dmick33

When making slow harder left turns I am hearing a pop. I recently had an alignment and the shop said my ball joints were good. Any idea what this may be everything looks alright and is tight.

wayoflife

just a single pop or, if you keep on turning, does it keep on popping?

dmick33

Its just one pop.

wayoflife

can you feel the pop? does it happen just as you're accelerating or do you have to be rolling a bit. more information would be helpful here.

dmick33

It only happens when I am rolling above maybe 5 and on 90 turns. It seems to really do it when I hit a slight bump in the turn but also does it on smooth roads as well. I looked around and cant find a rub anywhere or anything that seems to be loose. The tie rod does have some play but the dealership said thats normal.

wayoflife

well, if it's a single pop, it's most likely not a rubbing issue as if that were the case, you would here popping until you stopped turning. more than likely, something is shifting or catching on something. after a certain point, whatever is holding it up releases and then you hear the pop. at a full stop, try having someone turn your steering wheel and hold it in at about the position it would normally be when making a turn that would cause the pop. look around at your track bar, your coils, shocks, steering stabilizer, drag link, etc and see if there's anything catching or even sitting real close to something else. that might help you to track it down. i would also check your front axle shaft u-joints to see if they have any cracks in the bearing cap seals. i doubt this is your problem but, if one were to be failing, you would hear a soft pop or click when moving forward and turning. just something else to check. play in your tre's is normal.

SB5700

I had a similar problem - it was the sway bar link being slightly loose on the driver's side. I guess it was slipping in the joint and causing it to "pop"... Tightened it and viola!

wayoflife

LOL!! that's a good one to check. back in late 2006-07, i had seen this on stock jk's right off the lot.

jason0341

I just had this problem last weekend. I had someone shake my Jeep side to side and I could actually see the bolt moving freely in the sway bar hole, causing it to make some popping sounds.

ChopN

I have a similar issue when I make slow right turns. I think its steering related because it locked up once. I need to fix it asap.
On the sway bar issue, that sounds more like a clunk than a pop. If it makes the sound over say a bumpy road, thats your links. No matter how lose my links have been, I've never heard the sound while turning though.