99 Silverado Z71 5.3l rear clunk while turning

Hey everybody, got a little problem. More times than not now, when making a sharp left turn and sometimes a left turn in general, a loud popping/clanking/knocking noise comes from the rear of my truck. I can feel it in the steering when it's about to do it. The steering wheel will become stiff when turning left and when I straighten up it will pull to the right (just got the truck aligned so I don't think that's a problem). Rear left tire will spin like its struggling to spin. After all that I can make a hard turn right and "pop" everything will seem to go back to normal. Sorry for the long post just wanted to be as detailed as possible. Any suggestions/fixes is much appreciated. Thanks.

Hey everybody, got a little problem. More times than not now, when making a sharp left turn and sometimes a left turn in general, a loud popping/clanking/knocking noise comes from the rear of my truck. I can feel it in the steering when it's about to do it. The steering wheel will become stiff when turning left and when I straighten up it will pull to the right (just got the truck aligned so I don't think that's a problem). Rear left tire will spin like its struggling to spin. After all that I can make a hard turn right and "pop" everything will seem to go back to normal. Sorry for the long post just wanted to be as detailed as possible. Any suggestions/fixes is much appreciated. Thanks.

with the noise when turning I would suspect the ball joints.

tire shop alignment ?
also any steeering drift would indicate the camber is off. this also points to the ball joints as one of the reasons this is occuring.

what is your front end lube schedule ? what type grease are you using ?

on the rear diff. you must remove the cover and clean out the gear box. using mineral spirits paint thinner and a brush. wipe out the area with a cloth. then use the synthetic gear lube as required. fill to 1/2 inch below the fill hole . check again after diving a few miles.

the box needs cleaning / this is the proper way to do this. no cleaning will lead to failures. magnet is on the diff cover.

Yes it was a tire shop allignment. Ive inspected the ball joints and based off what ive seen online they dont appeare to be bad. But wouldnt the tire shop inform me if they were? And as for grease schedule, ive had the truck for about 2 years now, whats the recomended time interval?

Yes it was a tire shop allignment. Ive inspected the ball joints and based off what ive seen online they dont appeare to be bad. But wouldnt the tire shop inform me if they were? And as for grease schedule, ive had the truck for about 2 years now, whats the recomended time interval?


the front end grease fittings require a litium based grease. the rubber boots need be in good condition and when you press on them should feel like they are full of grease. if collapsed they need some grease to inflate them to a slight amount. using shop air powered grease equipment with a person of low skill levels these can be damaged. if you find they leak badly then you will need to grease those points at every oil change. if the grease boots are in good shape and full of grease then do not add more grease. when you grease these fittings and rust come out this is usually a good indication the joint is bad or will be.

most tire shops are good at tires sometimes. when it comes to alignments I would not use them. go to a shop that does this work with the correct equipment and skilled workers.

you can check your ball joints yourself. you will need a jack and a large steel pry bar. having a helper and a good strong lite you can then see if the joints are moving.

I had similiar noise from the rearend of my 00 Silverado Z71 and when we pulled the Diff cover we found the Spider gears were shot. We replaced the gears ( luckily the everything else was ok) and filled the Diff with Royal Purple Synthetic Gear oil and have had no problems since.

Hey everybody got to thinking and realized I never posted the outcome of the problem. But anyways turned out I just needed to change the differential fluid. Haven't had a problem since. But like the last post said probably got lucky that gears weren't torn up. So hope this helps someone.