Replaced upper/lower ball joints - truck now makes noise

[Convict1997]

I spent today changing out the ball joints on my 98 Sport 4x4. After getting everything back together, I took a quick 1 mile drive around the neighborhood just to check it out. There was a very noticeable knocking sound coming from, I think, front right wheel area. It speeds up and slows down consistently with how fast I'm going and is present when I shift into neutral. I'm going in for an alignment in the morning, but could being out of align be the cause of this knocking sound?

 

[96eb96]

I spent today changing out the ball joints on my 98 Sport 4x4. After getting everything back together, I took a quick 1 mile drive around the neighborhood just to check it out. There was a very noticeable knocking sound coming from, I think, front right wheel area. It speeds up and slows down consistently with how fast I'm going and is present when I shift into neutral. I'm going in for an alignment in the morning, but could being out of align be the cause of this knocking sound?

Sway bar links or bushings?

 

[my pos mounty]

If the noise is isolated to the front right area as you say, there is only a few things that could be causing it. You say it gains or loses speed as the truck does. So, I imagine it has to be something rotational.

1: The hub bearing is going
2: The CV/axle is going
3: There is something wrong with that particular tire and/or rim you didn't notice beforehand
4: Somehow, something happened to your rotor

 

[SmoothJimmy]

Which balljoints did you change? Uppers and lowers? Did you remove the halfshafts from the knuckles, halfshafts from the axles or just shift them aside?

 

[SmoothJimmy]

oops, I see that you changed both uppers and lowers...but my other questions still apply. If you popped the CV's out of joint to get access, this could be an issue.

 

[Convict1997]

I didn't remove the halfshafts. I just hung them from a bungee or laid them on the control arm, depending on what I was doing at the time.

 

[SmoothJimmy]

You torqued everything to spec?
Confident that the brake calipers and pads mounted correctly and torqued to spec too?

 

[Convict1997]

When I got an alignment this morning the guy said he believes the caliper is dragging. It makes sense as the noise goes away when the brakes are applied. I noticed the brakes looked pretty bad and there was a lot of uneven wear on the pads. I've got new pads, rotors, and calipers to put on tomorrow. I'll post back to let you know how it goes.

By the way, everything was put back in the same place it was removed and torqued to spec per the Haynes manual.

 

[SmoothJimmy]

Do you have a dial indicator to measure brake rotor runout? Spec is .003"
You did put those toothed retaining washers on the OUTSIDE of the brake rotor right?
You don't need the washers, they just gotta be on the outside. Maybe something else crept between the hub and the rotor. Doesn't take much to get beyond .003". But, the result would probably be more of a squeak than a clunk. Also a possibility that the anti-rattle shims that the pads ride in fell out. Easy to do.

 

[SmoothJimmy]

From above, shims is a bad description...more like guides.

 

[Convict1997]

Mine doesn't have those retaining washers, so no problem there. Turns out, though, that it was the brakes that were the problem. I don't know exactly what the problem was, but I put new pads, rotors, and calipers on the front and everything is good. The weird thing is that the noise was coming from the right side, but the pads on that side looked good, with even wear. The drivers side, however, not so good. The rear caliper pin was pushed all the way in and seized in the caliper bracket. The inboard pad had worn at an angle from front to back. The front had about half the pad left and the rear was gone, all the way down to the lining. I was unable to get the pin out, so I had to get a new bracket. On a side note, Autozone said caliper bracket 698-111 is the same is 14-1002. It's not. Advance Auto Parts 14-1002 was an exact fit.