Popping noise when suspension articulates

[ugly99]

Several things to look at, broken/rusted u-bolt, broken/rusted center pin for the leaf pack, transfer case seal/sleeve can make noise, or could be internal diff noise. All plays into how much digging and reporting back here you want to do along with any other input that might become available.

My first thought was that it sounds like something going on with the rear driver side leaf springs (just due to the nature of the noise, sounds like large thick metal) but can't get it to make the noise when I'm not driving and I can't see anything apparent wrong with them. Its definitely toward the rear, and sounds like it's on the driver side but could be diff area too.

The fact that I can't get it to happen without driving has me wondering if it is something with the diff, but it's also a 2500 so doesn't budge much without weight in the bed even when you jack up one side and drop it. When I get a minute I might try to find somewhere on my property I can get it to reproduce the noise and take more notes of the position.

 

[ugly99]

Get someone to stand on the tailgate and bounce the suspension to recreate the sound while you lay underneath to trace it.

Haven't been able to reproduce the noise without driving no matter what I try.

 

[SUBURBAN5]

Does the noise happen when your doing a turn on a bumper road or if your going fast enough turning?

 

[ugly99]

Does the noise happen when your doing a turn on a bumper road or if your going fast enough turning?

Sometimes it will happen going straight or turning on a bumpy road/potholes/speed bumps but it happens more reliably driving on uneven terrain (more rolling/twisting bumps than small pothole type bumps).

 

[SUBURBAN5]

Sometimes it will happen going straight or turning on a bumpy road/potholes/speed bumps but it happens more reliably driving on uneven terrain (more rolling/twisting bumps than small pothole type bumps).

Ok jw . I having a similar issue. Mine happens mostly on sharp turns. Everything has been replaced. I need to look at my cab mounts . That's the only thing I haven't looked at. I can feel it on the front floor board. Feels like passenger side.

 

[RichLo]

loose shock mount bolt?

 

[ugly99]

loose shock mount bolt?

Shock mounts are all rusty but secure

 

[GMC_YA_L8R]

I had a weird popping noise like that on my 2017 Silverado that I bought new. Any small change in incline like backing out of a slightly angled driveway onto a flat street and I'd get a couple of weird pops in the suspension system. Well, turns out there was a bulletin on the problem and it was the leaf spring pack binding ever so slightly when going over uneven terrain. GM's "fix" was to grease the areas where each leaf contacted the next. That didn't work. Since I worked at the dealership I was pretty tight with the service department guys and they ended up ordering me a new set of leaf springs and installing them and that did fix the issue.

If I had to take a wild guess, I'd say you likely have something similar going on. I know the leaf spring pack is supposed to have some plastic/rubbery isolators that are supposed to help quiet them down. I put new ones on my 1990 when I had the bed off recently. I think they were Dorman.

 

[ugly99]

I had a weird popping noise like that on my 2017 Silverado that I bought new. Any small change in incline like backing out of a slightly angled driveway onto a flat street and I'd get a couple of weird pops in the suspension system. Well, turns out there was a bulletin on the problem and it was the leaf spring pack binding ever so slightly when going over uneven terrain. GM's "fix" was to grease the areas where each leaf contacted the next. That didn't work. Since I worked at the dealership I was pretty tight with the service department guys and they ended up ordering me a new set of leaf springs and installing them and that did fix the issue.

If I had to take a wild guess, I'd say you likely have something similar going on. I know the leaf spring pack is supposed to have some plastic/rubbery isolators that are supposed to help quiet them down. I put new ones on my 1990 when I had the bed off recently. I think they were Dorman.

This is good to know, I'll have to take a second look at that. Was there a lip somewhere on one of the springs or something, or they just bind and snap together somehow? I looked at the leaf springs because that was my first thought but I just didn't see anything that looked like it would make a popping noise like that.

 

[GMC_YA_L8R]

This is good to know, I'll have to take a second look at that. Was there a lip somewhere on one of the springs or something, or they just bind and snap together somehow? I looked at the leaf springs because that was my first thought but I just didn't see anything that looked like it would make a popping noise like that.

I'm not sure there was any discernible lip or interference anywhere in the springs. From what I understood at the time, the springs could articulate (side to side, I believe) within the U-bolt ever so slightly and that "sheering" between each spring rubbing on the next would cause the popping noise.

Someone else mentioned up thread about a possible broken leaf spring center pin and that may be an area to look over closely as well. If that pin has broken off it would essentially allow the spring pack to move around and potentially make the same type of noises that I experienced on my 2017.