I have a 1998 Ranger 2wd extra cab. It seems that there is a slight thumping sound coming from the front end. It happens when the truck is moving forward and it is louder when the truck is turned to the left.

 

Can you feel the thump, or just hear it? Does the rate of the thump increase as the speed of the truck increases, or with increased engine RPMS?

 

Can't feel it at all. The sound goes with the rpm's of the front wheels and not the engine.

 

What event preceeded your beginning to hear this sound????

Have you or someone else, hit any sizeable pot holes on the left side lately.

I'm thinking maybe a damaged/flat spotted, wheel bearing, or maybe a wheel bearing in need of adjustment, or loose lug nut/s, if that wheel has been serviced lately.

 

Try tightening you lug nuts. It should work. Has hapened on a couple posts before you and it was loose lug nuts on about five different rangers.

 

No I already checked the bearing and they are fine...

 

I notice your reply said "bearing", (singular) I assume you mean the outer wheel bearing, so what about the inner wheel bearing, was it & the race of both inner & outer bearings checked also????

 

No I took off both bearings and checked, cleaned and re-packed them. I think the sound is coming from the rack but the rack does not have any play in it.

 

Ok, I suppose we can eliminate the bearings & loose lug nuts, so that leaves us looking at the tires & wheels(rims).

If you swap the rear wheels to the front, one at a time, I suppose we could isolate, find or eliminate the wheels with that combination. I'm thinking a bad tire, maybe a shifted or broken belt, or maybe cracked wheel weld or wheel casting, mabe even a bent wheel.

I can't think of a scenario that would cause the rack to thump in cadence with wheel rotation, unless the wheel's were out of balance or bent & the rack rubber isolater bushings were worn or the rack mounting bolts have worked loose & the wheel vibraion is causing it to rattle.
I read you don't feel the noise, so I doubt this.

What event preceeded this noise beginning????

 

No I think that it might be the sound of the knuckle of the rod of the rack because when I bounce the truck I can hear a noise.

 

I found out that the sound is coming from the rack. It seems to be coming from inside the boot on the drivers side. Is there a way to repair it or do I have to replace the whole unit????

 

Well I don't rightly know about you reworking anything internal on the power steering rack, but if it were me I'd probably opt for a remanufactured rack.

I did this on my 78 Mercury Zypher about 20 or so years ago. I opted for a reman short rack, from Advance Auto.

I opted for the short rack, as I was NOT having problems with the tie rod ends, just a bad rack fluid leak.

The short rack requires you to swap the inner tie rods, which I think you probably don't want to do.

You could price the difference between a long rack (which has the inner tie rods attached) & a short rack for which you would purchase & attach the two new inner tie rods.

Sometimes & I don't know why, there are wild differences in price. If money is no object, go for the long rack, it's less work & agravation.

The piston cylinder on the reman rack I bought, had been bored out & replaced with a stainless steel sleeve for the piston to run in.

The OEM one had the pistion running in the cast aluminum bore & was prone to corrosion, wear & leaking, so the reman unit was reworked to fix that design problem & came with a lifetime warranty.

The new OEM rack came with a 90 day warranty & cost X2 the reman unit, so you know which one I went with.

I wouldn't hesitate to go with a good remanufactured rack, that has a lifetime warranty, it'll likely be as good if not better than the new OEM, and will likely cost half as much.

 

Thanks for the info...Is it hard to replays? I checked my book and it looks it but in the book everything looks harder than it really is! Also I would guess that I would need to have the front-end lined up again...

 

Well I don't rightly know how you define nor judge "difficult". Nor how your tooled to do the job.

I did the Zypher by myself after a friend who is a mechanic by trade encouraged me to try it.

I would judge the difficulty a 6 or 7 on a sliding sale of 1 to 10, 10 being the most difficult.

The biggest problem I had was aligning the steering shaft splines after installation. It was the first time I had attempted such a job, as I usually leave underneath work to the pro's.

I've never done this on a Ranger, so I don't have a feel for judging it, but just looking at it's location, it doesn't seem to me to be any more difficult than the Zypher I did.

That job took me all day, working all by myself. Would I do it gain, maybe, but would probably have my mechanic friend do it, as I'm getting too old to crawl around under my rides, in the driveway or in the gararge. I mostly let my money & the pro's do the hard work now. LOL

So I guess it depends on how much you LIKE to, or, HAVE to, turn wrenches. If you like doing it, by all means go for it. If you have trouble, I'm shure we guys & gals on this forum, can & will be happy to talk you through any problems you may have.

Yes you should have the tow checked afterward.

 

This might be obvious, but check all the bolts that have to do with the front suspension. I had a loose upper control arm bolt that two alignment shops missed, it was just as you describe.