Creaking sound from driver side pillar

[spoiledkari]

Thanks for posting. I'm starting to wonder if this is the issue. Someone who has no creaking sent me a pic of their drain tube and there is like a millimeter of clearance between it and the frame, but when looking at mine, it's touching the frame. I'm going to try to either lube it, put some felt in, or epoxy it against the frame and see if that helps.

For the record, the same guy who has no creaking has no "weld" on the drivers side either, so seems like that might not be the culprit.

I’m desperate! It appears that the missing weld might not be missing after all.
Where is this drain tube in the pillar? Unfortunately, I can’t get the cover off of the actual pillar...I can only get it pulled out a bit to look down inside a few inches. The seatbelt holds it on. Is this tube near the front or the rear of the pillar? I got all of the plastic stripped off of the roll bar in front of the behind the pillar.
Jeep is sending a tech engineer to look at my rig but they say it’ll take months before they can get him scheduled here. I’d like to do a little more troubleshooting while I wait.

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[spoiledkari]

The OP got his creaking resolved by going through a body shop in Canada. They discovered that one of the many metal plates on top of the B pillar was misaligned causing it to rub against other metal pieces. The body shop was able to realign the plate and his creaking is gone.

 

[Khsonic03]

Here is one of the pics he sent me. This is looking back from the driver's door. The piece is plastic.

 

[Khsonic03]

Also - I'm 99% sure the "weld" we are seeing on the passenger's side is actually structural epoxy.

 

[spoiledkari]

Here is one of the pics he sent me. This is looking back from the driver's door. The piece is plastic.

So we’re talking about that arrow looking like thing? I was wondering if that was rubbing where it goes into the metal plate at the bottom but it’s so hard to get in there to see/feel around. And mine is definitely touching the metal on the side, too.

 

[Khsonic03]

So we’re talking about that arrow looking like thing? I was wondering if that was rubbing where it goes into the metal plate at the bottom but it’s so hard to get in there to see/feel around. And mine is definitely touching the metal on the side, too.

Correct. Mine is touching along the left side. Also, ArchAngel posted that theirs was fixed when the dealer applied lubricant to it. So it might be that. But perhaps the lack of the weld/screw/epoxy in the area where we were initially talking about is what is allowing it to flex to begin with. So it could be a 2 part issue.

 

[RubenZ]

Also - I'm 99% sure the "weld" we are seeing on the passenger's side is actually structural epoxy.

I think you are right If you look at my pic i posted above of the side that doesn't have weld, you can see some PINK Putty looking thing in there. Maybe it just didn't receive paint ? who knows.

 

[spoiledkari]

Correct. Mine is touching along the left side. Also, ArchAngel posted that theirs was fixed when the dealer applied lubricant to it. So it might be that. But perhaps the lack of the weld/screw/epoxy in the area where we were initially talking about is what is allowing it to flex to begin with. So it could be a 2 part issue.

Maybe I’ll start with some lubricant applied between the tube and the side as well as all around where it goes through the lower plate. If that solves this issue, then I’ll start thinking about a more permanent solution. Oh how I hope this simple fix is the solution to this problem. I have truly disliked driving my Jeep these past few weeks.
FYI: I have screws in those two plates, too and mine is a soft top.

 

[Khsonic03]

I think you are right If you look at my pic i posted above of the side that doesn't have weld, you can see some PINK Putty looking thing in there. Maybe it just didn't receive paint ? who knows.

Yep, that's why I think it's the epoxy. The epoxy turns pink or purple when it cures depending on the brand/type. I think the paint just didn't hit it in that area.

Additionally, in this pic from another member, you can see that the epoxy didn't actually bond with the upper panel on the passenger's side. I wonder if maybe that's why they started using screws too?

 

[Khsonic03]

Maybe I’ll start with some lubricant applied between the tube and the side as well as all around where it goes through the lower plate. If that solves this issue, then I’ll start thinking about a more permanent solution. Oh how I hope this simple fix is the solution to this problem. I have truly disliked driving my Jeep these past few weeks.
FYI: I have screws in those two plates, too and mine is a soft top.

Oh ok, didn't look like it from the pics. Shoot, I'll have to double check mine tonight. I don't recall seeing screws in there.

Soft tops might be having the issue worse since the hard top adds some structural rigidity to that area.

 

[Oldtimer]

I pulled down on the end of the sound bar trim, and there is a screw there. There is a screw on both the passenger and driver side. I've posted pictures of the screws, what I think is a weld or filler or whatever on the passenger side, and the "missing" weld/filler/whatever on the drivers side. I'll keep watching the thread for a solution to the creaking. For what it's worth I have a hardtop with premium soft top package.

 

[Khsonic03]

I confirmed I have the screws on both sides as well. It was because I didn't pull down the trim initially when I looked. I am going to try to play around with everything this weekend. Hoping I have more info after that.

 

[spoiledkari]

I lubed up the drain tube last night and there was zero change in the creaking and cracking. Since I have the soft top on right now, I am able to grab the two metal plates on the very top of the pillar (where the screws for the hard top go) and when the metal was warm from sitting outside all day, I was able to duplicate the creaking by pulling down really hard on those plates. It’s near the front of the 2 plates.

 

[Khsonic03]

I lubed up the drain tube last night and there was zero change in the creaking and cracking. Since I have the soft top on right now, I am able to grab the two metal plates on the very top of the pillar (where the screws for the hard top go) and when the metal was warm from sitting outside all day, I was able to duplicate the creaking by pulling down really hard on those plates. It’s near the front of the 2 plates.

I'll try doing the same this evening and see if I can duplicate/pinpoint. All we need to do is find the point where they are rubbing and either use some epoxy, rubber, or lubricant. Personally, I'd rather fix the root of the issue by applying epoxy and preventing whatever flexing is happening vs. addressing the symptoms, if that makes sense.

 

[spoiledkari]

I am now 95% convinced that I know where the sound is coming from. The pics above are of a place where there are 2 metal pieces, one sitting on top of the other and then they are both wrapped around the roll bar. Lots of spaces for metal to flex against another piece of metal. Where the screw for the hard top goes in, it appears that there are 3 layers of metal there. This is the area that I can pull down on very hard and duplicate the sound of the metal is warm from sitting in the sun. I put my ear as close as I could get to this area (I drive a standard transmission so this wasn’t easy to do while still having to shift gears and such) and I’m 95% sure this area is the culprit. If you look at it from the top, you can even push the one piece of metal down and make it hit the plate below it. Now I don’t know how to proceed.

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