Hollow Popping Noise Left Front When Turning Wheels

I have a popping noise that is coming from the front left of my 70 Challenger when I turn the front wheels. Once the car warms up and moves around a bit I don't hear it, but hear it when it's cool and I'm trying to navigate in or out of a garage space. What might it be?

It sounds like a dry ball joint to me. I'd get it off the ground and visually inspect the front suspension first.

Could also be the tire. I had a tire once with a broken belt in it which would make a loud popping sound when the tire was cold. Once it was warmed up the tire didn't make any noise.

first thing in the AM have someone turn the wheel with you on the ground underneath

It has Goodyear Polyglas I don't think they have belts.

I am also leaning towards a tire issue. Take 5 mins and rotate the tires to see if it goes away. Cheapest easiest check

Of course Polyglas tires have belts, fiberglass belts. They were the intermediate step between bias tires and radials. There was a whole class of bias-belted tires. The Polyglas were Goodyear's high performance model.

I am leaning towards something like a drag link that needs replacing.

R.

I meant steel belts. I don't think it's a tire issue. It's a T/A so it has different size tires front and rear. Would look awfully funny if rotate the tires and put the larger tire on the front and the smaller ones on the rear.

You can still swap sides and see if the noise follows. But I am sure you already thought of that.
Craig

Just putting this out there, but when being driven at all, the tire is generating heat, creating a condition that would be more conforming and flexible at any given speed within reason, in my thoughts, therefore, causing the on again off again condition that you are describing. I don't see a ball joint doing that, or a drag link, but I personally would still look at all this stuff before driving the car at all. On a final note, didn't TA's originally come w the same tires on all four corners? Like the rest of chryslers built during that time?

Oh snap, e's up front and f's in da back. My bad.....but you could still swap around or out the tires

Ta's and hemi cars did have different tire sizes front to rear, my bad. You could still do a switcheroo though......

How are the suspension parts ? I'm going thru this on a 2001 Ram right now , the bushings are loose in the control arms ... so far ....

Suspension parts all look brand new and well greased. However they were replaced about 10-15 years ago and the car has had maybe a couple thousand miles in that time. It really sounds like something is loose, but when it gets going and moving and heated up it seems like something may swell up and it doesn't make the noise any more.

I had a Ford Bronco a while back. They have issues radius arm bushing failure. When you would turn the wheel left or right while backing up and hit the brakes it would make about the same noise. Such as a bushing that is worn and not doing it's job anymore. Thing is on this one it's all new stuff, but it is older new rubber parts so it could have dried out from sitting, or something may not be tightened down enough. Don't know still diagnosing..............

Had a chance to take the wheels off and take a look. Everything looks great, new and well greased except a rubber bushing that is under the control arm on the drivers side where the noise is coming from. See photos. I'm not sure what the part is called but it needs to be replaced as it is split. Maybe some kind of bump stop? If anyone can tell me what part I need to ask for that would be great.

The part that is split is the upper control arm bump stop. with weight on the suspension it shouldn't be making contact with anything. The fact that its split has me thinking maybe the front suspension is not set at the proper ride height. Probably not you noise, but something that should be addressed.

Think I would put the floor jack under the lower control arm and move the body up and down to see what is making a small sudden jerk. As the suspension travels, everything should move smoothly and consistently. Whatever is not moving smoothly is probably your noise maker. It really could be anything in the suspension, anything attached to the suspension, or anything effected by the suspension. Old suspension rubber parts (that still may not have wear) tend to be a bit more still when they are cold, and soften up as the move. That stiffness can cause attaching points to move that are not suppose to move. Once the rubber parts soften a bit, and become more flexible, the parts that were moving may not move anymore.

I've seen poor penetration on factory spot welds on the upper control arm mounting braces that would allow the braces to twist with the control arm until the bushings softened up. Unibody cars make funny noises when the spot welds fail. Popping and snapping are tell tail signs, the the noise can travel through the car a long ways from the issue. Not saying this is your problem, but its is something I have encountered. Gene

Check the wheel bearings.

Although of a different design completely, the "hollow popping sound while turning" fits to a "TEE" the noise my 4wd Ram made when the unit bearings were disintegrating.

Maybe a dry torsion bar socket?

I've used a floor jack to raise and lower the control arms. I get the noise as the suspension raises up with each pump of the jack. Sounds like a ratcheting sound this way vs popping when it's done with the car weight on it, but it's got to be the issue. Problem is I can't pinpoint exactly where it's coming from but best I can tell it's coming from the bottom near where everything attaches to the subframe. Something that pivots and is supposed to rotate on its axis smoothly isn't. Not sure if there is anything I can lube there to help or not. I'll try to post a video of the noise.

Hopefully this will work. Please disregard the jack squeaking for some reason you can really hear it better on the video than in person, but you can also hear the popping noise that I'm trying to figure out and solve.


http://vid338.photobucket.com/albums/n439/kna4977/Mobile%20Uploads/IMG_0116_zps1ce41a87.mp4

that's what I was thinkin

Little more diagnosing. Hard to do trying to jack it up and feel for the sound at the same time. If I put my hand on the upper control arm I can feel the sound in that part. If I put my hand on the lower one while it makes the sound I don't feel it and just hear it. So it's coming from the upper control arm area. Every time the jack moves up a little it pops. If I let it down real quick it makes several pops as it goes through the motions.

Hmmm I wonder if the UCA cam bolt nuts were tightened when it was still up in the air (wheels drooping/not loaded)

I don't know but it's a possibility. How can I fix? How are they supposed to be done what's spec? I checked the right side the same way and it is fine. I know when I got the car the front was about 2 inches or so higher than spec. That's probably why that bump stop got messed up. It's correct height now. It did make the same sound when it was higher as well.

on the rack (loaded) when they get the cams turned for the correct caster/camber settings then the nut(s) on the end are tightened to clamp it all together. I think you could loosen the nuts then set the car down (loaded) then retighten them but first you'd wanna make a tic mark on the cams and the frame next to them for reference to make SURE they do not rotate during this which would alter the alignment settings. and with the noise coming from the UCA does the UBJ look OK (not loose/no binding/contact as far as you can tell?) EDIT & you might see if anything metallic is loose/appears to be moving/contacting/shifting in that (UCA bushing) area that is generating the noise

Which nuts are we talking about? The ones accessible inside the engine bay? The ball joint looks good/new with no movement. Well greased MOOG. Pics a couple posts up show it.

I haven't been able to see anything shift or move. I just hear and feel it, but it is awkward trying to jack and see and feel all at the same time. The noise seems to be coming from both attachment points where the UCA rotates on its axis and I would say both sides of where the left UCA attaches are making about the same noise. When I feel the ball joint doing the same thing I can still feel the noise since it's connected to the UCA and the sound is radiating through it, but the strength and frequency of the feel and sound is less than it is where it pivots.

The 9/16 (iirc) nut on the end of the integral cam adjuster/bolt that goes thru the (2) UCA bushings on each UCA in the pic. EDIT after a good nights' sleep it hit me that those nuts are 3/4

I get the same noise in my 67 coronet since the resto.. I have never found anything wrong when up on the rack..

My opinion is its the urethane lowers..

I had a chance to mess with it a little today. In my opinion the bolts were pretty loose so I loosened them a bit more with the suspension unloaded then loaded it and snugged them up. I didn't hear the noise, but I'm not sure it's gone. Crossing my fingers. I would like to torque them to spec but I can't find the specs. Anyone know?

Should be in your shop manual ???

You said the front end was too high and it was lowered , who lowered it and was the front end realigned afterwards ?

I would not have loosened them with the front unloaded then lowered it. When the alignment is done the weight is on the front end the entire time , any adjusment to ride height should be done with all alignment bolts ... especially the pivot shaft bolts ... loose so the bushings are not in a bind.

Someone mentioned poly bushings, does this car have polys ?

I had a popping noise in the front of my 70 challenger after doing a complete restoration. I have driven it about 1000 miles since finishing it. I too thought it was the upper control arm nuts, also suspected the strut rods, shocks, and lower control arm pivot nuts. Found the problem today! 3 of the 4 K frame attachment bolts were loose! I am sure I tightened them when doing the restoration, but they were very loose. Just my 2cents.
Jess

I was wondering about that myself. Right now if your camber & toe in is acceptable then you are OK (for tire wear) if it drives/handles OK even if the caster is off/uneven on both sides. You could level it on tiles with your weight in barbells in the DR seat & string it then check camber with a 2ft carpenters' level vertical on the sidewalls & also the toe in or just have it checked/realigned at the shop if you feel it needs rechecked, what works for you. Holler if the noise stays gone or how it goes

I wonder if that was the cause of the noise (sounds probable if it is quiet now after tightening em). not sure of the spec but those nuts need to be tightened TIGHT with the car loaded, not even sure if you could even get a torque wrench in there

65 ft-lbs maybe? I don't have a shop manual. Only access to one online which is a PITA.

I lowered it. It was not re-aligned. But again it made the same noise before it was lowered to the correct height.

I was following previous advice to let the suspension unload, loosen the nuts, load it up and then re-tighten as maybe they were previously tightened while unloaded.

Not Polys.

1/2" wheel studs are 65 so that would work or close to it. So it is still noisy?

I haven't been able to reproduce the popping noise doing the same procedure of raising and lowering the control arm with a floor jack after I tightened the nuts to 65 ft/lbs. I haven't driven it yet after doing so though. There were no issues getting a torque wrench in there.

take it to get the front end aligned by someone that knows old cars , when you lowered the front suspension you changed the alignment . Tell them to go thru the whole thing as far as loosening and retighten the bolts , BUY A SHOP MANUAL