Mysterious Clunk

FL335i · December 25, 2018

Found this thread.... I did my lower ball joints about 3-5k ago (85K). I noticed this front end popping noise while going through our local McDonald's drive through, before and after the lower ball joints. Left hand curve and cambered. I just came in from outside and jacked up my front end. Checked for TRE and bearing play. Nothing. Everything is tight. My upper Ball joints were good when I did the lowers. The studs were not sloppy and had no play. I still hear this noise every now and then when going through the drive through. I torqued the lower and upper control arm frame bolts too. I am starting to think it's a shock/strut issue. Nowhere near bad enough to make me replace the shocks though.

Edited December 25, 2018 by FL335i

426power · December 27, 2018

I had the same problem on my 2014 Sierra. It turned out to be a lose upper control arm. Tightened it where it mounts to the frame and well the knock was gone.

Hillwood · December 27, 2018

I had the same problem on my 2014 Sierra. It turned out to be a lose upper control arm. Tightened it where it mounts to the frame and well the knock was gone.

You might want to get the alignment checked.. The UCA bolts have cams and slots for alignment

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426power · December 27, 2018

14 minutes ago, Hillwood said:

You might want to get the alignment checked.. The UCA bolts have cams and slots for alignment

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I did, but no longer have that truck.

clock929 · April 22, 2019

I have had my 2018 GMC Sierra checked for the front end noise three times and I was told it was normal! This makes no sense to me. Do anyone know of any recalls for this problem?

WCMS · October 7, 2019

Any update on this? I’ve had shocks, upper and lower ball joints replaced along with control arms. Dealer didn’t have a clue on what it was but wanted too tear down my front end for 500.00 bucks. Lol

Ozer · October 7, 2019

On 4/21/2019 at 11:39 PM, clock929 said:

I was told it was normal! This makes no sense to me.

Welcome to GM, this wont be the only time you hear this unfortunately.

L86 All Terrain · October 7, 2019

Wheel bearing on its way out? Can cause a pop noise when weight is transferred to the other side of the truck (ex. turning) if the bearing is worn enough. Just replaced both on my 2014 1500. 105,000 miles. Usually you will hear a howling/grinding noise along with it though. Seems like you guys have replaced everything in the front end but.

Check your CV axles, if you have a torn boot it can get the universals dirty/worn out and make noise on turns also. I have also done one CV on my 2014.

WCMS · October 7, 2019

Checked the cv. Everything seemed good. No torn boots and not much play in them. Also checked running boards and there tight.

Ozer · October 7, 2019

2 hours ago, WCMS said:

Checked the cv. Everything seemed good. No torn boots and not much play in them. Also checked running boards and there tight.

Check your exhaust, the flex pipe may be touching the frame. Im hunting a rattle in slow speeds and i think that is my issue.

WCMS · October 7, 2019

9 minutes ago, Ozer said:

Check your exhaust, the flex pipe may be touching the frame. Im hunting a rattle in slow speeds and i think that is my issue.

I’ll check it out. This feels like a popping in my floorboard. Only happens when going over bumps and uneven surfaces.

Ashton Goodrich · June 29, 2020

Hi, just checking to see if you got a resolution to the popping or clunking....same issue here. Had it checked twice and the crossmember TSB retorquing performed, still does it - but I do notice it does it ALOT more when the humidity is low, and when it's raining, hardly does it at all....

Wallace Harris · October 30, 2020

Hey Guys and Gals! I have read a lot of the comments about the "Clunk and Pop issue" everyone is having out of their Chevy and GMC trucks. I had the same problem out of mine. I thought it was an issue with the yoke at the back of my transmission and the dealership greased that. It still clunked when shifting into gear and was told it was the nature of the beast. So I drove it. I now have 57K on it and it had started creaking and popping along with the clunking. I took it to two local shops and both told me they didn't know what could be causing it. I took it to my dealership this week and told them the problem. What the mechanic found was a transmission mount was loose and several suspension bolts were loose. They couldn't believe they were like that. He said they are supposed to be torqued at the factory but obviously that had not been done. After he tightened and torqued all of it, it did away with clunk and pop in the driveline and suspension on my truck. I also called GM at the 1-888-988-7267 number and told them of the problem. I mentioned that I had read a lot of reviews about this problem. I was told by the customer rep that they did not have a lot of complaints about this issue. If you have had this issue you need to call and complain about it. Calling them and letting them know is the only way the issue will get resolved. They will send the complaints to the factory so the torque issue can be addressed by Quality Control. Just thought I would let you know in case you are still having issues with this.

Madcow2020 · November 3, 2020

My front end popping and hurling was from the ass hats removing the camber lockout inserts doing alignments. Put on a set of dirt king camber lock out plates about a year ago no more clunk or jerk in turns or tires wearing out too quick.

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