I just noticed today as i was rolling through the stoplight that there was a new sound other than the usual front end clanks my truck has, so i check it out and shake my wheels back and forth and i noticed quite a bit of play when i pushed/pulled on the front of the tire, but no noise, so i did the same thing but on the top of the tire on both sides and i heard it. I can hear it a lot more when i push and rock the truck from side to side. so me and my dad found out that the most noise/vibration is coming from the inner tie rods. And then as i was pulling out of the driveway to move cars around i heard this huge pop/clank whatever you want to call it. that's definitely a new one. I was wondering if its safe to drive tomorrow to school or not and how would you fix it. The truck is a '99 rack and pinion steering, 2.5 liter engine, with 190,000 miles. And if i was to fix it should i just replace the whole rack or just the tie rods.

 

Check ball joints, wheel bearings, and tie rods. Replace as necessary. If you do tie rods, do them all at once and save yourself some money on alignments down the road. Check where the rack and pinion bolts onto the frame to make sure the bushings there aren't going bad in the process.

 

Thanks for the reply! I have replaced upper ball joints, springs, and shocks but all the other front end parts look OK. I'm pretty sure its something to do with the steering. The next morning after i posted this thread i drove it around town to make sure it was safe to drive and i never heard it again and to this day, i haven't heard it. I guess i'll be vigilant and see if it comes back. I never thought about where the rack bolts to the frame, ill check em out