Hey guys I'm a little confused I'm on my 5th track bar and this time after taking a 3000 mile trip when i turn the wheel to the right or left as soon as there is stress against the track bar it makes a popping sound, i could not figure out what it was, but then i had a friend turn the wheel for me while i looked and it looks as if the track bar bolt on the bushing/axle side is shifting right to left with the bar and it is felt through the floor also you can see the wheel kind of twitch a little as the axle shifts.... how is this possible? did I not tighten it enough? or could it be worn out? anyway i was just wanting to hear some ideas on that so I can figure out what to do with it thanks daniel

 

I think you might have a problem there.
The hole for the bolt is not oval, to allow for adjustment, it's just a hole, a perfect tight fit, bolt should not slide anywhere.
I think sometimes in past bolt was not tightened, with miles, vibrations, etc it worked the hole wider, now it's sliding and not supposed to.

This is what appears to me, since I just changed my trackbar last week and notice the hole was a tight fit.

Somebody with more knowledge will pitch in soon to agree with this.

 

You really have to crank it down to the point you think you may break it. I had the same problem, tighened it, 30,000 miles later same track bar no issues...

 

I put a new track bar on and mine does the same pop. I believe I over tightened mine though. The hole that the pin slides through is higher than the top of the nut instead of the pin fitting in the slots on top of the nut. It also oozes all of the grease out shortly after I fill it up.

 

Mud, correct me if i'm wrong, but I think your walking about the balljoint end of the track bar. The other end has a bolt that just screws in. There is no pin in it. This bolt needs to be really really tight. I can see overtightening the balljoint end as a problem possibly stretching the threads out slightly and creating a void space, maybe where your clunk specifically was coming from?

 

I know mine popped only when it was wet out. I finally tracked it down to the pass side bolt. Tightened it down a bit more and hasnt done it since. That was well over 100k ago.

 

I dont think you can over torque the ball joint and cause it to raise so high that the cotter pin is above the nut, its a tapered hole.

Mine had the same issue as above, I thought that the tapered hole was worn out, but its not...BUT the track ball is so close to the bracket that when the suspension articulates the ball and mount bracket hit and make a pop noise, I even went back to the parts store to compare mine, incase it was the wrong part (mines an XRF lifetime warrentee) no joy. So I dropped the track bar and ground a small angle off of the bracket, the noise stopped, as the "larger"ball joint does not contact the bracket any more,
I'll try to get a pic to post

I think the improved track bars have too big a ball joint on it,

 

Thanks guys. i'll try to torque it down some more and see what happens