TRQ Control Arm Set for 2004 Tahoe Z71
At 175,000 miles on my '04 Tahoe Z71, I would ever so seldom here a "pop" or sometimes a small series of pops from the rear end. It was very loud and very un-nerving. It was not consistent, and I couldn't determine which side it was coming from. It had nothing to do with bumps or turns or the speed I went. My drive train runs solid so I suspected it had to be in the suspension.
The sway bar bushings and sway bar links had been previously replaced but didn't get rid of the "popping" sound. The TRQ control arm set was the next change-out. The set fit exactly in place of all the OEM control arms, and so far after about 400 miles, I have yet to hear that dreadful popping sound. I'm hoping I eliminated the problem, and this might be the reasoning.
The rubber bushing on each end of a control arm is bonded to both the inside sleeve and the outer housing. The rubber bushing does not rotate, it only "twists". The arms have to be installed with the suspension at neutral position, not hanging from a car lift, so that the bushings are installed in a neutral twist. If a bushing is worn, cracked, serrated, etc, as in my case (see pictures), the bushing doesn't want to twist back to neutral readily, so there is residual energy in one or some of the bushings that eventually "twists" or "pops" back into position. The pictures show the bushings in the removed control arms, they are worn out and have lost their resiliency to rigidly twist back.
The TRQ set was very nicely priced from CARiD, was a quality set of control arms, came as a complete set and fit the truck perfectly. The rear end feels very stiff now, like new. If I've solved this popping noise, then I saved a ton of money from dealer and diagnosis visits and also on the parts to do the job. I really appreciated CARiD for providing all the components mentioned here to correct this problem. Thx!!