HELP ! Sounds like wheels are snapping off !

My wife's 01 Yukon XL has had this extreme "popping sound " thats has progressively gotten worse. She has been backing out at the grocery store and thought she either ran over something or hit a buggy only to get out and fi.d there's nothing there. . As a passenger I've heard it a couple times, but I rarely drive it. I got in it this morning and "POW !!!! " it felt at sounded like a wheel just snapped off at the hub , but I saw nothing out of the ordinary. So I went to pull it back into the carport and POW !!! POW !! About every other rotation of the wheel it would pop again. Not like your pop from cv or ball joints (at least not like any Ive ever heard) , but a violent soun along qwith feeling like you ran over something. I can't pinpoint front or rear , left or right. My wife thi.ks front driver and I think somewhere on passenger. Any help with this would be greatly appreciated. This is our main means of transportation and I need to fix it this weekend. I have a full suspension kit, but not about to rebuild entire suspension today...unless necessary. I would really like to narrow it down to the immediate cause of this problem. Thanks again for taking the time.

Mileage? and I need more info You say suspension kit , Lift or Lowering?

Bearings probably shot

i had a similer problem. Try lifting the front wheels. Grab wheel at the 9 and 4 oclock and 12 and 6 positons. Shake wheel back and forth. Does the wheel move? Mine did, Wheel hub totally shot.

If he's getting that much noise then that wheel is ready to fall off,

Also check the Tie rod ends , One afternoon after a day out playing in the woods I got a Bad popping noise turned out to be the left outer tie rod lost a bushing (Don't ask I don't know)

i could be a lot of things. Broken Spring, broken swaybar link...

218K......just bought it 4 months ago. I bought a rebuild kit (control arms, balljoints, tierods, sway bar links, ect.) . I just haven't gotten around (had time) to do the work. I dont think bearings...no rubbing sound or wobble . It is one hell of a "pop". I got my wife to drive it past me and Im fairly certain its in the rear. It is strange...feels like youre running over simething. I've been at work all day so tomorrow Im gonna pull the wheels off and and examine the rear hubs. I GREATLY appreciate all the good advice...keep it coming and.Ill update tomorrow. Thanks again !!!

If you think it`s coming from the rear it may be that your locker is blown. They`re know to break on our trucks. Pop the rear diff cover off and check to see if everything looks ok.

If the rear axle is popping around turns you likely have broken or shredded spider/side gears.

You're not in 4WD right?

No 4wd.... I was thinking differential, but.hoping not to hear that from any of.you lol.... It really does almost feel like a gear popping out in the rear end. I do almost all of my own work, but I've never tackled a transmission or differential.

Have any of you rebuilt your.rear differential before ? If so, rate the difficulty on a scale of 1-10. 1 being an oil change and 10 being having to tow it into the dealer.

I'd also like to take a minute to say thanks. Being my first time on the site I was pleasantly surprised on the amount and quickness of responses. Not to mention I really think you guys nailed it. I frequent a similar site for BMW's that has saved me thousands in costly diagnostics andwalked me through some some extensive diy's that also saved me ....God knows how much. My point being, I understand and appreciate the value of what you all do here....our time is our most sacred resource and using it to help others is way underrated. Thanks again !

DIff rebuild is at least a 7 IMHO , but Ive only ever done it once and had no experience with it

if you do it right and know how to shim the gears properly to get the right mesh so it doesnt eat itself up being too tight, or strip out the gears from having too much play then go for it, last thing you want is to spend all that money on rebuilding the rear just to have it detonate on you. id say have a professional change out the gears but check for any irregularities yourself

I don't think this has been mentioned yet, but check your u-joints before you spend too much. If you rebuild the diff you will want new u-joints anyway, starting there may fix the issue and save some coin.

I thought there was some type of suspension recall. Call your dealer with your VIN.