Popping noise during flex

This last weekend I did a little trail riding and encountered a new noise. When I disconnect and the left, front tire drops a fair amount, it will make a loud popping sound when it begins to come back up. I am unable to tell if this at max or partial extension. Could this be a bad shock or the spring coming unseated and popping back in? Luckily, it happened twice. Sadly it was in a place where we could not investigate immediately and we soon forgot it happened. The Jeep does not ride any different, it is still sitting the way it was prior and 4WD still functions as normal. I have checked around the shock and found no fluids or dents, all nuts/bolts I could find checked tight and the spring shows no signs of breaks or kinks.

Where would you start a search to run this down?

If your shocks are a bit too long it might cause your spring to unseat slightly and then pop back in.


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My thoughts too... at full droop, with the front axle twisting either way, my springs pop a bit.


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If you have your axle pushed too far forward or have too much caster set, this will cause your springs to bow just enough to cause the driver side to catch on the end of the sway bar arm and the passenger side to catch on the bump stop cup.

Thanks for the input. I will start looking into those areas and see what I can find.

Hi There.
I had a similar noise.
was more like a metallic ping.
turns out I had not centred the axle correctly and as the axle swings the teraflex speed bump (yes I know) was catching on the spring causing the noise.
of coarse if you do not run hydraulic or teraflex speed bumps this will not apply to you.
just covering some bases
a simple fix was adjusting the axle (I used the write up found on this site) and voila - all corrected.

Spring catching on sway bar. Check axle center and then look for small rub marks on the springs. It would be best to flex it then look under and see what’s rubbing. Probably not too hard of a fix at all


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