Stutter / pop when turning

My Tacoma is making popping sounds when I'm making a tight turn. It also feels like it's stuttering during the tight turns.

I jacked up the truck and checked as many of the suspension pieces as I could, but everything appears to be torqued properly (upper control arm bolts, lower control arm bolts, shock bolts, sway bar, alignment bolts, etc.). As the truck is in the air, I grabbed the top and bottom (6 and 12 o'clock) of the tire and shook it to try and feel play or looseness to check the wheel bearing, but there was no play. If I grab the tire from either side (3 and 9 o'clock), there is some play. I'm thinking it is the power steering rack. Again, what is odd is when I'm making tight turns, it feels like something slips in the steering and then re-catches, like it's stuttering.

What do you guys think?

 

Sounds like you are in 4WD on a dry surface

 

That's literally a perfect explanation of what Tacomas do in 4WD in sharp turns

 

I checked that I'm in the 2WD position on the selector knob. There are no lights or beeping that shows I'm stuck in 4WD. While the truck was in the air, the front wheels were spinning freely. I've had it in 4WD on dry pavement before and this feels like a very mild form of that.

I'll check again tomorrow and turn my selector knob to 4WD and back to 2WD a few times to make sure.

 

I hope that's it

 

Jack up the front end so both wheels are off the ground. Better yet put it on a lift. Make sure your parking brake is set then put it in gear and see if the front wheels turn. That will tell you if it is stuck in 4WD even if the switch and lights say otherwise.

 

cv shaft?

 

Do you find that popping noise happens more, or only happens when its raining or just got a car wash?

 

Is the popping in 4WD the gears binding? It happened to me when I was up in Colorado...in the snow. I thought I didn't have grip, but maybe I did?

 

Another thing that will do this is a real limited-slip rear end. The cure is to find a parking lot and drive in some tight left circles, then some tight right circles, to break the clutch plates apart and let diff fluid get into them. If you do have a LSD, and that doesn't work, I'd try draining and refilling the differential next. I don't know about yota's, but most LSD autos have either (a) a special limited-slip lubricant or (b) use normal fluid like 75-90w, but then you have to add a special LSD additive. (and no, I am NOT talking about the hallucinogen. )

I had an old Hemi road runner back when, and I remember coming home after a couple of years, and when I turned I thought the rear end was breaking and I half-expected to see an axle coming out the side. Quick call to the local Chrysler dealer, a few quick circles in the parking lot, and all was good.

 

pretty sure it's not stuck on 4wd. i've had it on 4wd on a dry surface in the past and it doesn't feel quite like that.

i'm thinking its the CV axle now. I have about a 2-2.5 in lift in the front. What are the signs those are going bad? Are they similar to what I described?

 

I had a 4Runner that you could hear a pop from the outside front wheel on turns. It ended up being worn sway bar end links. This sound was distinctly different from bad CVs IMO.
If the truck is not in 4wd and ADD has the front axles disconnected from the diff, would you still hear the popping from bad CVs? I don't know, that's why I'm asking. I had an old Integra that would go through CVs every 25k or so. Luckily I had a lifetime guarantee on parts and labor from Sears so I only had to pay once for replacements. Anyway, the CVs would go out almost exactly at the same time, when they did, only the outside CV would pop on turns. Being an open diff this was most likely the wheel getting power from the diff. thinking out loud here.
Good luck and I hope you get it fixed quickly.

 

it appears to be the sway bar end links. noise went away after removing the sway bar completely.

truck doesn't handle corners very well on the street without the sway bar. i'm going to order new end links and put it back on.

thanks for all the good ideas/suggestions.

any recommendations which ones i should get and where i can get them?