Steering noise?

[ken270741]

Hi all......i posted a question on this awhile back. My steering has an occasional clunk and pop feel to it when turning. Anyone else have this??
I am thinking it is the universal joints in the linkage between the firewall and into the rack, there are two and sit right next to the exhaust manifold. It seems more prevalent when it is hotter.....both outside and when the jeep has been running for awhile and heated up more(looser tolerances??). If i pull on the steering rod i have some play in the joints or somewhere below that i cannot see real well......my question i think is does anyone else know if they have play here?? Should there be some movement or is this play what is causing my noise?? I am hoping it is here and not the rack and pinion part (assume that to be alot more money and serious to fix). Thanks in advance for any help
Also......i don't think it is a CV since it only makes the noise when turning the steering wheel even when not moving, but am i overlooking something here and could it be??
I also put some bigger man tires on it about 2000miles ago and it seems a bit worse now....

thanks again
ken

 

[rockymountain]

Hi all......i posted a question on this awhile back. My steering has an occasional clunk and pop feel to it when turning. Anyone else have this??
I am thinking it is the universal joints in the linkage between the firewall and into the rack, there are two and sit right next to the exhaust manifold. It seems more prevalent when it is hotter.....both outside and when the jeep has been running for awhile and heated up more(looser tolerances??). If i pull on the steering rod i have some play in the joints or somewhere below that i cannot see real well......my question i think is does anyone else know if they have play here?? Should there be some movement or is this play what is causing my noise?? I am hoping it is here and not the rack and pinion part (assume that to be alot more money and serious to fix). Thanks in advance for any help
Also......i don't think it is a CV since it only makes the noise when turning the steering wheel even when not moving, but am i overlooking something here and could it be??
I also put some bigger man tires on it about 2000miles ago and it seems a bit worse now....

thanks again
ken

I think I have this too. I've had my whole steering shaft replaced from the firewall to the rack. It was so bad then that they wouldn't let me drive it until they fixed it. I'm not sure what was done to it but that's how it was when I bought it with 3000 miles on it. It had more play in it than a 30 year old Ford. It got fixed though and felt brand new after. BUT, of course now I'm getting the popping noise like you describe. Mine seems not as tight as it was when it was fixed also.
I've posted about this too before, but nobody seems to know. I did take it back to the dealer just to get something on the record, but they said that everything was fine. Then they couldn't get it to clunk and/or couldn't/didn't want to hear it.

 

[ken270741]

Thanks for the reply so far......probably should have mentioned.....its an 06 with 38k miles on it.......

ken

 

[kena]

My 06 has this problem also. Seems I feel a little clunk in the steering wheel mostly when turning and a light acceleration. I can't find anything loose so far.

 

[staindvans]

i have a similar sound when turning, low speed, and it only happens once its driven a bit, first corner or two sometimes don't make any noise, then every corner there are 3 small clunks in the steering from centered to full lock. i've had other people turn the wheel while i looked for something moving and nothing.

 

[eradicator006]

Mine used to make an odd popping noise when my rack and pinion needed replacing. In my case, the popping was air in the rack due to a bad seal.