[Million$dragon]

I found a great article that talks about how to fix the strange popping sounds that some of us (more like ALL of us) hear while driving our broncos.
http://www.troublecodes.net/articles/ford/ford_trucks.shtml

You may have to copy and paste it into the address field on your browser.

EDIT---just checked the link and it worked like a charm for me.

 

[Thor]

... I have a popping gremlin, however I think I have it isolated to the front upper shock bushing. Driver sidefor me. Pops whenthe bushing is wet. I have a pair of Bilsteins on the way to replace what came with the Pro-Comp 6". I can clearly see that there is movement in the area, I attempted to fix but R&R is in need. I'll let you all know how the yellow and blue behave. Although this pavement princess has probably been offroad less than 1% of its life, I'll try to get some mud up on the roof during her tenure with me.

 

[4Wheelin Rust bucket]

Broken rivets cause creaking an popping but so do ball socket suspension parts an bushings. If you think its a rivet, tap on it with a hammer..... if it makes a hard metal sound its good if it sounds hollow an dull then its broken. its actually very easy to tell the difference. Also cracks an very rusty sections of the floor where its eaten thru cause creaking.

Theres also the #1 cross member rivet (cross member under the engine) where the power steering box is..... problems with those is the rivets bust an the front of the frame shifts around rubbing on the cross member causing that popping an creaking. It can be repaired but the problem is the window to get into that spot where that rivet is hidden somewhere behind the dual shock bracket which is also riveted. There are 3 rivets on the frame rail an the first one is the #1 cross member rivet an its also the only one you cant get too on the other side to fit a nut or bolt without taking everything else off.

My other bko which is an 83 has a single shock setup an i still dont see a "window"

I have this problem but the popping is from the tie rod and/or ball joint which both need replacing anyway the only way i found it was looking under the truck as someone turned the wheel back an forth an saw the frame move slightly. An then did research an found the tsb they suggest drilling out the rivet an using this non slip insert to put in between the cross member an frame an bolt them together with grade 8 bolts. I had the inserts sent to me from ford which cost about 40$ for a 3inch by 2 peice of carbon fiber but i didnt no thats what it was......oh well



Also when im done with my brake problems Ill be tackling this rivet problem. A friend of mine who also has a bko had his front bumper off while doing his SAS an i think i may be able to slide my arm just far enough in the frame to get to where i would have stick a bolt thru the hole that would be drilled. That or cutting a hole an welding on a support either way since its been flexing alittle im gonna weld a support plate an a support from one frame rail to the other right behind the bumper but thats after i get everything aligned again.

i had a gear box leak at the time

 

[davesanrn]

I thought that was what the stereo and glasspacks are for.

 

[JDOGG]

i had real bad popping souds and it ended up being the motor mounts where bad and the transmision engine and tc where shifting