loud clunk when steering!?

so i have always had a problem with the steering...when i turn into a parking lot or just turn the wheel at all during low speed i hear a loud CLUNK...then it clunks again when i complete the turn, today i started the truck and took off the emergency brake and it clunked ( wheel was turned)


what is it!!outer tie rod?

 

Sway bar maybe??

 

i dont have one

 

bump

 

I've been reading these forums since I had my 09 but never registered until now. I started having the similar play in the steering about 4k miles on my 2012. It's become progressively worse and now at 7700 I finally got the shop to make an appointment to take a look at the steering rack. I was at the stealership today for a good 2 hours test driving it with the shop forman trying to duplicate the issue. Not until we parked the car turned it off and moved the steering wheel with the windows rolled down was I able to have him hear the clunk/ popping sound when turning the wheel back and forth. The noise does compliment the play I've been experiencing. Oh yeah even at 7700 miles it still hasn't even been off road yet sad to say. I suspect some other kind of defect causing this issue possibly bushings in the steering rack? Just keep in mind to have the truck turned completly off, in park and if you can try and park the truck half on and off a 1" elevation. A 2x4 might work since the front wheels of my truck were in the parking space half on/off where the cement curb meets the asphalt(about 1-2 inches in elevation change ). At first they tried to tell me it was the indermediate shaft and I had to wait till a Tsb came out for my year. My appointment is for Monday so I'll reply back what try find when I get it back

 

So I got a 2012 Toyota corolla as a rental while the shop inspected my 2012 DC with 7800miles on it. It did the same thing! Only it was much worse than my DC. I could barely keep it straight on the road and was thinking wow is this what I have to look forward to if it's not fixed? In the end the shop has ordered a new rack. Its on back order for two weeks.

 

I remember there was a video of somebody that was having a clunk sound with A spindle lift on their truck, the sound was coming from the Lower Control arm bushing. Let me find it...

 

it tightened my cam boltsand it is better now....it went away for a week, but slowly coming back

 

You guys with clunks, I had the same problem. I took it to the dealer and they said it was my lift kit and denied me any service, so eff them. I did my own diagnosis, found that the lower control arm to frame nuts n bolts(cam bolts) need to be torqued to 100ftlbs or they will pop and clunk. Try it, its free if you have a torque wrench, 19mm socket and 19mm wrench, or equivalent is 3/4.

 

Not sure if this is the same as what you're experiencing, but I had an clunk issue on my 2011 when hitting a bump with the wheel cranked all the way over (like making a sharp turn into a driveway). Took it in to the dealer and was told the the steering stops needed to be lubricated. Never heard of these, but I imagine they're some sort of bumper that acts on the steering rack somehow? Anyway, it seemed to solve the problem.

 

This is true, but only happens at full lock of the wheel.

 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=z4lduZmPABo#!

Derived from this thread

http://www.tacomaworld.com/forum/2nd-gen-tacomas/168451-popping-sound-rough-roads-cab-mnt.html

 

possibly a bad bearing or axel

 

OP, did you figure out the problem yet?

 

this is my problem! i tightened my cams and it helped

 

Stealership replaced my steering rack with only 8k miles. The problem started at 4k. I took it in every 1k when it started. I finally called corporate logged a case and when the repair shop called to see how my repair went I let the person know. The shake, wandering and clunk noise is gone finally. We'll see how long it lasts. The funny thing is now that the rack is fixed I can feel the play in the intermediate shaft I read so much about.

 

mines fixed.....loose spindle bolt

 

The popping when steering started to come back at about 8700 miles for mine. Lookes like the shop just ordered lower control arm assembly for the same issue in the video. So looks like I had two issues. Not sure if one caused the other, but not sure why this is a problem on a brand new truck.

 

Yeah that video is great. I seem to be having the same problem. It even happened to me when I wasn't moving at all, turned the wheel a little and CLUNK.

I'm not a gearhead so I'm going to ask...are the parts you guys referring to needing to be tightened something that gets taken off and put back on during toyota's maintenance checks?

Also, any of you guys still having this problem after months/years? I just started having it in my 2011 with about 20K miles.

 

no that part does not.....get under there and do a visual first...check the spindle bolts