when i turn either direction i can hear and feel a clunk and or a pop noise from what i believe to be the steering area. (since it only does this when i turn) It is most noticable when i am driving slow and turning tight, like pulling into a parking space. it seams to be getting progressively worse.
I have a 2001 PSD F350 LB crew. It has 66k, a 3" level. I have 35" BFG's.
I have had the truck for 6 months and i had the tires and level kit put on when i bought it. It has only been the last month this has started happening.
any ideas???????
Thanks

 

If you haven't tried this yet...
Shoot some grease into all four of the grease fittings under the front of the truck.
Very cheap and very easy test to see if it fixes your noises.

Also, you might want to check the ball joints.

 

Another thing to check, would be the track bar bracket where it bolts to the frame. Quite possibly the bolts may have loosend.

 

Ball joints it is.
Took it in to have the allignment done. Dealer said ball joints are warn out! they want $1100 to replace upper and lower. I have heard that they can be a real pain to replace? so is it worth the $$$ to have the dealer do it? they said they will replace with greaseable ball joints.
thanks

 

Thats too much way too much...I could probably do the job in 3 hours or less..parts maybe $350 including seals and moog joints.
no more than $600 or they are stuffin their pockets. Its actually an easy job if you did it B4...

 

I had the same question...I was told Ford has had problems with cab bolts, pull back you carpet in the front of the cab and tghten the bolts down with a torque wrench to 180 lbs

Works great...at least for me

 

Wow. I bought new moog joints for both sides for $45.00 each. Around three hours myself. Pretty easy.

 

Go to ford-trucks.com and look in the 7.3 tips section. A member there wrote a blow-by-blow article on how to do the ball joints. I used that when I did mine. It'll save you hundreds of dollars!

 

Thanks everyone.
I found a local diesel shop that will do it for $550.
I figure that is pretty fair considering the time and frustration i would save! My truck will not fit in my garage so i would be doing this outside and its been below freezing and snowy here.
Not fun!

 

Guy's this may sound kind of funny but I think I may have something else for kjswensen to check to solve his popping. I have a 99 with the v-10(93,000mi) and it has the electronic shift on the fly system, and I always have to do this when I take it out of 4wd. Any time i put it in 4wd for any reason and then take it out I have to actually manually unlock the left front hub. If I don't do this I get the popping or clunking that kjswensen is talking about when I turn. I do also have a freind with a 99 with the PSD with the same vacume hubs that has the same problem and has to do this also everytime. First of all what you need to check is if you can reach in the wheel well on the left front and turn your front driveshaft(with the truck in park or off ofcourse), you should be able to turn it freely with the 4wd disengaged. If you can turn your driveshaft freely then disregaurd the rest of my message for your problem is something else. Like I said this sounds kind of goofy but it works for me everytime. What I and my bud have found for a simple easy fix is to keep your right hand on the driveshaft and continually try to turn it back and fourth, with your left hand take and manually lock the left front hub and then unlock it again while you are still trying to turn the driveshaft with your right hand. Usually after I complete this I still cannot turn my driveshaft, then if I take my left hand and turn the manual lock just about a 1/4 to 1/2 of an inch back toward the lock position my hub with unlock and my driveshaft will turn freely and the popping noise is gone. Sound's really funny but if him and I don't do this every time we put our trucks in wheel we have the anoying popping when we turn sharp. example (into a parking stall). Our hubs work just fine and I am happy with the shift on the fly system other than this. I think that many more SD owners might want to check this cause they may have the same problem. I hope and really think that this may solve your problem kjswensen. Let me know... thanks

 

Brad99SD
I had the same problem with the hub unlocking.. You can replace that and fix it.. The Dealer may charge an arm and leg for it. but it is not very hard to replace. Just takes time..

 

Hey jaygos,

The funny thing is that I did have that left front hub replaced at about 85,000. I made the dealer give me the computer drawing of the hub ***. when I had it replaced. I had a bad high pitched dry bearing noise while going down the road unless I was in wheel or that left front hub was locked in. Turns out there is some needle bearings inside the hub ***. that had gotten some road salt and were shot. Makes sense since the bearings turn with the axel when locked in and there was no noise. Anyway that hub and ujoint was replaced at the same time. But what I was getting at is that the truck has done that ever since I have gotten it. It doesn't bother me to do the little trick every time I put it in wheel since I don't put it in that often. Thanks for the info though.

 

Brad99sd
I will definently check that out. My ESF does not always engage the front tires. i have had to get out and manually lock the hubs. This could definently be a related issue. In fact i already had to replace the right hub.
as far as the ball joints go, they for sure are bad and need replacing. the tires are toed in bad and i can see the tread wear from 10 feet away. Hopefully something will work!
thanks

 

Yah,

I have heard with the PSD there can be some ball joint problems. I hope that driveshaft check will work for ya. Sometimes it takes a little more than 1/4 to 1/2 inch to unlock that hub so you may need to play a bit if that's the case but it does sound like the same issue my bud and I have. Good luck

 

I used that trick for a wile too. But I spent a week up in Colorado in February last year and after getting out to do the trick in the butt a$$ cold a few time's I had to get it fixed.. If it starts doing it again. I don't know. The trick is easy to do I may just stay with that.