Whats the deal? Broken axle?

Ive got this very distinct popping/snapping/metal hitting metal sound from the front left.

I had a similar problem before and it turned out my mechanic didnt tighten the lower control arm-to-chassis bolt and it was coming out. All suspension compenents check out OK, not good, but ok. The upper ball joint boot recently broke on the driver side, theres no inner tie rod boot (for about a year now... not related to this problem) and the wheel bearing on the driver side is going.

The noise: Driving straight, constant speed it can be heard every now and then, like once every 20 seconds you can hear 1 pop. Acceleration it cant be heard at all (over the exhaust anyways) but engine braking, nuetral coasting and braking have serious sounds coming from the driver side left wheel.

I pulled the wheel off and it sitting on stands right now. Its bloody cold (-20 something) as are all the metal components so its kind of hard to work with, even with gloves. The right wheel is on the ground and its in nuetral. I can move the wheel, but it takes some force, it doesnt spin freely thats for sure, but I can get it to turn (not sure if its normal, with 1 tire on the ground) but in gear, its locked up like it should.

The tests I did:
1)side to side on the wheel has little movement, probably related to the wheel bearing, since ive had the car, its had a bad bearing, but the amount of play hasnt increased (yet). Testing the tie rod/wheel bearing

2)up and down (same kind of test as above) has even less movement, if any measurable amount at all, testing the upper control arm ball joint, and the wheel bearing again. Indicating that even though the boot is broken on the UBJ, its still fine for now.

3)turning the wheel in the direction it makes the sound (forward), no popping noise can be heard, but there is resistance, not sure if its the brakes, or something internally in the transmission (or something else...? the problem maybe?) but it will turn with a slight dragging sound (brakes) as I assume it should. However, every full rotation it would seem there is a "dropping pin sound". Thats the best way to describe it, take a small pin and drop it on a cement floor, same sound.
** This sound sounds like its coming from inside the outer CV boot closest to the brake assembly. Its hard to tell for sure just by sticking my head in there and turning the wheel, but the outer and inner boots on the parts-car-replaced axles currently in my car are all good.

This noise is very audible inside and outside the car everytime it clunks.

Could it be a broken axle? I dont want to have to take the boot off to check and replace it with a new one if theres nothing wrong with it. Could that heavy clunking be related to the wheel bearing?

I think ill jack up the other side, pull the wheel and rotate it, see if anything wierd is coming from there and post again. Might not be for a while, my nose is still running and im cold still, so any thoughts please post now.

EDIT: I forgot, another test I did was holding the brakes still and trying to move the axle, it has little play rotational wise

Alright, pulled the passenger side apart and it checks out 100% good, no unusual play, no unusual noises, spins more free than the driver side.

So that led me to believe something must be dragging somewhere, so for the sake of finding the problem, I sprayed some liquid wrench stuff all around parts that move (except the brake disc) and it seems to free up how much it spins, so there is significantly less dragging resistance now, but with less noise that pin dropping sound is more distinct, making me believe it IS in fact coming from inside that cv joint. The axle still spins, and its movement checks out fine, the play I mentioned in the driver side is there on the passenger side axle as well. I think it has to do with something on the transmission side. The UBJ boot on the pass side is broken as well, not sure how long its been out, but like I said, no unusual movement

i'm inclined to think your wheel bearing is coming apart.

could it be the inner cv?

I'm leaning toward the cv joint in the first post.

Here's a relevant update, in my search for the problem I had everything apart on the driver side. When I said I sprayed it down with some oil before it had helped quite a bit in its resistance, but then I sprayed it down with all sorts of lubricants in hopes to lube it up real good, then I drove it to work, not a sound.

Then Ive been driving it for a bit and the noise started up again, didnt bring the oil with me so I dont know if its completely related, but whatever I did before temporarily fixed it.

How would a wheel bearing come apart? I'm leaning towards that now aswell, its been bad for some time now...

And that pin dropping sound could be a shard off the wheel bearing, because thats close to the outer boot I thought it was coming from. Maybe someone should explain how a wheel bearing works exactly, is it just cylindrical bearings in a whole bunch of grease packed together? Its possible that clunking sound is in fact coming from inside the bearing. If this is bearing noise, ,then maybe its time for it to be looked at.

your wheel bearings consist of two seperate ball bearings. Basically, a "sleeve" that's pressed into your spindle has two "ridges" that the balls actually ride on. This is the stationary part of the bearing (outer race). over top of the CV's stub axle are two "cones" that face each other. these are the inner races.

So what do you figure is coming apart? One of the bearings?

As the balls and races get beat to shit they will make more noise as tolerances open up, races no longer are true and balls are no longer round. if spray lubricant makes it go away, and you know the wheel bearing is shot, then this is probably the problem. however, being in bc makes it kinda hard to tell for sure. If the bearing is shot, replace it. You'll need a bearing, the seals, probably a puller to get the drive flange off (after you impact that big stupid spindle nut off), snap ring pliers, and a press to get the outer race out of the spindle....and oxy/acetalene for good luck.