what is this part that has the bushing near the brake shield? outer tie rod? the pic is kind of blurry but the bushing is in rough shape. i brought a new outer tie rod to a mechanic and he told me the part was loose, and not to replace it. i hear a metal on metal clunking sound from the driver side and the ball joints are fine, could this be causing the noise?

 

almost looks like your connecting rod / steering linkage . is slapping agenist your brake shield ? could that be the noise?
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Looks like it Big-ole-460. I would replace that when time permits. I've never seen one like that Navigatorstang.

 

Might just be the angle of the pic. Is there any evidence the two are making contact? The rubber if just to help keep the grease in, dirt out, the actual joint is all metal, like a ball in a socket, they can and do make noise when they are bad. Grab hold of it and check for excessive play, it should move, but not be sloppy. It has a Zerk fitting, give it some grease.

It's an "outer tie-rod".

 

Yea, that's definitely your tie rod. Best bet is to shoot some grease in the fitting to tighten the joint until you can get it replaced. After replacing you will have to get the front end re-aligned or you will eat up your tires! Be careful, though. If the tie rod separates while you are driving you will lose all ability to steer the vehicle. You need to get that taken care of ASAP!

 

just raise one wheel up and try to turn it by hand. You will be able to tell if you have any play right away. However I dont know that ive ever had one bad enough to clunk. Does your truck have manual hubs or auto hubs on it? If manual are they locked when you hear the noise? What are you doing when you hear the clunk?

It could be anything from the ujoints in your axle, ball joints, the steering linkage, radius arms or in a very bad extreme case I know a guy whose frame actually cracked(well the cross member) and when he would turn it would try to pull the frame apart and then clank back together.

 

i will jack it up and try to wiggle with it. i have auto hubs, i hear the noise when i hit abrupt bumps like small potholes. i hope to god its not the frame even though its rusty under there.. i recently lubed up all of the fittings in the front end but i have been hearing this sound for the last month or so...

i thought if the wheel had side to side motion it would mean ball joints? why would a mechanic tell me the thing was loose and not to replace it since he "tightened it"

*my steering is very soft. when going 20+ mph i can move the steering wheel quite a bit in both direction without any response at all

 

Raise the wheel, and grab the tire at 9 and 3. Pull back and forth. Should not be much play. Now grab the tire at 12 and 6. Do the same. Should be NO play. Fill us in with what you get.

 

I kinda have the same problem I get a squeaking noise when I lock it in 4wd and I noticed somthing grabs when I make a hard Left, Anyway I think my problem maybe the dust shield is all ate up but maybe this helps you

 

my truck is 2wd and im experiencing the same sort of thing, thought it was my radios arm as it made the noise a while back before the bushing on it went out..but its doing the noise again, only when i turn left or hit a few select bumps around the area and only out of the driver side tire..thought tire was hitting frame or something but couldn't find evidence of it hitting anything..but after seeing your picture im defiantly gna have to check that out on my truck

 

have someone sit in the truck and turn the wheel back and forth and watch your steering linkage and your upper and lower ball joints. you should be able to see any side to side movement in relation to the centerline of the bolt of any of the three. if you do this is most likely your noise. if not have that person bounce the truck up and down and see if you can locate anything out of place. dont get run over with these antics

 

I always like to leave the wheels on the ground when I check for tie rod play. I think it shows up a lot better that way. Naturally, you have to get them off the ground to check the ball joints.

Also, did you say that the mechanic told you ~not~ to replace that tie rod end? I was a little confused by that.

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Just re-read it: "i brought a new outer tie rod to a mechanic and he told me the part was loose, and not to replace it".

Is he saying then that the nut just needs to be tightened? That doesn't sound quite right, unless it was never properly tightened in the first place.

 

ok with the truck loaded and on the ground, i grabbed that part (outer tie rod?) and tried to move it around. if i grab the whole thing, it twists at the bushing. the bushing is clearly ripped up. so if i grab the tie rod, and rev it like an old motorcycle throttle, the part twists all of the place with not too much force. so what do i need to buy? just the outer tie rod end? is there only one?

 

It's supposed to swivel like that, at least somewhat. Maybe about 10 degrees of motion each way.

You're really not examining it in a very effective way. When I said "I always like to leave the wheels on the ground when I check for tie rod play. I think it shows up a lot better that way", I didn't clearly state that the next step is to have someone turn the steering wheel back and forth vigorously so you can get a very clear idea of whether or not the ball-and-socket that make up the "business end" of a tie rod end are excessively worn or not. Look to see if the tie rod end moves, but the steering knuckle doesn't. They should both move together. The more play there is, the more worn the ball and/or socket are.

When you say the "bushing is clearly ripped up", it sounds as if you're referring to the rubber boot that keeps road crap out of the ball and socket part of the tie rod end, and also keeps the grease in place. If that is indeed "clearly ripped up", just replace the tie rod end and be done with it. Then consider finding a new mechanic, because unless I'm missing something, it sounds as if he doesn't know quite what he's doing.

 

well yeah the bushing in the far right of the picture (when i was rotating the tie rod) you could visibly see the rubber was not staying place and if i put really heavy force i could probably get the thing to rotate 360 degrees