Steering Rack Clunk When Rocking the Steering Wheel

My truck is acting like one of the sway bar links is broken. I notice it on the interstate. So I crawled underneath to check the sway bar links and they are intact.

When I turn the steering wheel back and forth just a bit I can hear a light clunking. I had somebody rock the steering wheel while I looked underneath. The rack does not budge so I know the bushings are not worn.

When the steering wheel is rocked back and forth about an inch (when measured at the outer edge of the steering wheel) the intermediate shaft going into the rack moves but the tie rods do not. Rocking the steering wheel a tad more, the tie rods begin to move and I can hear the clunk. The clunk is present when the steering wheel is moved either to the right or to the left.

The rack was replaced 10 years ago and now has over 40,000 miles on it. The rack guide has an internal hex fitting rather than a hex head so I assume it is of the newer type. The truck goes off-road 2 or 3 times each year. The "off-roads" are in the east-central Nevada and the southeast Utah deserts and mountains. The are pretty knarly and my speed is between 10 and 15 mph when I drive them.

There does not appear to be any slack or other looseness in the tie rods. It looks like something in the rack is worn but I don't know if it's something that I can adjust? Like the rack guide? Or is it something that requires a new rack? What do you think?

 

Seems normal for us. There is a slip joint in the steering column that will collapse in the case of a front end collision so you don't get mashed by your steering wheel. Alot of people tac the joint with a welder so it doesn't move anymore, but not so much that it ruins the effect of the joint. Also makes your steering feel much tighter

 

Yes, I've read about that. I don't thing that's my problem because the intermediate shaft moves while the inner tie rods do not.

 

Anyone else have any ideas?

 

I had a similar play noticeable in the passenger side of the rack and replaced the rack

 

My buddies rack made a clunking noise when turning and he changed his rack and installed new bushings and his control arm bushings and fixed his problem

 

Sounds like a worn intermediate steering shaft.

 

Check the intermediate shaft, take the cover off and crawl in there and see how much play there is at the knuckle.

 

From reading his post it sounds like his shaft is turning as he turns the wheel an the slack is coming from inside the Rack.He is saying his shaft turns as soon as his buddy turned his wheel for him but the tie rods didn’t move until it turned some more then they moved.Maybe I’m misunderstanding him though

 

Need to clarify with OP, he says:
When I turn the steering wheel back and forth justabit I can hear a light clunking
When the steering wheel is rocked back and forth about an inch

This is why I’m saying check the intermediate shaft knuckle for play, if that is worn it can also damage the rack.

 

No, you understand correctly ! It does seem to me as well that the slack is inside the steering rack.

When I rock the steering wheel about 1/2 an inch, the intermediate shaft #2 moves but the inner tie rods do not.

If I rock the steering wheel any more that about 1/2 an inch, then the inner tie rods move and I hear a dull, muffled clunking noise.

The last time I had the truck aligned (about 1.5 years ago) the mechanic test-drove it and the steering wheel was off-center. He fixed it when he returned. I don't think he forgot to tighten anything but I'll check.

 

Reviving the thread.

having this noise out of nowhere.

 

Can you describe with more info like you hear it when turning or compression, etc? And are you 3rd gen? Either way, I'd start with checking tie rods and steering rack bushings.

 

Same noise? Same troubleshooting procedure? I'd start by checking the inner tie rods. Also have somebody turn the wheel and visually confirm the rack doesn't move.

 

Good evening gals and gents,

I have 2019 which I lifted 2” front and 1” back. I did the job.. my tires are almost bald and ready to be replaced so I have not done alignment and also didn’t want to change tires right away in case I would develop a vibration so I can easily discard the new tires just because I still have old ones.

I started to develop a squeak/chirp/cricket noise just if I turned the wheel 90 degrees or porque quarter of a turn and go back to previous position, basically rocking the wheel.

Until now I have not had any vibration at all, even alignment is ok. So I started to freak out because it started to make the noise more often.. and obviously I thought “yes, this is it, why did I lifted the damn truck” and went down that hole…

today I said enough… I came home after work, asked my kid to rock the wheel and established that noise was coming from center of the steering rack.. obviously I thought again “ yes, this is it, a new steering rack.. I am out of warranty because of miles and the lift” I decided to remove skid plates and ask my kid to rock the wheel again and by touching the rack I thought it was the passenger side steering rack mount so I decided to tighten it a bit to see if noise went out… after many attempts, I “believe” I tightened the bolt about 1/8 of turn… Basically nothing.. i didn’t have much time so I put everything back together, took a shower and then rode the truck around the block and rocked the hell out of the wheel and no cricket noise…

not sure if it was a strike of luck or my intelligence… I am still in doubt if I fix it or not… I’ll see tomorrow when I hit the road…

 

actually, my steering rack frame or casing moves a bit when initial force is applied to turn.. is this ok?

 

How much does it move? Is it the whole rack that moves? Sounds like it could need new bushings.

 

I did not measured.. it moves but it does not looks like it has play.. I’ll be paying attention to it in the near future…

 

yep, sounds like it's time for new bushings. There shouldn't be any play.

 

I'm going through this now. Months ago I had something turn the wheel and I found that the entire rack was moving slightly, so I replaced the steering rack bushings (the ones that hold the rack to the subframe). That made a world of difference.

Now recently I have a bad knocking coming from the steering wheel and rack. I tried to isolate the issue by checking for play between the steering wheel and column, upper column and lower column, and then column into the rack. The noise was coming from in the rack though.

I popped the driver side boot off to see if it was the inner tie rod but that seemed solid with no play. The shaft coming out of the driver side rack however looked like it was 'racking' as I turned the steering column shaft. That knocking noise just vibrates up the shaft to the steering wheel.

I'm thinking this amount of internal play is not serviceable and requires a rack replacement but doing some searching now. There is also some weeping of fluid on either end of the rack. What do people think of that diagnosis?