Hello, Im new around here, have a clunking noise after replacing power steering rack

I've only just made an account on these forums, however I have browsed it and used it to figure out issues I've had with my Tacoma, there's been tons, trust me.

Most recently the power steering rack went on it, and with a 2 week window for my mechanic to get it in, I decided to give it a go. It was a struggle with all the rust and tough spot to get to, but I got it done. youtube videos and these forums made it a lot easier to get done. I even got the steering shaft lined up straight with the rack on the first try.

However on the test drive, I'm noticing a noise while driving and turning, either left or right, but only hear it once on one full rotation of the wheel, its just a quick clunking noise. It sounds like its coming from the driver side so my first thought was the u-joint is the culprit maybe? I'm not super knowledgeable about cars so I don't know if that's likely to be the case. I jacked the truck back up and got both front tires off the ground and it doesn't seem to make the noise when turning the wheel while its in the air, so I'm a bit stumped. I'll take a better look in daylight tomorrow, but if anyone has any advice, it'd be appreciated. thanks.

 

Probably need to crawl under the truck (or get someone else to) while someone duplicates the noise and try to determine the source.

 

U joint likely had to be hammered off and isnt happy now. You can have someone turn the wheel left and right, watch every thing top to bottom as it turns and shifts load, especially the u joint.

Thats a super hard DIY job.

 

I had some front-end work done on a Suzuki that drove me crazy with a clunk (on dirt road).
After spending a lot of time under the car I decided to verify torque on everything. I found a loose sway-bar end-link not torqued to spec.
Torqued the nut and clunk disappeared.

 

double check all bolt/nut tightness on anything you touched while replacing.