95 2wd f150 creaking steering and pulling left
 

My 95 F150 has a very pronounced creak in the steering coming from about where the sway bar is(i cant exactly pinpoint it because it seems to do it only while moving very slowly). also if im back out of a driveway while turning it'll make a pop. As I drive down the road the steering pulls left. My dad said it was probably the brake dragging but it pulls left at 70 and i would think if it was dragging that hard that it would pull very hard around town. The truck wasnt exactly a garage queen though. This is Ohio and my grandpa probably never washed the undercarriage in the 14 years he owned it. Both radius arms were completely rusted through and needed replaced. The drivers side one was actually broken and i drove across town on it. I'm wondering if I goofed the sway bar up from driving with it broken. The sway bar on that side was also disconnected because that side of the spindle had a bolt rusted into it holding the control arm on so we took it off and took it to the hydraulic press. Sorry for the long post, hope someone can help

P.S. The truck only has ~39k miles on it

Maybe a bad ball joint?

that's what i was thinking. i pulled it in the garage but before i jacked it up and checked the ball joint i tried to figure out why i was getting a nasty sound from the rear leaf spring area whenever i loaded up the bed. turns out the leaf spring shackle and hanger rusted through and busted apart. the top of the shackle and hanger are still holding it on but the bottoms completely gone. i hate ohio rust. ill check the ball joints though. i was gonna replace the sway bar bushing but never got around to it

one thing after another. Try RockAuto for the hanger and shackle. The sway bar not being connected should not affect the steering while driving but maybe could cause a noise.

the sway bars back on now. the ball joints are fine though. so my creak and pull remains a mystery

just had a revelation. the pull is because the leaf spring on the pass side is attached to the shackle but not the hanger bc it rusted off, meaning it is against the bottom of my bed. Thatll raise that side and make it pull left. Creaking is most likely the sway bar bushings as i can indent them with my finger nail. So I ordered the moog bushing kit and leaf spring shackle thru advanced and the hanger thru rockauto. Hopefully it'll all work. Thanks for your help though

Good man. Glad you got the problem.

well idk for sure until i put it all on but im hoping lol

well replaced the hanger and shackle and the pulling left stopped. it's a little out of alignment from the leaf spring breaking but it's nothing too big. problem though is the creaking is still there. i'm gonna disconnect the sway bar link and see if it stops. if it does then i know it's the bushings

Axle pivot bushings? Have you checked those?

no, never even heard of them to be honest :-huh, but i disconnected the sway bar link and took it for a drive and the creak was still there, then i had it on jacks to put the link back on and with the front end jacked up it still makes the sound, leading me to believe it has something to do with steering instead of suspension, but i also makes the same sound when braking, so maybe radius arm bushings? i replaced the arms but not the bushings.

another update. the creaking is only really noticeable when the front ends angle changes. like when braking and turning the truck leans forward, it creaks. jack it up then start turning, it creaks. but once the suspension sets in it refuses to creak until the roads grade changes. when parked it will creak for a second then stop. jumping up and down on the running board doesn't induce the creak though, neither does pushing down on the front end. ball joints and outer tie rod ends are both fine

I would think you'd be getting more of a "clunk" if it were the rad. arm bushings. But it'd be good to check them anyway. Good job ruling things out first.:-drink

yeah some googling revealed that it's likely not the radius arm bushings, as they would indeed clunk. that and i've driven the truck with a broken arm the steering doesn't pull like that. found a thread about a mercedes having almost identical symptoms to mine and it turned out to be his lower ball joint. my ball joints are nice and tight but they're almost 15 years old, could they need greased?

If your ball joints have zerks then go ahead and try, but if they are indeed no good then grease won't fix them. I do have a sneaking suspicion it's a pivot bushing though.