Front Wheel play and Knocking Noise - D22

Hey All

A couple of things...

Do the D22 4x4's have a small amount of movement in the front wheels when checking the bearing play?? Mine have a bit of movement but nothing too insane and was wondering whether this was normal for the Navara's.

The reason for me checking is that i am getting a knocking noise that is driving me insane.. It seems to be coming from the rear and happens when i go over minor bumps in the road and sometimes when i go around corners. I've spanner checked the rear end, have greased the rear leafs, tightened the spare wheel, removed the tow ball tongue and it is still there. The strange thing is that is also seems to be ambient temperature dependant. when its cold such as in the morning it seems to make the noise more than later in the day when it is warmer. This seems to be the case irrespectively of the vehicle tempature.. and its not that i'm noticing it more because i have the windows closed in the morning or anything like that...... its Very strange and its reaally annoying me...

As i've been through the rear end i naturally progressed on to the front and that was when i notice the small amount of wheel play... Are the ball joints on the front wheels known to go???

oh its a 2004 D22 ZD30DT, with just over 150k on the clock

Any thoughts or ideas would be much appreciated.
cheers

side to side movement or top to bottom? i replaced my wheel bearings at around 110k and once out and cleaned they were pretty much in need of replacing. I only had play in one side but of course replaced both. As for the ball joints, i don't think its a common issue, haven't heard about many people having to replace them often, unless you are running nasty angles and that to promote faster wear.

I had a bit of play in the front bearings at about 100k had my mechanic look at them they were perfect cleaned regreased all good

My 2005 has similar noises. Mechanic checked the bearings etc and couldn't find anything. Courtesy of the forum I think I have traced it to the body mounts. You can see a small area around a couple of the mounts where the dirt/dust has been cleaned away by the movement of the mount. Might be worth a look.

Check the body mounts out for sure. Mine was missing the last one at the back of the cab and the other side was about to fall out. Made a similar sound to yours. I didnt bother checking them as they were meant to be checked in the last service. My bad for thinking they did the job properly.

Rallydudeman said:

oh its a 2004 D22 ZD30DT, with just over 150k on the clock

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with that age/miles and if its got a bit of play i would be inclined to pull the front bearings out and inspect. if ok repack.

i had to do one of mine (tho they are 2nd hand) as it was loose again. all it had was some odd marks which means it was on its way out.
the grease in it was solid, sludgy crap.

Thanks guys...

When doing my spanner check i had a quick look at the body mounts but didn't really concentrate on them too much.. I'll check them out again this time in a bit more detail...

I think i'm going to take a look at the front bearings as well.. Anyone have an idea how much a set of bearings will set one back??

cheers heaps

i paid $100 for the both wheels (4 bearings) about 6 months ago, go see CBC bearings


edit: that includes new seals as well

Cheers Al
Will look into it

Check your upper and lower control arm bushes too, did my top ones at 100K and think my lower ones almost gone at 120K.

Dont forget your fuel tank mounts. I havnt had a problem but have heard that they can work loose.

Thought I'd dig up this thread instead of starting a new one. I have the EXACT same noises, even how you say it's worse on cold mornings. Hoping the OP found out what was wrong?

Mine gets so bad sometimes that I feel it through the floor at my feet. I have checked all my body mounts. They were all really tight and I could barely get any more on them (except for a couple on the tub which I tightened back up). I also replaced my UCA bushes not long ago because they had movement, so it's not that. LCA bushes were also checked but were fine. Wheel bearings don't seem to have any play. Any other ideas?

WayneG said:

Thought I'd dig up this thread instead of starting a new one. I have the EXACT same noises, even how you say it's worse on cold mornings. Hoping the OP found out what was wrong?

Mine gets so bad sometimes that I feel it through the floor at my feet. I have checked all my body mounts. They were all really tight and I could barely get any more on them (except for a couple on the tub which I tightened back up). I also replaced my UCA bushes not long ago because they had movement, so it's not that. LCA bushes were also checked but were fine. Wheel bearings don't seem to have any play. Any other ideas?

Click to expand...

I also get a few knocks here or there. Mostly on cold mornings. Thought i had it sorted as the mechanic said the UCA bolts were left a bit loose from a wheel alignment. The noise soon came back.

Im replacing my UCA in a few weeks, hoping that may solve it, but from your post im guessing it wont. I kinda ignore it now, but it does shit me.

Have you checked that the front torsion bars have not sagged to the point where you are not far from riding on the front bump stops?

Nah it's not that. I have a suspension lift so it's no where near hitting the bump stops.

Over the weekend I re-packed my front wheel bearings. They had a little bit of play in them before. But, it made no difference. I want to do the rear now but I'm thinking they are harder? Do you need a press or something? Or is that only if they need replacing.

Found the problem finally...

Put a body lift in and while I was there noticed some of the body mount rubbers were shot. Fixed it all up and back together and now no knocking noises.