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Popping when turning steering wheel

clandr1

clandr1

1/2 ton status
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Oct 30, 2009
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Location
Texas
I know what everyone is going to say: get the ORD brace and weld in piece. Well, I've done that (did it about a year and a half ago). Problem is, the problem has persisted, if not gotten worse.

My front end is greased properly, and the frame is well supported where the steering gearbox is mounted, the mounting bolts are torqued correctly and haven't come loose.

Yet, I still get popping and cracking noise when I turn the steering wheel.

The next step I'm thinking is replacing the steering gearbox, since I can feel the box popping when I lay under the truck and have a friend turn the wheel, but there is no visible movement between box and frame.

Thoughts?
 
cucvfreek said:
frame could still be cracked some so the bolts move around.
Click to expand...

I inspected the frame before installing the ORD brace and bracket, and it was not cracked.

I guess I'm really asking if anyone has ever experienced a steering box go bad and cause these same issues?
 
clandr1 said:
I inspected the frame before installing the ORD brace and bracket, and it was not cracked.

I guess I'm really asking if anyone has ever experienced a steering box go bad and cause these same issues?
Click to expand...

You sure it's coming from the box?
I have had ball joints do that.
 
Mine also does it and I think it may be the frame rivets allowing a little extra play. I'm thinking about grinding off the rivets and installing some new, grade 8 bolts.

I have brand new springs front and rear....and it was there before and after.

I also have the weld in fix (but not the box brace). I hope to install the box brace soon.
 
38377k5 said:
A lot of times that noise is caused by leaves sliding along each other
Click to expand...

X2… very common

Could also be loose wheel bearings, worn spring bushings, worn sway bar bushings, etc. You might want to remove the sway bar brackets at the frame and let the sway bar hang loose to see if the noise changes. I doubt there is anything inside the gearbox causing this.
 
I guess if we're going by process of elimination, the easiest first step would be hitting the leaf springs with some silicon lubricant and see if anything changes, if not, then go to the sway bar bushings, and then if nothing changes, start spraying the frame area around the rivets...

At least the diagnosis won't be too difficult (hopefully). Thanks for all the tips guys! When I have a chance to work through it I'll report back.
 
Mine does it to. Appears to be my ball joints. I put my hand on several pieces while the wife worked the wheel and i could only "feel" the pop when i had my hand on the knuckle.
 
y5mgisi said:
Mine does it to. Appears to be my ball joints. I put my hand on several pieces while the wife worked the wheel and i could only "feel" the pop when i had my hand on the knuckle.
Click to expand...

It happened to me too as I have posted above:thumbup:
 
You're on the right path - looking and listening while someone else steers. Once these noises are in the chassis it can be impossible to tell where the noise is from the driver's seat.

More ideas:
-Are the shackle and spring bolts tight? I have seen these moving around on rigs before. Push-pull steering puts a scary amount of force into shifting your leaf springs around.
-Bad front u-joints can do this. The axle shafts end up aligned with 2 caps right in the pivot axis and the other two caps don't move at all. When you steer you feel the dried up bearings rotating.
 
Blue85 said:
You're on the right path - looking and listening while someone else steers. Once these noises are in the chassis it can be impossible to tell where the noise is from the driver's seat.

More ideas:
-Are the shackle and spring bolts tight? I have seen these moving around on rigs before. Push-pull steering puts a scary amount of force into shifting your leaf springs around.
-Bad front u-joints can do this. The axle shafts end up aligned with 2 caps right in the pivot axis and the other two caps don't move at all. When you steer you feel the dried up bearings rotating.
Click to expand...

I'll have to check the bolts - thanks for the idea.

The ujoints were replaced not too long ago and are in good shape.
 
Blue85 said:
You're on the right path - looking and listening while someone else steers. Once these noises are in the chassis it can be impossible to tell where the noise is from the driver's seat.

More ideas:
-Are the shackle and spring bolts tight? I have seen these moving around on rigs before. Push-pull steering puts a scary amount of force into shifting your leaf springs around.
Click to expand...
Right there. I could feel it popping under my feet. With it welded and braced, I knew it wasn't the steering box.
I went thru my front end and did greasable bolts and bushings. Shortly after that the sleeves all ended being oval due loose tolerance between bolt and sleeve and killed my front spring shackles. Would pop and creak as I turned. Made my own sleeves from DOM and problem solved. I would start here. Get a pal to turn the wheel while you put a hand on the spring shackles or the eye itself. You'll feel it snap/pop as spring moves.
 
My first thought was balljoints too. Those are easy to check. Lift the front end off the ground, get a big long prybar and put some 2x4s and make a fulcrum, lift the tire up and down with the bar. If you see any separation, they're bad.


And of course it could be a million other things under there :dunno:
 
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