Pop, vibration then silence again. WTF?

[Carl Fisher]

Driving yesterday I noticed a pop/clunk followed by about 1-2 seconds of vibration and a strange pulling feel and then it just went away not to be heard from again.

Today on my way to work, it did this 4 times in the course of about 5 miles. Same thing, a pop or clunk followed by the same vibration (feels like a rumble strip or driving on a grooved road) and a slight pull and then everything frees up and goes back to normal.

Any thoughts on this one? It was enough to make me turn around and come back home.

It's definitely in the front and it feels almost like something is catching and binding and then freeing up again. So far every time it's happened it has been just while cruising and not under acceleration or braking.

 

[MrRoo]

My guess is a bad CV axle. Had this on several vehicles throughout the years in the shop.

 

[Carl Fisher]

Never fails, the shop can't reproduce it.

So at this point it could be anything from CV Axle or joints, transfer case, drive shaft / u-joints, bad bearings somewhere maybe? What else?

It definitely doesn't feel like transmission. When it happens, it pulls slightly like driving on grooved pavement. Just before it happens, ther eis a grind or clunk sound just as the vibration kicks in, but the fact that it frees up so fast means I can't do much to catch it.