Creaky steering, bit clunky sometimes

[eastkent]

There has recently been a dry creaking from the offside front wheel area when steering. It goes away if I turn lock to lock a couple of times and after an application of spray silicone to the rubbery bits it went away for days. There has also been some clunkage over rough surfaces.

Am I looking at doing the drop links and maybe track rod ends? Is there anything else under there that could be causing the noises? Any pitfalls?

[twin wheel camper]

Bottom ball joints need carefully looked at because they can and do fail on these vans.

[dumper]

Also check steering shaft u/j

[blackbird100]

More than likely, the bottom ball joints had it on mine. Replaced ball joint and hey presto..gone. If your going to do one. My advice is do both. They are not expensive to buy..cheers

[cherniy_chack]

You can find the creaking knot.
You need an assistant. He will turn the steering wheel, you will listen and touch the possible sources of squeaking under the car.
These are ball bearings and steering tips.
Or something else.
An autopsy will show!

[eastkent]

Many thanks all, bottom ball joints will be inspected.

[dumper]

If you pop the ball joints off the steering arms and rotate the front legs by hand you should be able to pinpoint if it is the rack or bottom ball joints or at the top of the struts

[cherniy_chack]

If you unload the suspension parts, the noise may disappear.
So when inspecting all the details must be in place.

[dumper]

Yes but if ball joints are getting rough you will feel it and if you put a jack under ball joint and put some pressure on them it will show up

[cherniy_chack]

I think it's easier to lie under the car than to jack up twice.

[vanfox]

To check the bottom ball joint my MOT chappy just jacks up the wishbone to lift the wheel an inch, 25mm off the ground then tries to lever the wheel upwards. If it moves the joint is a fail. When you change it try not to snap the 3 bolts 'cos they are.....difficult to remove, as in usually rusted solid.

[eastkent]

It was the bottom ball joints and track rod ends. Both were slaughtered on the driver's side.

I thought it might be a tricky job but my air impact gun helped a lot. It was easy to remove the four hub bolts attached to the bottom of the shock absorber and put the hub to one side (I sat it on top of the wheel I'd taken off to protect the brake hose).

The big nuts on top of the ball joints were too tight for the air gun to shift but an extension tube on a 1/2" ratchet got them moving easily, then the impact gun whizzed it off.

A scissor-type ball joint splitter got the track rod ends off easily, but the fork was slightly too small to go right round the lower ball joint shaft so I screwed the top nut mostly back on and wedged the splitter over the top of it and as far into the underside as it would go. That worked a treat.

Had to use a trolley jack to tighten the track rod nuts - just jacked them up a bit to put a bit of pressure on and stop them from turning.

All in all a straightforward job so thanks to everyone who made suggestions.

Next... timing belt.