Loud popping noise when I round corners

[stealth]

Both my 1991 S-10 4X4 and my 1993 S-10 2WD have done this, albeit the 1991 model being worse.

I was on a back country road that's fairly smoothly paved. While rounding the corners at 55 mph I heard several times what can be best described as a loud popping sound inside the cab. It almost sounds as if someone is under the truck rapping on the floor boards with a screwdriver handle.

I thought maybe the front ball joints....so i jacked up the front of the truck and grabbed both wheels and tried to shake them but they didn't show any signs of slop.

What about could it be flexing in the cab mounts? Or what else could cause what I've got going on?

Also as mentioned my 1993 truck which was a 2WD would make the same noise if you got really squirrelly with the steering, meaning if you turned real sharp and then turned real sharp again in the opposite direction. I actually had a few shops look at it (the 1993 truck) and they all told me the ball joints were fine, but they thought it was the A arms.

[pewter03zq8]

"It almost sounds as if someone is under the truck rapping on the floor boards with a screwdriver handle."

Did ya check for that ????? j/k

[trips10]

only in one dirction or both. Did u check a-arm bushings or sway bar bushings ,wheel barrings but u sould feel that with the wheel jacked up

[CowardlyDawg]

Balljoints
CV Joints
CV Axle
CV Boots
Could be lots of things really, Might as well pull the wheels off and check everything.

[stealth]

It makes the noise while cornering either left or right. I believe it mostly does it if a bump is hit as I do drive a certain stretch of road every day that involved curves and it's never done it there before.

Also it can happen if I make a real sharp corner at a low speed and the rim hits a big enough dip. At my work one of the streets has a drain by the sidewalk where the cement gradually drains street water into the underground swer. If I hit that dip just right it does it there too.

What is the procedure for checking CV joints, CV axles or control arm bushings? Also is there anything else to check for on the ball joints?

[vdubvance]

s10s have cvs? i thought they were only on front wheel drives... dose it make the sound when you brake? if it were cvs it would make the sound at the extream of its turn. hes saying the sound comes from under the cab, cvs pop up by the wheels. dose it make the sound when your driving slow? have a friend drive and do a slow uturn while you walk along side and see if you can locate the sound. have you noticed an increase in highway vibration lately? jack the truck up and look at all the bolts, look for missing hardware , look for abnormal wear, I.e. crossmember to frame mounts, look for rubbing marks, you could have broken cab mounts,

is it a fast pop? dose the speed of the pop vary with the speed your going?

[vdubvance]

for th few years i have owned my s10, i always had this sound,,, i would take a corner kinda hard and would hear this scraping/sliding sound and a loud "TINK", a little while later i would take an opp turn and hear the same sound...well when i started taking the s10 apart for my build, i took the bumper off and found a nice crafstman crescent wrench chillin between the two bumpermounts..

[rentedmule]

Could also be body crap like I suspect mine is - hood hinges, door pins, etc

[Tink]

It is probably torsion bar bushings. Had the same problem on my Baja when it was still a S10. Also may be that your rear cab mounts have collapsed, but I'd put $ on torsion bar bushings.

[s-10 2.2much]

it kinda sounds like a b-joint did you jack the truck up by the upper control arm ? the ball joint need to have no tension to be checked ...so need to compress the suspension also soemthing easy to check is say bar link make sure the rubber is still in place !

[stealth]

When i jacked up the truck it was by the frame on the front.

No the noise does not happen while I brake.

Funny how my 2WD S-10 did the same thing.

Almost sounds to me like something hitting the floor pan. It's a hollow pop/knock sound.

[s-10 2.2much]

possibly the exhuast rubbing somewhere or a shock loose even

[trips10]

the shock could be bad an the waight on the wheel in the conner would calapse the shock more then normal do to gravity an g force an might make poping / clanking noise

[Tink]

I still think it is torsion bar mounts...

[Slacker1357]

hmm.. I wonder how many bushings are sht on my blazer... it makes all kinds of knocking, popping, and vibrations... even with out the mud tires...

last I knew my Ball-joints were still ok. I know Pitman arm is goin soon.

as far as the CV ques.
Yes... CV shaft... or half shaft as I've heard a few people call 'em

I know I have one that is leaking... theres a little rubber seal that Im sure is bad.

[trips10]

but he said hi's 2wd does it also that dosent have CV shafts only on 4x4's but it would make a poping/ clicking noise if the shafts were going out on a 4wd or anything that has CV shafts

[s-10 2.2much]

did he re check the b-joint by compressiong the suespension ? i think the 2wds even have a visual check it almost looks like a grease fitting ?

[87wildside]

Balljoints
CV Joints
CV Axle
CV Boots
Could be lots of things really, Might as well pull the wheels off and check everything.X2
Could it be Shock bushings?

Ball joints are my first guess. All 2wd s10's seem to pop at low speed with the steering racked. It has to do with the Ackerman theory. Basically the inside tire is at the wrong angle while turning. No fix for that. Other then that I say ball joints, steering linkage and/or bushings

[87wildside]

did he re check the b-joint by compressiong the suespension ? i think the 2wds even have a visual check it almost looks like a grease fitting ?They do but that is crap. They say 0.0030". My crap was spec and could feel the play,

[trips10]

I agree with wildside

[mott]

I purchased my Jimmy new in 1994. My front end is doing the exact same thing. When I turn to leave a parking lot and the wheel drops off of the curb I feel a pop in the front end. It also pops when I turn it near lock (left or right) and if I drive and the front wheel drops into a small pothole the front end pops. I have replaced the bushings, upper and lower ball joints(three times), idler arm(three times) and the pitman arm. Th popping seems to lessen for a while and then its back. I dont think I have 10000 miles on this front end and the popping just came back. Are the torson bar bushing hard to change?

[87wildside]

X2
Could it be Shock bushings?

Ball joints are my first guess. All 2wd s10's seem to pop at low speed with the steering racked. It has to do with the Ackerman theory. Basically the inside tire is at the wrong angle while turning. No fix for that. Other then that I say ball joints, steering linkage and/or bushings
Read that. These spindles were designed for a wider track width car that has the same 108.25" wheelbase as a regular cab S-10. No matter what the front end will "pop" at low speeds and the more the wheels are turned. This simple pic shows how Ackerman is determined, inside tire turns more then the out side. Inside tire has a smaller radius circle to travel the the outside tire. Any variation will cause issues. Thank you GM. A and B are the the center line of the front spindles. For front steer (what we have) E and F represent where the outer tie rod ends are supposed to be. R = the center line of the rear track width. Again, any variation will cause issues.

http://i177.photobucket.com/albums/w235/87wildside/Diagrams/ackermanpic.jpg

[mott]

Thanks for the info. We were doomed from the start. Lol

[87wildside]

Pretty much. :D

[mott]

Where is the popping comming from? I am assuming the binding is causing wear. Are the ball joint moving?

[stealth]

Well here's an update. I think the noise is coming from the rear suspension.

Now my truck does it really bad if I take a left hand corner at almost any speed and if there's any bumps in the road (so it seems)

Turning right not as much of an issue.

But as I was turning left I opened the driver door and it sounded like it was coming from the rear suspension.

However if I turn right I still have the popping sound.

Thanks Wildside. Never heard of that. Sounds like bad engineering.

I'll try to get some videos of my truck doing it's thing so you can all get an idea.

[stealth]

Ok here's a vid of what I can hear when I make left hand turns

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Rc9Lm-9KxHI

It starts at the 0:07 time frame

[nomaboy]

Any chance it could be the limited slip unit in the diff?

[mott]

The noise in the vid sounds like something creaking. Not a popping sound. When I turn, my steering wheel moves a little and there is a definite popping sound.

[87wildside]

After listening I would guess it's either a torsion bar squeak or loose body mount.

[stealth]

After listening I would guess it's either a torsion bar squeak or loose body mount.

Actually I think I found the cause for the noise in the video. I found the cross member that houses the torsion bars has a broken frame mount on the driver side. I can push up on the cross member.

[stealth]

I think I may have cured the "corner pop" blues.

Today I replaced both the left and right shock mounts. I knew the left one was bad as I could push up on the driver side torsion bar cross member, but I could not do the same on the pass side.

However as I went to lift up the pass side with the trans jack after unbolting the mount, I realized it too was shot as it literally fell apart right then and there.

After getting both new mounts in, just backing the truck off the lift outside I felt a difference in the way it drove.

However the real test came when I busted a hard right and a hard left. No more creaky-pop!!! Which was caused by the torsion bars hitting the cross member.

Now I need to take out and do the ultimate test off road getting really squirrelly with the truck to see if it still pops and such, but at least now I can make 90 degree turns without having to listen to the truck sound like it's about to fall apart.

I'll keep you all updated as I get a chance to really test her out.