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...