when i make a turn or go over a bump this loud popping noise happens. it isn't at every turn just when i go fast into a turn. like when i give sideways pressure on the tires. the noise is coming from the front passenger side.
i thought it might be the ball joints going out of place but i jacked the truck up and tried to shake the tire and there wasn't any movement.
i thought it might be the cv joints but i had a mechanic friend check them and he said it would be a grinding noise. and the cv joints were fine.
i am at a loss.
could it be shocks?
or could it be something do do with the 4 wheel?
has anyone else had this problem?
someone told me i would need a new front axle and i want to avoid that.

Ball joints are a common problem on the S10s and blazers specifically. Some have good luck and don't have problems, but others have nothing but problems. I can say is that all aftermarket balljoints are NOT created equal. I haven't figured out what the best of the bunch are, but I'm nearing my second balljoint replacement on the drivers side, and they are warrantied. The problem I have with them is that these started to make noise after 2 months. Mine came from Advanced with a lifetime warranty. I'll try them again, but if they fail this time, I'm going elsewhere.

The other thing that this *could* be is the hood hinge at the back of the hood near the windshield. I recently put a conical washer onto mine to maintain pressure between the two halves of the hinge. To verify this is it, take a rag and bunch it up under the back edge of the hood. Do not bind the hood up too much, but just enough to put pressure on the hinge bolt. Take it for a test drive and see if the noise is still there. This was 1/2 the problem with my Bravada and took away a lot of the popping noise.

Also, please put the year/model/engine/drivetrain (ie. '93 LT 4.3L 4wd, etc) of your truck in your posts or in your signature. That will give us a better idea of exactly what needs to be done.

park your truck and rock it side to side. if it still does it check your sway bar bushings and end links. You can also check the shocks, make sure they sre tight.

+2 on the sway bar end links. Very easy to check. And now that its mentioned, makes perfect sense.

well i figured out what my popping noise was
it turned out to be my right cv joint.

how much did the cv joint replacement cost. is it easy. how did you figure it out. I have the same noise on my 98

yeah i am haveing the same problem too it does seam pretty common

are the sway bar end links supposed to be torqued on tight or loose?
the book says 150 in-lbs ....

Sounds close. Mine lists 11ftlb (132inlb). I tighten them up until I get a nice squeeze on the bushings.

thanks, My end links were kinda' loose and I'm not sure if I re-torqued it to the right spec.
Also, I did the shake test on the wheels and I get movement from side-to-side but not when i pushed on the top and bottom. I looked under the front while i shook the wheel and the whole tie-rod assembly shakes as well. Could this be the source of my popping noise?
do i need new bushings? thanks in advance.

If you can see movement in the tie rod end, replace it! If it were to completely fail, you could end up with little to no steering control.

Replacement of the tie rod end will require an alignment.

oh crap, ok will do ASAP most likely this weekend. I'll report back next week with the result, hopefully the noise will be gone.
thanks for the help swartlkk




update;
turns out the outer tie rods were fine, I had a shop look at it and found that both upper ball joints were bad and idler arm.
A day later I took it in to have those replaced and alignment, the loud pop when I turn the wheel all the way is gone BUT I still get ticking noises when braking/accelerating/turning. It's so annoying, could it be my hood hinges?

yea, my 2000 Blazer does that too, but only when I turn the wheel full lock either direction...