with car stopped, if I turn the wheel slowly to the left, I get a squeak. actually it's more like a small thumping noise. get no noise if I turn to the right. I got underneath and it sounded like the left outer tie rod. I could feel the vibration when turning. I changed the tie rod, and noise is still there. could it be a bad steering rack? if so, how hard is it to change the rack? thanks

 

My vote would be one of the ball joints. One thing you could try would be to get either a needle grease gun tip or use a pick to poke a small hole in the ball joint boot, then insert some grease in to the boot. If you don't have or want to purchase a needle grease gun tip, then you might use an aerosol can of lithium grease with a tube. Insert the tube in to the hole poked by the small pick and do a couple of squirts. Do one ball joint at a time and cycle the steering a few times. If the noise gets better, you've found the culprit.

-Rod

 

My bet would also be the ball joint. An easy way to tell is with the truck off and just parked, press down on the hood on the side of the noise and make the truck bounce... see if it squeeks. If so, its the ball joint...

 

I should have wrote that car had new upper ball joints last year. the bottoms had no play. my clicking is coming from I guess now the inner tie rod or rack.

 

Just because the lower ball joints don't have play does not mean they are not dry and creaking. But a ticking noise is different from what I'd expect. What year is your Explorer, and is it 2WD, 4WD, or AWD?

-Rod

 

it's a 97 4WD

 

Since it's not 2WD you'll also need to consider the front outer CV joints, but if it were my vehicle I'd still start by squirting some white lithium grease in to the lower ball joint boots to see if that has an effect. It's the cheapest and easiest thing to try.

-Rod

 

I'll give it a try.