That's what I'm going to do next. Talked to a friend of mine so described a similar experience. He was pretty confident it's one of the moving joints - tie rod end, drag link end, ball joint or even possibly the track bar. I'm going to do exactly what you described and check for binding/vibration to try to pin it down. You're right - it's very hard to describe a sound in a universal language!

 

Take off the steering stabilizer and try again. If it is only happening while turning passenger that would be my guess. You can drive without one until you feel you need to replace it.

 

I've got $2 on frame side track bar bushing/joint, with wheel bearing a long 2nd. Curious to hear the results.

 

As soon as I have time I'll start poking around. Hopefully today.

 

This guy is good! Pretty confident it's the track bar. Can't tell if it's frame or axle side. The vibration and sound is felt/heard at both ends but bottom line I can feel vibration in the track bar that I don't feel elsewhere.

 

Update: axle side. Hit that end only with WD-40 and it went right away. I've also done that in the past and it's not a lasting solution. Before I pinpointed the sound, I hit everything with WD and it stayed quiet for about a week. It's torqued properly, so not sure what the issue is.

 

Hit it with lithium grease spray or some type of silicone based lubricant. WD40 washes off pretty easily.

It might be a good idea to start looking for a new TB. Next step could be death wobble.

A common problem is that the bolt and or bushing wears and becomes loose that way. Someone can probably point you to a thread on this forum where they've replaced the OEM bolt with a larger one to fix the problem

 

Going to look into replacing the axle end of the trackbar. Synergy looks to have an updated design anyway. Would be a good time to swap from the metric to the standard bolt too.

 

Agree with the previous comment about WD40......Fluid Film would be a lot better to use and it is readily available at local auto parts stores, Home Depot, Lowes, etc.

What track bar do you currently have? If it's an aftermarket TB, I would guess that noise is more from the frame side rather than the axle side, and that the frame side joint is probably a poly type bushing and just worn. If it is an aftermarket TB, guessing you have a heim joint at the axle side.....and that seems less likely to make that noise. Manufacturers are moving away from those poly bushings in the frame side. They just seem to allow too much play compared to newer alternatives. Rock Krawler is now using an anti-wobble joint and Synergy has started using a new DDM bushing, both of which seem like big improvements.

 

I have the previous generation synergy. I noticed they use a new axle side bushing now. My issue definitely axle side. I sprayed that end only with WD and it's silent again - for now. I ordered standard hardware from McMaster to replace the metric stock hardware and I contacted synergy about their new bushing.