Loud Pop From Right Front End When Turning And Backing Up

[03GMCYukon]

I have an '03 Yukon w/ 55K miles, completely stock, owned since new, never wrecked, always driven on streets.

 

When backing up and turning the wheel to the left, there is (sometimes) a very loud pop that comes from the right front suspension area. It's strong enough that you not only can hear it but feel it like you've hit a pot hole. When standing outside the vehicle, I can see the RF wheel/tire quickly twist when this happens. The noise is only one-time and to get it to do it again, need to go forward, stop, then back up turning the steering wheel to the left. Again, this doesn't happen every time but seems like it's more frequent since we got new tires (stock size). The noise almost sounds like something is being torqued then releases once it can't hold the stress.

 

Any thoughts?

[Matt_]

Sounds like a balljoint.

 

Jack up the front end from the lower control arm (as close to the tire as possible) and see if there's any play in the upper or lower balljoints.

[superjim]

+1 on the ball joint

[Alljackedup408]

2wd or 4?

[03GMCYukon]

Thanks for the input. It turned out to be an alignment adjuster on the upper control arm. When I had the alignment checked about 3 yrs ago, the tech must not have tightened the nut enough. I was amazed though that tire wear wasn't affected.