austinjoe13

This started yesterday. There's a loud popping noise from the driver's side that randomly happens. Sometimes it is once, sometimes it pops a few times. It happens in 2wd and 4wd, turning, going straight. My front tires seem to be straight. Any ideas?

Waynerd

Ball joint?

dzywicki

I had this happen when a front U-Joint went bad. One cap was completely seized. Sounded worse when the wheels were turned, but didn't take much deflection.

austinjoe13

I hope it's just a u joint, though they were both still tight when I checked them before thanksgiving. Would the front driveshaft pop and bang?

Guywitha92

Mine popping like that turned out to be my lower control arm bushing. There are a number of things that can make a popping though

austinjoe13

I saw that in my searches, too. It doesn't pop when I hit a bump, though. It just seems to do it whenever it feels like it

Guywitha92

Are you running stock control arms?

cruiser54

First off, tighten your track bar bracket to frame bolts. Don't just look at them.

austinjoe13

Yep, stock suspension.
Yes sir, I will give that a try later.

jt_aleshire

did you check the lug nuts and make sure your sway bar links were tight? one of the mount brackets on my sway bar that holds it up broke the nut out of the back side that u cant really get too. I can here it making noise sometimes.

austinjoe13

Lug nuts were the first thing I checked and they were tight.

moparado

I'd jack the front end up and push-pull-wiggle hard the entire front suspension including the wheels like hell. Including pushing the wheels up and down.
Best bet its ball joints or if lucky a worn rubber bushing somewhere.

mickneel

i had a pooping front end sound when I would turn corners or go over bumps (even small ones) and it ended up being the track bar drop bracket bolts. They had come loose even with lock tight on them. I think this was mentioned before, so give that a try if you haven't already

austinjoe13

I will give the track bar bracket bolts a try tomorrow. It will finally be warm enough to do stuff outside, so I will take a peek. Otherwise, for two or three days now I haven't heard anything.

elwoodblues

Maybe it was just some snow or ice? I've had snow and ice create some weird noises before! Hope it's something as simple as that.