Are my upper control arm bolts loose?

I'm chasing a newly acquired creak on the suspension and i narrowed it to around the uca area. Looking at the long bolt that holds the uca on, it looks loose? Both sides look the same. Does this look right?

 

Nope, they are tight.

 

Not to say that isn't what is creaking. But typically a loose UCA nut causes the arm to clunk when articulating, not creak. If the bushings are going bad, that is a possibility. Damn clean engine bay for a 2016 though!!

 

The is a metal sleeve that butts up to the washers and the coilover mount. No issues there.


It might be the front body mounts. Sorta known for going early.

 

Thanks! This is my 2022 truck though with 6k miles. We've had a lot of rain lately and the creak just started out of the blue.

Thanks for the confirmation! It's possible it's the body mount, but I had my wife jump up and down on the running board and my ears pinpoint the creak to either the uca, or the shock top hat. But of course I could be wrong. Since I swapped my suspension for fox 2.0, the dealer will probably blame the coilovers.

 

Ahh, weird the 22 doesn't show up in Chrome but does on Safari.

One thing you can do is break the nut loose on the UCA with weight on the suspension and retorque it.

 

It's good that you narrowed it down.

Maybe check the coilover shaft nut?

 

https://drive.google.com/file/d/1R6dvrGw4K9Mp5A76NlnPLNEUCSXlmK0p/view?usp=drivesdk

Here is a video of thr sound when I'm jumping up and down on the driver side running board. Does it sound like the front body mount (the one in the wheel well?)

 

Well that's not at all what I was picturing for a creak. Definitely sounds like a wet bushing...or tire rubbing plastic. No fender liner touching anywhere?

 

No tire rub, seems to only make sound if you really rock the truck, gently rocking the truck won't cause the noise.

I've also sprayed silicone lube on all the control arms, shock shaft, roll bar, etc. Made zero difference.

 

Did you install the coilovers yourself?

 

No, the coilovers were installed at a shop and had been on for the last 5k miles with no issues. All the bolts had been paint marked, and hads not moved.

As mentioned, we've had a crap ton of heavy rain lately and I've also been driving up to the snow. The noise came on a few days ago.

 

I would just recheck torque on the UCA nut and the forward cam bolt and rear cam nut. Never hurts to check it all out and can do it without even pulling a tire.

 

Dealership told me that they're like that by design. Thread, pictures, and video here: https://www.tacomaworld.com/threads/upper-control-arm-movement.678930/

 

Had a noise like that in my Fox coilovers. It was the spherical bearing in the lower rod. Completely shot at 40K. No off roading either.

 

Interesting, my fox setup is only a few months old and only 5k miles on the suspension. The sound doesn't sound like it's coming from the lower shock mount, but I could be wrong too. I looked the lower shock bushing and it looks good to the eye.

 

I'm not sure if you said this but what brand of UCA do you have? I had Icon tubular's that started making noise when they needed to be greased. That was on my 2015 before I knew you have to grease the bushings and deltajoint regularly. Now I grease them every 5-6K. Your sound doesn't sound anything like mine did though.

 

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Mine looked good to the eye also and the sound radiates so it's hard to tell the exact source.

 

I have factory ucas. I do have an extra set of new ucas I can test, but I'd rather pinpoint the noise first before I start replacing parts!

 

I recently found out the annoying creaking coming from my truck was the lower bushing attachment from my ADS coilovers to the lower driver's side control arm. It seems act up after it rains. Sprayed a little LPS on the bushing and it quits the creaking temporarily until it rains again. I might try putting rtv or around the bushing or something.