Loud popping from rear end

[abrezinsky]

I have a 1997 Ex Eddie Bauer v8 with 196k miles on it. For the past few months, I've had a clicking sound coming from the drivers side rear end. When turning left, there's a much louder popping sound that goes away as soon as I straighten out. I'm guessing it's been going on for a while but I really didn't hear how loud it was until I started driving with the window down when it got warmer.

I originally thought it may be the parking brake pads stuck so I replaced them. The old ones were completely destroyed so I hoped that was it, but no decrease in the sound once I got it back together.

I thought it might be the rear axle bearing so last weekend I replaced the bearings, seals and since I thought there would be damage to the axles from running on them when they were bad I also replaced the axles. When the differential was open, I didn't see any damage to any of the gearing and the oil was still pretty clean. No metal was found inside. The clicking when driving went away but the popping sound is still there. My brother in law watched the tires rotate and the sound happens exactly at the same point in the rotation from the left side of the car.

I'm at a loss for what else it could be since I can't reproduce the sound with the truck in the air. Any idea what else I should be looking at or any way to attempt to reproduce the sound?

 

[deweyville65]

Possibly the clutches in the limited slip rearend? Oil may have been changed without adding the friction modifier additive.

 

[abrezinsky]

I'm following up to my own post because I finally figured out what the sound was. The sound wasn't a result of the oil change. I had used Royal Purple which had the friction modifier already added but I went ahead and added some more anyways since there wasn't a really solid consensus that it as enough. That did nothing for the sound.

About a week ago it got worse and I noticed that the chrome skin on the wheel had separated and was starting to fall off. It was only held on by the balancing weight. I ordered a used one from a junkyard and took the old one off to get the rim swapped out at a local tire place today.

When I pulled the tire off, I ripped off the rest of the skin and was shocked to find this:

2 of the supports were cracked completely through. I inspected the rest of the car and the others wheels are still fine but I'll be replacing all of them at some point.

Sound is completely gone with the new rim on the car. I'm just glad that the chrome skin started to detach and rattle otherwise this could have ended quite badly.

 

[Midwest Dually]

Amazing.... Never seen a rim look like before!

 

[deweyville65]

Glad you found the cause of the noise before something tragic happened. This is a good example of why it is difficult to try to diagnose a problem from any distance just by a persons discription. If you are standing there listening to it, you would have a better idea where the noise is coming from.

 

[mac101264]

Hy to everyone!!
I got a 2005 rear drive explorer yesterday i was coming out of a parking lot when i heard a loud crack i though i hit something but that was not the case since then every time i put the truck on drive i heard a slip comming from the passenger side rear tire and it is starting to make a loud noice. If something similar have happening to someone please help me shine some light on what is going on.

Thanks and greetings from Puerto Rico!!

 

[imp]

The real reason why I LOVE alloy rims.........they don't rust! imp

 

[Spudhut]

Good find...ROACHY!!...Where are you located? North east?

 

[Chance74]

I'm following up to my own post because I finally figured out what the sound was. The sound wasn't a result of the oil change. I had used Royal Purple which had the friction modifier already added but I went ahead and added some more anyways since there wasn't a really solid consensus that it as enough. That did nothing for the sound.

About a week ago it got worse and I noticed that the chrome skin on the wheel had separated and was starting to fall off. It was only held on by the balancing weight. I ordered a used one from a junkyard and took the old one off to get the rim swapped out at a local tire place today.

When I pulled the tire off, I ripped off the rest of the skin and was shocked to find this:

2 of the supports were cracked completely through. I inspected the rest of the car and the others wheels are still fine but I'll be replacing all of them at some point.

Sound is completely gone with the new rim on the car. I'm just glad that the chrome skin started to detach and rattle otherwise this could have ended quite badly.

Was it like the brake was being pushed giving you resistance when you were backing up and then makes popping noise

 

[Gary Crist]

Hello and welcome to forum but this post is 10 years old.