A couple weeks ago I was turning on pavement (90* left turn from a turn lane into a gas station) and my steering got hung up. Just for a sec, backed off the turn a bit and it cleared up. Checked out the front end when I pulled up to the pump, and didn't see anything wrong. Couldn't make it happen again no matter what I tried. Checked it out again at the house, still didn't find anything wrong.

Today it did it again backing up to the house. Looked everything over again, and still didn't find anything. I hate suspension problems... damn hard to find sometimes.

Also, sometimes when turning while backing up I get a loud clunk from the front end somewhere. Can't seem to pinpoint it.

Balljoints seem tight, and I just replaced tie rods/drag link with good parts from the salvage yard. They are all tight and actually look like newer parts. Got grease zerks on them, which I greased after installation. I removed the front swaybar to get a little more suspension flex offroad.

So, what do y'all think is the most likely source of the noise:

TTB pivot bushings, radius arm bushings, balljoints? Something else?

And for the steering all I can think of is that either the shifter interlock is hanging up or the steering gearbox is fixin to crap out. I know that with rack/pinion steering, the spool valve can get worn to the point that it causes the steering to lock up, can this happen with the type of steering gear we have?

Appreciate the help,

 

I know with my truck I get a metallic pop from the front while backing up, sometimes while making a sharp turn, and have bad radius arm bushings.

 

was any of this happening before you removed the front sway bar?

 

I have heard if you run with the hubs locked out for long time the u joints on the outside of the axle can rust solid and cause the steering to stick.

 

Yeah it did make the noise before I removed the front swaybar.

With the hubs locked out? You mean disengaged? I run my transfer case thru the ranges a few times a month either by normal usage or just to keep things moving if I don't happen to actually use 4x4 for a while. Same with the auto hubs, I exercise them too. Good point on the ujoints... I'll have to look into that.

 

I had a driver side U-joint stick, had to manually return steering wheel to center or the truck would drive in a circle. I locked the hubs, drove around in circles in 4x4 in a gravel lot for 20 minutes, broke up the rust in the U-joint, steering was free until I got a chance to replace the join. U-joints will initially rust and bind, then given sufficient time they fall apart and get lose.

Most of the clunks I've dealt with were from trailing arm bushings.