Okay, here's the deal. Went wheeling a couple weeks back, a day later I was getting clicking noises from the front end when the wheels were turned left or right. I figured it was a CV issue, so I checked the boots, and they were fine- no visible tears. So, I know I've lost grease over time from the lift, and figured it was time for a rebuild, maybe the boots were getting low on grease. I shelled out ~100 bucks for 2 CV rebuild kits from Toyota, and got set to go to work this morning. I just finished a busy week at work, and as much as I like working on cars, I have my limit. However, I knew I had to get this done to avoid further damage to the CV's. I took the skid plate off, and remembered a post by Bobzemuda, saying that the noises in his front end went away when the skid plate was removed. So, just to make sure that the clicking I heard wasn't dried mud, etc. in/on the skid plate causes the bolts to creak a bit, I went for a quick drive after pulling off the front (Trail Carnage) skid plate. Sure enough, everything sounded right as rain! I'm going to keep an eye on it, clean up and lube the bolts holding the skid plate, and see how it goes. The whole thing has me miffed, but in the meantime I'm going to enjoy the rest of my weekend!

 

you can come over tomorrow and rebuild my CVs then

 

Might be a bit of a drive....

 

Hey man, I have the same deal, I went wheeling a couple weeks back and since then I have that clicking noise whenever turning the wheels all the way in either direction. I took my skid plate off (also mangled) and the noise stopped. Everything is good and lubed/greased as it should be so i'm not going to sweat it too much.

 

I had the same thing happen to me and I have Trailcarnage plates. What it ended up being was that I hit the plates hard on a ride and they shifted ever so slightly and would click or pop when turning hard at a slow speed. I removed them and reinstalled them and it has not happened again, even after 2 skidplate banging trips to Tellico.

 

Weird, frame must flex ever so slightly when turning? Maybe worth putting some rubber bushings in between plates and frame?

 

That sounds like a good idea. If you try it, post how well it works.

 

similiar thing happened to my TC plates. just loosen the front bolts, and shift the plate around an re-tighten the bolts, worked for me.

 

If it were me, I would find out WHY this is happening. The stock skid is fine and our incredible "Rockstopmer Super Rip Off's" are fine.

I bet it can be fixes with a few seconds of an angle grinder.


You can never have enough R&D and Testing, testing, testing.

 

Hey Guys...I did a search for the problem I'm seeing...and I though I'd dig up this thread and ask the question.....
When you lift your truck....will your inner CV spit a little bit o' grease? I just noticed at lunch when I glance under the truck a bit of grease coming from BOTH inner CV's....IIRC, these looked fine (no tears or funkiness) not long ago (saturday!)

Thanks in advance...I'm trying to calm the alarm going off in my head!

Åaron