum leak on this engine, (except maybe the brake vacuum hose, that I would expect to hear) you have a large leak.

 

What does it feel like when a bearing hub assembly goes bad? Maybe its a bad bearing?

 

Usually a bad wheel bearing roars (causes a real bad low pitch vibration, but not a shake, shaking maybe in the WORST case), not popping.

 

im stumped...i think I narrowed it down to ball joints. The dealership stated that I need new ball joints because of the "lift" (leveling blocks). I got a price from autozone and the upper arm is about 135$ and the lower ball joint is about $35.


What do you think?

 

I think I would check that out very closely before investing into the costs of installing new Ball Joints. You could have a good front end shop check it out and advise you. Shops that do front end alignments will spot bad ball joints, tie rods, or bearings very quickly.

And that 4x4 Actuator, he made some very good points about that! I had to replace the drivers side on my 04 F150 this spring also. I bought a new one from Ford for about $125. You can see the right side Actuator in my picture with the sway bar end links. I didn't have a vaccum leak however, in my case the front end was not engaging properly.

Dan