Steering column "clunk" noise?

Could you take photos when you're replacing things ?

 

Sure!

 

Pictures will be greatly appreciated, I have the same clunk on my 14 it's definitely annoying and will love to know the solution.

 

Have you checked the needle bearing in the clamshell where the driverside drive shaft connects? I had a similar sounding issue years ago; replaced bushings for radiator mount and then body mounts. In the end it was the ECGS upgrade that fixed that sound on mine. Just my two cents.

edit: The noise didn't seem to change when trying to isolate the problem by engaging 4WD, so the sound may/not go away when you engage 4WD, the way it does for a lot of people who are troubleshooting what ends up being the clamshell bearing thats shot.

 

I appreciate that you are trying to help.

Needle bearing was replaced several years ago with the ECGS bushing, and the current symptoms are much different than the needle bearing indicators.

 

Have you telescoped the steering shaft in and out to see if the sound still persists?

 

I have in the driveway to see if it decreases play where it connects to the intermediate shaft, but I did not see any difference. I have not driven with it fully extended, but I'll try that and report back.

 

I think I have something similar going on and am curious if you resolved the issue or not.

 

Not yet; parts have not arrived.

 

I’m thinking this make be the “clunk” noise that I’m hearing… I thought it might be helpful to share this with the OP just in case you have the same issue: https://youtube.com/shorts/I8IcD-xBwgQ?si=8pE9fIhhktWpFzph

 

Parts arrived today! Unfortunately it’s pretty difficult to get decent photos under the column, but the fix wasn’t bad to do.
14mm wrench
Sharpie
Bungie cord to tie the steering wheel.

Mark where the steering shaft in the photo above stabs into the intermediate steering shaft so you can keep the wheel straight when you reassemble everything.
Tie off the steering wheel so it won’t free rotate when disconnected.



Remove the clamping bolt and slide the shaft up into the column, out of the intermediate shaft connector, but be sure you don’t shove it up all the way to where it’s difficult to grab.

Find your ring. See the radius leading to the outer flange and how it’s sitting in my hand? The side that is currently “up” will be facing out from the sliding shaft and pointing toward the intermediate shaft. The photo I quoted above also shows the correct orientation.



It’ll be loose on the shaft and that’s okay for now.

Extend the sliding shaft and reconnect it to the intermediate shaft. Be sure your witness marks line up and the steering wheel is straight or however it was pointed when disconnected.

With the shaft reconnected, start trying to slide the ring up and on to the slightly larger shaft OD. I was able to use my 14mm wrench on the bolt to help the shaft slide out just enough to get the ring seated.


Took it for a test drive and it seemed better… we’ll see!

 

So, you needed a new intermediate shaft then?

 

Not likely, but it’s already replaced so I’m not going back.

 

Thanks for following up and the detailed pics/directions! I have to do my intermediate shaft anyways so when I do that this summer I'll take out my plastic shim and get a new serrated ring and repair that properly at the same time.

 

My silly plastic shim wore out after about a year and my rattle came back so I wanted to come back to this thread and give a shoutout to OP for his pictures and instructions on the proper fix for this issue.

Once I got it apart it all made sense, the shaft coming down from the steering wheel/column is tapered and can slide up and down, held in place (extension wise) with the serrated ring thing-so mine was pushed so far up that it had enough room to wiggle inside the bearing/housing?, and the indent for the retaining ring was nowhere to be seen.

When extended to the proper length and the clip on there was no more wiggle and rattle in the column, but I discovered it was a good 1/2-3/4" too long to connect to the joint to the upper intermediate shaft... leading me to look at the other end where it connects to the lower intermediate shaft before the rack, which I found was barely engaged more than 1/4" into the clamp.... Apparently the shop that replaced this shaft before I bought the truck (PO told me it had been replaced but it was rattling when I bought it) couldn't get the shaft to slide into the clamp enough so they just slid the shaft up into the steering column instead to make the lengths match up.

Pretty sketchy to find considering it holds the steering splines together, so I unbolted and opened up the clamp and slid the upper intermediate shaft down more to get the proper engagement, and then was able to connect the upper end to the steering column without it being too long. Of course the lower clamp bolt snapped when torqueing it, so I had to extract that and find a new one, but hey after its all said and done the rattle is gone! My match marks look to line up but my wheel is a bit crooked now and the VSC/TC/ABS stuff was freaking out and threw errors so I assume I must have rotated the wheels and ended up 360 degrees off maybe? I didn't think being off by one spline would be enough to upset the steering angle sensor but I'll try and realign and then if needed recalibrate it tonight after work.

Hopefully my unique situation might help someone down the road lol

 

Noise is back - has been for a couple weeks but I haven't had much time to investigate lately.

Locking ring from several posts ago is still in position and doesn't appear to have moved at all.

Full in/full out made no difference.

 

Took a pry bar to the driver's side of the rack to see if it moves... it does, but I'm not sure if that's enough to explain the sound.

https://youtube.com/shorts/-Kj6m7hqOl0?si=3RfxSstiU4ZOyhGs

 

Have you tightened or checked if the rack's bushing is worn?

 

I have not - I was hoping someone might know how much movement is "normal". The rack doesn't move by just hand pressure, only when using a pry bar for leverage.

 

I think that's normal for using a pry bar, I can't imagine that causing a clunk but I could be wrong. Now that my column rattle is gone I can definitely hear my intermediate shaft clunk sometimes haha but its not too loud, previous owner had it replaced with a cheap one