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Front struts make popping sound...


rubberman
04-28-2003, 09:09 PM
On my Montana, passenger side the coil spring pops while turning. Only does it when turning the wheels parked or barely moving, not while driving regular speeds. I can see the coil twisting a little while the front wheels are turning left/right which makes the popping sound. Anyone experience that before and does that mean a new strut?

willy2
05-09-2004, 01:17 PM
No, Not A New Strut You Have To Buy A Bearing For The Top Of The Strut,not Much Money About $100 To Fix. The Spring Is Winding Up, This Is Your Probelm.

kpn
05-14-2004, 07:49 PM
Sounds like what happened to us with our 2000 around 30k miles. Popping noise at low speed turns. Dealer replaced the strut bearings and it went away.

montana46
08-09-2006, 12:36 PM
I replaced both struts and strut berings and still have the clunking .and and have replaced one hub bering I still don't know what the problem is my next step is to check the anti-sway bar for cracks my van has 55,000 on it this is unacceptable good luck

1999montana
08-17-2006, 06:58 PM
On my Montana, passenger side the coil spring pops while turning. Only does it when turning the wheels parked or barely moving, not while driving regular speeds. I can see the coil twisting a little while the front wheels are turning left/right which makes the popping sound. Anyone experience that before and does that mean a new strut?

Yep, they sure can pop.

Mine started doing this about four weeks ago. I found the problem this past week. Here's the story behind the story...

I noticed a popping sound or clunk coming from the van when moving from forward to reverse.

The source of the noise was related to a toe-in adjustment I did in our garage (low tech method) about a month or so ago. Had just replaced the lower ball-joints and noticed that the front wheels where toeing out when moving forward.

Quick measurement (across the front tire tread (front and back), plus a plumb line aligning front and rear wheels in parallel) confirmed that the toe was out by about 1/8 inch. I adjusted it at that time and it seemed to be better, but I must have over-corrected.

I originally thought that the popping noise was an indication that the new shock strut mounts were failing. However, the popping noise developed shortly after adjusting the front end. After removing the shocks for a second inspection last week, I concluded that the shock mounts (new 27,000 Kms ago) were fine.

What was happening was that with the front suspension 'tight' again, the excessive toe-in caused the tires to try and tuck under or splay outward (directionally, forward or reverse).

This caused the front shocks to tip in or out at the top, depending on which direction the van was moving in. Because the shock mounts are isolated in rubber there is some flex. What developed was rather like a changing negative or positive chamber angle. (There isn't much, if any adjustment for chamber or caster on these vans!).

I think I have it awfully close to factory now, but may tweak it a bit (2 or 3 MMs) if I think it needs to be, or if I see any excessive tire wear.

Ya, OK so a four-wheel alignment is only about $100.00 plus, but when so little can be adjusted in the first place, I'll take my chances with the low tech method. Your experience may differ of course.
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dhacker1282
08-09-2009, 01:22 PM
We had this same problem on our 2001 Montana....clunking noises while turning at low speeds, often into driveways (small bumps). We took it to our mechanic, and he says it was the subframe bushings. After about $100 total for both sides, no more clunking.

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