Front end popping/ slight bang

RJP44 · June 2, 2020

Truck is a 2015 2500hd with 65K on it. Running kryptonite uca and ball joints that were just installed about 8k miles ago as well as bilstien 5100s. I really only notice it when i hit a bump slow turning slightly. From what I can tell both upper and lower ball joints seem tight and in good shape. The keys are not over cranked either they could go up another 2" if I want but i felt I should keep it at a safe height. All boots are solid without any holes. Is there anything else fairly common I should check for on these trucks?

EJCarter · June 2, 2020

Regarding the popping - if they are Moog ball joints, they had a bad batch that prematurely failed. I had a slight popping noise while hitting bumps, but it was only coming from the right side. I took it back to the manufacturer of my leveling kit who informed me of the ball joint problem. They ended up warranting both Moog ball joints that came in their UCAs and the popping stopped - and has not returned...

Regarding the slight bang - when we installed my leveling kit, I initially had a slight banging noise that could be heard and felt as a sharp vibration in the floor over certain bumps, but not all bumps. We initially had my truck cranked so it sat level. We de-cranked just slightly and the banging stopped. This increased the distance between the UCA and the droop stop. You also mentioned the bilsteins...are you running shock extensions? If not, the slight bang could be coming from your shocks fully extending over bumps...

GTBensley · June 5, 2020

Mine does this as well with stock keys turned up slightly. Lots of room between bump stop and control arm and shocks are bilstien 5100 with extenders. Started after leveling it. Everything feels tight and looks normal except the noise. I doubt its the arm hitting the stop as I have undercoating on them and it hardly disturbs it.....meaning the arms almost never hit the stop.

I am only leveled about 1.5 inches.

GTBensley · June 5, 2020

I am thinking of installing longer sway bar endlinks to see if that makes any difference.

GTBensley · June 30, 2020

I ended up using chassis ears to listen and what sounded like the front ended up being in the rear. Turns out it was my leafsprings binding and making noise. Cleaned and lubricated them and its good to go.