The front end of my Ex has groaned and creaked like an old sailing ship since the day I bought it new in 2001. The culprits were everything from ball joints (a routine consumable on Superduty chassis), body mounts, pitman arms, tie rod ends, sway bar bushings...

But now I have a groan only on turning at low speed. I've added potions and lotions to the steering fluid with no luck. Short of velcroing a midget to the front axle to isolate the squeeky spot, I can't quite figure out were it is coming from.

Possibly related to the problem...the front right took a huge hit on a dirt bank about a month ago. It hit hard enough to spin the steering wheel like a wind vane in a tordedo, blew a new inside tie rod out of straight and cracked the wheel bearing which I just replaced.

I've never dealt with steering components other than bushings and bearings. Any thoughts on steering pumps or racks?

If not, I'll just start replacing joints, bushings and bearings...again. Or turn up the stereo until something falls off.

 

I hate to put this out there, but my wife had the same thing on her jeep, it ended up being tie rods....AGAIN.....it was almost intermittent at some times, only heard it less than 10 mph......when stopped and turning wheels sometimes it would sometimes it wouldnt, it was a groaning creeking sometimes grinding type sound.

Might consider a power steering flush also if it hasnt been done.

 

Oh...one other thing I didn't mention in the original post...

A couple of years ago I had a leak at the hose leading from the power steering drive to the box. I discovered the fluid was below the dip. I added fluid as getting to the hose would have to wait. I then added some magic steering stopleak potion or lotion. It seemed to stop most of the leak and the fluid did not go down.

The reservoir also overflows at time when working the steering while stuck in snow or mud or hunting for traction. I've had this before on other trucks with no dire result.

The power steering has always seemed weak from the day I bought the truck. I always had to roll the tires slightly on pavement to crank a turn while stopped.

I also heard the same noise while walking across a parking lot and thought immediatly it was a Ford truck. It was a Taurus.

I'm almost certain it is not ball joints, tie rod ends, etc.

Anyone with experience with a shot power steering pump?

 

I've heard of those leak stoppers plugging or coating (kind of like plaque in arteries)some of the smaller diameter hoses, causing the pump to not be able to pump as much pressure to the steering, causing harder than normal steering. I guess it could be that this is the case and the groaning is from overworked parts, or lack of pressure? Mine is noticably harder to steer than my Ram was, but I didnt have the luxury of driving it new to say this is abnormal.

 

Well... I can be a bit slow but I figured it out. It's actaully a dry upper ball joint on the driver's side.

Funny thing...noises. Like Mother in Laws. You just don't know when they will show up, where they are coming from and you wish they'd just go away.