So after I have looked through the forum I found 2 possable problem areas,

1: The ball joints are bad;
I replaced all 4, didnt help

2: Intermediate shaft worn,
My truck is an 01 4x4 and i dont have a rack+pinion but the gear and relay rod set-up. Is the intermediate shaft problem only on the rack and pinion or all?

3: also how much does the nickel plated yoke run?

For some reason all of this started happening within the last month and is really irratating.

Have you checked your wheel bearings/hub assembly

Lifted the truck anf there was not play up/down or side/side. When I had the knuckles off when I did the ball joints they looked alright.

A couple years ago, I had an awful rubbing/grinding sound. Granted mine wasnt popping, so I did the normal check for bad wheel bearings, nothing, but when I spun it....ssscrape and some small little pops...replaced it, all kinds of quiet. The unit hubs are notorious for being weak in these trucks, thats why I thought it was the hubs. Have you checked, tie rod ends all the way up to the idler/pitman arm for play.

Bought new tie rod ends and im going to put those on next week, as for the bearing im still kind of holding off b/c of the $300 price tag for both sides.