Thoughts on play in tie rods?

[nick0789]

My plan is to just a full front end rebuild minus pitman arm and idler arm if I have to do one of the ball joints and be done with it. I’m comfortable with doing the repairs myself, but I hate dealing with torsion bars (looking at you, Land Cruiser) so it would go in for that at least.

I’ll be sure to have the shop check the hubs as well. I didn’t notice much but i was also not focused on them either so there’s that.

 

[nick0789]

Update:

The shop had the tahoe on the hoist for a solid hour and some change looking around and couldn’t find anything in the front suspension / steering / wheels that would be causing this noise. They said everything was tight and solid underneath (ball joints, idler arm, pitman arm, tie rods,sway bar links, hubs).

I’m at a loss as to what it could be at this point. Are there any other one-off ideas?

My only other thoughts would be the poly sway bar link bushings shifting a little bit (I’m going to grease them just to rule that out) or something even more rare like a torsion bar.

 

[nick0789]

I can’t remember fit my post above for some reason but the mystery is solved.

When I started backing up the tahoe out of the parking space at the shop in front of a couple of the mechanics they flagged me down and messed around with it some more in the parking lot away from the tools and compressors, etc.
15 more minutes of using the stethoscope again and come to find out that the nut for the passenger upper control arm (rear bushing) was not completely torqued down. About 1/3 of a turn later and no more popping.

 

[iamdub]

I can’t remember fit my post above for some reason but the mystery is solved.

When I started backing up the tahoe out of the parking space at the shop in front of a couple of the mechanics they flagged me down and messed around with it some more in the parking lot away from the tools and compressors, etc.
15 more minutes of using the stethoscope again and come to find out that the nut for the passenger upper control arm (rear bushing) was not completely torqued down. About 1/3 of a turn later and no more popping.

Makes sense! Glad this mystery has been solved!