Popping noise

Hello all,

I apologize in advance for my lack of knowledge. Learning as I go.

I’ve got a popping noise. More of a pop than a clunk. It first started awhile back and was only every now and then when I would turn and be uneven ground. Whether I was going up in a parking lot or over a speed bump.

The noise seemed to have stopped for months but now it’s every time I get in the truck. It sounds mostly from the back but I feel like I can hear it in the front too. It’s when I’m going over speed bumps or just anytime the truck is not just driving straight on a flat surface.

I’m not really sure what other information would be useful.

Could it be my CV joints? If so, how would I know it could be. I’ve looked at them but I don’t know what a bad joint looks like…

Thanks so much

 

Cv joint will rattle when turning. Bad joints often tear the rubber boots around them and throw the grease out into the wheel area.

a pop sound more like a binding in a ball joint or bushing. If you can, jack up one wheel on the front and grab at 3 o’clock and 9 o’clock and try and move the tire right and left. Then 12 and 6, and move the tire up and down. If there is play left and right, it will be a wheel bearing or tie rod end, if up and down wheel bearing or ball joint. If mostly up, upper ball joint, if down, lower. You may also see the loose joints move or the center area move and that will tell you where the problem is.

check as soon as you can. Bad ball joints and bad bearings can make for lots of trouble. Wheel fall off trouble.

you might also see if the noise is situational, like only turning left, or only when I’m backing and brake…. Etc.

This will help figure out where to look if everything seems ok.

there are also grease fittings and you may be able to grease a sticky bushing or even the drive shaft and eliminate the noise.

search the forum for info on all those parts and you should find pictures and help with any of those issues.

good luck

 

I'm 99.9% sure is your lower ball joints

 

Thank you for the very detailed response! I’ll Jack it up this weekend when I have time and give the wheels a shake. My passenger side ones look fine. These are my driver. Definitely rougher.

I forgot to mention in the original that the last speed bump I had gone over before I parked it, it popped when I went over with the front but as the rear went over it made that popping sound like 8 times in a row as the rear went over. Popping coming from the rear.
Popping is really my best word to use to describe it, it wasn’t a screech, wine, clunk, grind. It is a pop.

I hope this isn’t a stupid question but is there ball joints in the rear? i didn’t think so and at a glance I see none…

 

stop driving it and change ur balljoints

 

Yeah I haven’t driven it since. Been parked all week. I will be replacing. And I know as soon as I do that, I’ll know for sure if that’s what is causing the sound. But until I get that done I’m just wondering if there’s any other possibility’s of what it might be that I could have on my radar.

 

Mine was my Bilstein 5100 front struts

 

Were you having the same “symptoms” as I’m dealing with?

 

Yes, exact same.

 

If it was popping while moving, and while the rear was cycling, make sure your drive shaft u joints are not seized.

 

Sorry, didn’t see this till now.

Wouldn’t it then always be causing an issue for me? Because I only hear the popping when the truck is not on even surface. Like I’m ‘flexing’. And it truly is more of a pop than a clunk

 

sometimes it will be all the time, some times only when the pinion angle changes when the rear flexes or is under load more than normal. It’s easy to check.

 

What’s the easy way to check?

 

Have someone drive it forward and back slowly while you look to see if it’s binding up or if the drift shaft is moving in a direction other than around the center. Look for a wobble.

 

Not seized but I’ll definitely be replacing the ujoint and steady bearing haha.
Don’t think that would be my popping noise though. That would be more of a clunk. And wouldn’t it always be an issue while I’m driving? Cause this is only when the vehicle isn’t on flat surface. It’s when it’s going over something unevenly

 

I am kind of wondering if I possibly have a seized ujoint after reading this because I have just started noticing a popping sound just while driving in a low speed. Was at a shop over the weekend and they said “driveshaft looks twisted and I joint out of place” so now Im looking at changing a u joint.