I am having some trouble with a knocking noise coming from the steering or front end components of my truck. Recently, about 6 months ago, I replaced the front ball joints and cranked the torsion bars almost if not to max.

Now for about a month if I have the steering wheel cranked all the way to the right or left, I get a knocking or popping noise coming from the front end components or steering stuff. Any ideas where I could start looking for problems? The Ranger currently has 115K on it. So could the steering bushings or tie rods or something need to be replaced? Or could this be due to me cranking the torsion bars too much and adding stress to the front suspension? Any help would be greatly appreciated!

 

Sounds like CV's. They are popping under stress while turned because they are stretched to thier limit. Look and see if the boots are torn or ripped.

 

Ok man thanks. I will look tomorrow. CV's are pretty expensive unfortunately. If I cranked the t-bars down a bit would that help?

 

I had the same problem and it turned out to be my wheel hub bearing. If you search "wheel hub bearing" on the forums you will find info on the effects it makes going out as well as the price and best place to get one. Also worth noting, if this is the problem, when it goes out you will be effed. But I also drove on mine for months before i replaced it.

 

Could be those too.

 

Morris, I checked the CV joint boots today and everything was good. No tears or anything. That doesn't mean there could be internal damage under the boots.

Aaron: I searched for the "wheel hub bearing" but couldn't find anything. Did you start the thread, or was it someone else? That might help me narrow down the results when I search for it again.

 

Ok did some more looking and hearing for problems today. It seems this weird noise only occurs when turning at full crank to the left going forward or backwards at slow speeds. The truck almost needs new brakes but I know what the sound of needing new brakes is.

However what would the sound of a wheel hub bearing going out sound like? Would it produce a clicking sound? Oh another thing, when the sound occurs the truck seems to skip like it is in four wheel drive on pavement making a turn at full turn to the right or left.