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Knocking in front suspension

Jp040506

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Hello,

I starting having a knocking noise driving at slow speed and turning my wheel on left corners. And it is not a quiet knock and my my front end shake a little and my staring feels a little off and loose. I brought it to the dealer which charged me $140 to tell me everything was tight and they didn’t hear anything during their test drive of the 4 days they had it. I picked it up last night and sure enough as soon as I drove out of the dealership Lot I heard it immediately. I thought it was my tie rod or track bar but they told me there was nothing broken or loose. Has anyone else experienced this on a 2018 JLU? I have an aftermarket 4”lift kit. I am going to test drive it with a mechanic who is familiar with jeeps later today because I am furious and feel like the dealership is slacking in the mechanics department. Any suggestions will be helpful.
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superdude

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Who installed the lift kit? If it wasn't the dealership, they may not be qualified to diagnose the issue. In all likelihood, your problem stems from the lift components.
 
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Jp040506

Jp040506

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Who installed the lift kit? If it wasn't the dealership, they may not be qualified to diagnose the issue. In all likelihood, your problem stems from the lift components.
 
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Jp040506

Jp040506

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It was not a dealer but he’s 45 min away and I’m afraid to drive it that far. I didn’t want to pay for a tow that far so I didn’t bring it to him. I know once you start modifying it, issues will start happening eventually but I just had it done a year and a half ago. I figure maybe the dealer didn’t want to work on my modified jeep and just brushed me off and if that’s the case they should of said that at the beginning before they charge the $140 diagnostic fee. I had them do my front breaks while it was in their shop. I think it’s odd they took it for a test drive and didn’t hear anything going on.
 

JLUCQ

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Look at your front springs and see if one of them is bowing into the bump stops. Happened to mine and should be a quick fix.
 

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“Diagnostic fees” are B.S. in my opinion. I get that it takes time to figure out an issue sometimes, but if they do find something and you choose to get the repair done at the same place, they should wave the diagnostic fee, or at least take it off the cost of the repair. Now if you choose to go somewhere else, then yes, their time should be worth something - if they helped in any way. That said, We are the customer. We shouldn’t have to pay just to show up.
 
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Jp040506

Jp040506

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I was thinking that’s a possibility. I’ll look into that

thank you
 
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Jp040506

Jp040506

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“Diagnostic fees” are B.S. in my opinion. I get that it takes time to figure out an issue sometimes, but if they do find something and you choose to get the repair done at the same place, they should wave the diagnostic fee, or at least take it off the cost of the repair. Now if you choose to go somewhere else, then yes, their time should be worth something - if they helped in any way. That said, We are the customer. We shouldn’t have to pay just to show up.
 
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Jp040506

Jp040506

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Yes 🙌 that’s exactly what I’m saying and the knocking is very noticeable so for them to tell me they heard nothing makes me think it didn’t go out for a test drive. I’m so irate about this whole situation. I agree if they find something then the fee would make sense and I believe they should wave it if you decide to have them fix it but they said they found nothing except I needed new front breaks and an oil change which I already knew. I just wanted to fix this problem before I paid $450 to get my breaks done.
 

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superdude

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That would make sense if this dealer installed the parts. I would say that a dealer charging a diagnostic fee to inspect suspension work that they did not do themselves is warranted. It's their time and not inherently their problem. It may be an extra hassle, but first step should be contacting whoever installed the lift.
 

beast40

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Look at your front springs and see if one of them is bowing into the bump stops. Happened to mine and should be a quick fix.

Did you adjust your control arms or just turn the coil? Pretty sure thats what my popping sound is.
 

rallydefault

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Definitely check the sway bar. If that came loose at some point unintentionally, it can start to wreak havoc on the control arms.
 

Some Random Guy

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Let’s just make this more confusing:

Do you wheel it hard with heavy tires? I’d check the axle shaft for twist. And while it’s out, re-torque ball joints. Those were my first 2 guesses based on how I read the post.
 

Yogi

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Just to recap, you have a clunking noise in the front end only when you make left hand turns, and while you are travelling straight down the road the steering is a little shaky, and feels "off", correct?
If I had to guess, it probably clunks once or twice for every wheel revolution. Would that be a fair guesstimate?
If I am correct so far, then the following is plausible ...
1) You have loose wheel lug nuts.
2) If you have spacers installed, one of them is loose.
3) You have a wheel bearing that is coming apart.
It is possible that you have an axle u-joint coming apart, but that is not likely to cause the shaky, "off" feeling in the steering.
It is also possible that you have steering linkage issues, however, if the clunking is consistent wheel revolutions, steering linkage issues are not likely.
If you are at all mechanically minded, jack up the left front wheel so it is about 2 inches off the ground, and push and pull on the top of the tire. If you feel play there, you have a problem.
As for the dealer not finding anything, well ... they found an easy hundred and forty bucks :(

Anyways, just my humble 2 cents worth today ... best of luck :)
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