Steering Gear/Pitman Arm (and grease zerks)

[bighammer]

I was poking around under my truck today (weather is fnally warming up) and I noticed that I can move the pitman arm up and down a little bit. I can hear a bit of play in the output shaft of the steering gear. I would guess it should be tight, right? There is no wander or steering problem though sort of puzzling. Just looking for input here. (3500 miles so far)



Quick look but the only grease zerks I saw were on the tie rod ends. Am I missing something, or have they REALLY cut corners on the ability to lubricate the other joints?



Thanks

 

[Rosco]

Today I had the radio turned down while I was driving and I heard a clunking noise as I drove over bumps. The noise only seems to only happen when the right tire hits the bump. Anyway, I poked around underneath thinking maybe I had a loose/bad shock or something and everything seemed tight until I grabbed the drag link. It appears that I to have a loose output shaft on the steering box. If I bang the drag link with my hand it seems to make a similar noise to what I am hearing when I am driving so maybe thats the cause. I don't know if their is suppose to be play in the shaft or not and whether that is even the source of my noise but I figured I would add my . 02 worth.



I hope that drag link is the proper term. In my context it is the bar attached to the pitman arm.

 

[Rosco]

I brought my truck to the dealer last week regarding the above mentioned noise and it turned out to be a bad right front shock absorber. Of course they did not have one in stock therefore it has to go back tomorrow so the replacement can be installed.