Suspension Experts: My 93 S10 has a popping sound that is dependant on weight

[87LtdT]

91k miles, 4.3l automatic, 2WD...no mods of any kind.

Hoping for tips on where to look first.

Occurs when suspension is flexed...eg bumps, dips in the road, or turns.

The more weight in the passenger seat the more apt to occur:
With just me driving almost no popping...infrequently happens with thin wife as a passenger, practically always with 240 lb brother in pass seat.

Noise comes from front pass side...definitely suspension related.

With truck stationary I cannot get it to repeat this noise by bouncing front fender up and down.

Thanks for any advice.

Bob

 

[86 TR]

Kinda sounds like it could be a ball joint. It could also be a sway bar end link? my daily driver, a Ford crown vic has been doing this for a while. my car will do it when you apply the brakes coming up to a stop sign, turning, etc. It pops and creakes. I jacked the car up of the ground and was shocked to see the spindle moving up and down with the slightest effort. I gotta replace this stuff now before the front wheels fall off!

 

[1000MileStylez]

check the tension on the torsion bars?

 

["Turbo-T"]

Good question. My 93 S-10 makes a popping sound if you do a lot of squirrelly steering with it and/or hard cornering. I thought it was the ball joints but I had them checked, even had the lowers replaced and it still does it. The tech said he thinks it's one of the control arms but I don't think it is. It sounds almost like something popping against the floor board.

 

[klrv6]

Inspect the control arm bushings to make sure they are still in good shape. The rear uppers tend to fail first from exhaust heat. As stated, check the ball joints. Other places to look: Pull the shock and make sure the weld hasn't broken on the bottom, check it's bushing. Wheel bearing adjustment, sway bar and tie rod links, brake components. This truck has many front end parts that interchange with G bodies 2WD so there aren't any torsion bars.

 

[1000MileStylez]

2wd, oh yea duh

 

[TexasT]

A boss of mine a few years ago had one that had come back from the alignment shop. Unfortunately they had forgotten to tighten the nut back up and all the camber/caster shims fell out. This caused a noise like you are describing.