Have an 05 Dakota that makes a pop / click from front end when initially moving forward or letting off gas to shift and then accelerating again. Pop is fairly loud and noticeable in the cabin and seems is louder when noise is made and going uphill. Is only once and not a re-occurring bad bearing repetitive type of noise, is more like something needs a real good grease metal to metal torque and stress click. Don't notice it happen when in reverse.

CV joints replaced new both sides, brakes done pads & rotors within 7k miles, swing arm bushings replaced. Both sides new hubs this year, new oem calipers, brake line hoses have been replaced

Front drive shaft in the front has about 1.5-2" of rotational play but is tight in and moves with the shaft conical housing that connects shaft to the transfer case. I was told my 2 mechanics that amount of play is ok / normal as long as the joint isnt moving freely from the socket of housing but. Other things to note this started to occur after this time i had braked very hard on a downhill slope. Lost power steering at time and fluid flush fixed (has been a problem before but is fine now)

Everything the noise does leads me to believe its coming from the drive shaft or suspension and forward movement torque related not a problem with the internal gears. Noise isnt grinding sounding. all fluids changed and transfer case was good when checked. Also does not appear to be caused by steering as its a forward motion that causes the noise will do when going straight.

Any ideas please let me know. have a video below that is similar to the noise i have

 

that popping clicking noise you hear is the ball joints moving around. they are only pop riveted in so they break easy. if you go over any type of seed bump the noise is real bad, Rockauto.com has full replacement parts with ball joint that press/bolt in

 

I wont get the noise over any type of bumps or potholes. only happens once, singular click, at a time when moving forward under acceleration. Would that still be the case with the ball joints?

So if my truck was an auto i would believe to hear the click once during accel. 99% of the time hear it 3 times because the weight transfer load under stop to 1st, 1st to 2nd is greater than say 4th to 5th. if I'm in first and make the truck hop (accel let off accel let off accel let off) it will do it each time. Also this does not or at least has not occurred in reverse.

Not trying to pick apart ball joints being the case just looking to minimize the next set of bills and hoping it will be the last and final fix for the noise.

 

This was a thread I created a couple years ago for a similar-sounding problem:

**Attention anyone experiencing a "bump" or "jolt" just before or after a stop**

The issue was that the slip yoke on the fore-end of the rear drive shaft was binding upon initial acceleration, and needed to be lubricated. It appears the pics I posted in that thread no longer work, but I can re-post them here if you need.

 

Much appreciated, all set with the pics..I have no issue with a binding or locking. Everything seems to be mechanically sound which is why this noise is throwing me off so much. Both mechanics have said there is nothing at least upon exterior examination wrong with the driveshaft or shaft components. I do trust both mechanics opinions and keep falling back to the idea this will turn out to be some small obscure part that may be easy to overlook.

Also if I had only got the noise upon first accelerating this would make sense but it will also happen if I am already in motion too. A more extreme transfer of weight on some part of the mechanics still is my best guess like something is being stressed or torqued (springs or shocks?). The harder the initial acceleration or shift to second the louder and more pronounced the noise will be.

 

For my money (which is isn't), I'd put some lubrication on the spline, it won't do any harm and might just fix the problem of a few pennies worth of grease.

 

That's pretty much what I was getting it, I'm sorry if my first post wasn't clearer about that...There was nothing externally (or even internally) mechanically wrong with my driveshaft or components either...The spline shaft inside the slip yoke simply needed to be greased, and it's something that can easily be overlooked.

In my opinion, it sounds almost exactly what you're getting at here:

Basically, whenever the truck body lurches rearward and compresses the rear suspension (either at initial acceleration from a stop, or during a hard subsequent shift while moving), that compression of the rear suspension requires that the driveshaft shorten itself by mere fractions of an inch, which occurs by the spline shaft being pushed slightly further into the slip yoke. HOWEVER, if there is not enough grease inside that spline shaft/slip yoke joint when the rear suspension temporarily compresses, it causes a "pop" or a jolt feeling as the spline shaft/slip yoke joint instantaneously binds and then releases the bind. Again, nothing mechanically wrong with it, just may be an internal lubrication issue of the joint that can't necessarily be easily seen or properly addressed until the driveshaft is dropped.

Ditto.