I'd be willing to bet Hunner would be able to help you with this problem. Reading some earlier post. I think he has ran into this. Good luck and god speed...

Tim

 

Yeah, I think he knows a couple of things about the rack.. Kinda a rack guru Did you ever try the sway bar links and bushings.. My bushings look really worn, the next time I take my rig in if they wont replace them, then I am going to.. Hope you find it. Hunner has a video showing the play in a bad rack. Mine was just replaced by the dealer a few months ago.. I still have the noise, but the steering is stiffer.

 

SupSam,

Sorry to hear you have gone through all that.

I have not changed out the rack, but I have a longshot for you to check out. My clunk was actually not in the front end itself - it was the fuel line!

I had to change my fuel pump. When I dropped the tank, I saw that the fuel line became steel just above the tank and sat in a channel along the top of the tank, but was not secured. I could make it rattle and clunk and the sound traveled to where I thought it was under me in the front end. I could even feel it periodically through the floor board.

I secured the line front to back when changing out the pump and have not heard or felt that clunk for over 400 miles so far. Like I said, total long shot but you never know. Sound travels in funny ways under a vehicle.

 

Thanks for all the tips guys.

I went ahead and replaced the steering rack yesterday... no dice. Still there, and now my steering wheel is crooked (getting aligned tomorrow)... This is probably going to drive me crazy before I figure it out. I'd give up but it feels like a knock created by a heavy part, which makes me think it's not safe to ignore.

I'm pretty sure I've replaced every part that has ever been mentioned in this forum in regard to clunking/popping/knocking and still not found the problem. If any of you ever come up with something that could cause this type of problem that isn't related to the following (because I've already done everything listed below), let me know and I'll try it:

• Steering rack
• Upper control arms w/ bushings and ball joints
• Front sway bar links
• Front shocks
• Brake pads/loose calipers
• Both the upper and lower intermediate steering shafts
• Front diff mounts (the ones that the front axles pass through)
• Worn steering rack mount

I'm so sick of this problem! Suggestions? Only things left in the entire front end that haven't been replaced are the lower control arms/ball joints, the torsion bars, and the CV axles.

Maybe the front u-joint? Seems like a long shot to me.

UPDATE: Forgot to mention, I thought it might be a bad lower shock bushing (on the lower control arm) so I removed both front shocks and drove around my neighborhood... didn't change anything, clunking was still there with the shocks removed.

 

I see that you replaced the sway bar links... Did you replace the sway bar bushings.. Those are the bushings where the sway bar is mounted to the frame.. If those are worn or shot, then you would be getting that clunking sound.. So if you have not changed them, I would do that. Should not cost that much...

 

Supsam, what about checking any subframe connectors or bushings? I have not checked the actual setup, but I've seen plenty of GM's where the subframe bushings were shot, resulting in a front end clunk.

Grasping for straws...

 

I've figured it out!.. for the most part.

The primary clunker was a bad steering rack input shaft. Not either of the intermediate shafts (which I also replaced while trying to figure this out), but the shaft that sticks out of the top of the rack itself. So, there's the solution! Buy a new steering rack!

Partsnerd.com had the best price BY FAR. But they were out of stock and I have the patience of a 3 year old, so I bought it for almost twice at much at Autozone.

You may recall that I recently said the rack wasn't the problem, which may be a little confusing now... After I replaced the rack there was a new clunk which caused me to s**t a brick and cry to everyone on here.

Turns out the new clunk was one of the new sway bar links... some terrorist must have gone out their way to crawl under there and loosen it up... there's no way I would ever overlook something so stupid and simple to fix... nope, not me. After tightening up the link, it is 98% clunkfree.

I say 98% because I still feel a minor clunk when I go over substantial bumps. I'm pretty sure the remaining micro-clunk is caused by worn front lower shock bushings, which you can see moving around quite a bit in the video I posted earlier this month.

I took the shocks off this weekend to take a look at the bushings and noticed that the paint around the lower shock mount hole was VERY worn for brand new shocks; as a rocket scientist, I believe that would imply they are a little wiggly and I needa get some new bushin's.

I'll keep you all posted. But, for the most part, PROBLEM SOLVED!

 

The other member who is having the same problem as us said it was his wheel bearing and his tire almost sheared off... $650 fix

 

I finally got it all worked out. After replacing literally all steering and front suspension components except for the lower ball joints, I replaced the lower ball joints and the pop/knock is completely gone. I know how to check for a bad ball joint and trust me, I checked 100 times and never thought it looked bad. But, apparently it was. Its really one of the cheapest parts to replace its just a pain to install. If anyone would like me to do a write up on how to do it, I will.