I have a 2004 SR5 2WD.

When making a fairly sharp right turn quickly into a parking spot the other day, I noticed a loud clanking sound. This was pretty much with the wheel turned all the way to the right. The sound is very hard to describe, but I can only tell you that I was very alarmed when I heard it. Any ideas? The truck only has 8500 miles on it.

Thanks.

I know exatly what you are talking about!!!! I noticed mine (2004 V-6 2wd SR5) doing the same thing around the same mileage.

I took it to the dealer service dept and they looked at it and all they ended up doing was put a little grease on the steering stops on the lower control arms (A-Arms??) on both sides. Please excuse me if I am calling them the wrong thing. I believe the noise was caused by dry metal to metal contact at full steering lock and a small amount of slippage would occur due to the force of the turn. See the attacted picture.

The 2 points with the arrows make contact when you make a hard full lock turn. IE.. You pull in to a parking lot and make a quick turn around because you are going the wrong way. It is kind of a clunck noise.

I have almost 36k miles now and I have not noticed it since. I just wipe off the area and put a small amount of clean grease on it each time I change the oil.

Good luck

Attached Images

 

I get the same noise on sharp turns and on occasion while going over steep speed bumps and the like. I haven't even bothered having the dealer check it out mainly because I didn't want to have it there all day only to have a tech tell me they couldn't find anything wrong or couldn't duplicate the noise. Plus, there are no leaks, so I figured no big deal.

Excellent. Thanks for the info! I love this forum because I can post my random problems/annoyances and there are actually other people that have had the same problems. Absolutely amazing. This would probably take the stealership weeks to figure out.
I'll check out that area on both sides and see what it looks like. If what you say is true, there is probably more grease on the left side than on the right in that particular area (because I don't notice it on hard lefts). Should be pretty easy to spot.
Anyone know what the proper grease is to use in this area? I've always been fond of lithium grease because it tends not to collect dirt.

More than likely there is no grease on there from the factory. That was the case with mine. But it should fix it for the most part. If you turn it hard enough fast enough you may still get it but not like it is currently. I think mine only did it in one direction also. I do not remember which since it was about a year ago. I just use the same grease I would use on steering joints if we had any to grease.

Good luck!!

I had the exact same thing. Noise on hard right turn. I took it to the dealer and they said and did the exact same thing. Lubed it up and it was good to go.

After reading more posts and hearing the noise again, I'm not sure we're talking about the same thing. This is a really loud, almost metal popping sound on the hard right turn. It is a little difficult to describe, but it is quite loud and sounds quite alarming when you hear it. I've also had passengers hear it and be fairly alarmed as well. Still convinced we're talking about the same thing?

Have you tried applying grease to the areas in the photo yet??? If not give it a try and see if it goes away. Or just take it to the Dealer and have them look at it. Either way it seems like you have been putting it off for a while. Grease = 5 minutes in your driveway. Dealership = at least half a day without your vehicle.

From what you wrote it sounds like what mine was doing. Loud metal knock noise. It is metal to metal contact and then a small amount of slippage occurs and makes a knock or clunk. You can actually feel it in the steering wheel.

I have very few situation where I make a full lock turn but I have not heard it in over a year.

Ok, you've convinced me to give it a shot. What type of grease did you use?

I used the same grease you would use to lube steering joints or U-Joints. It comes in a tube for about $2-3. Moly, wheel bearing grease or lithum grease attracts less dirt. Just wipe the areas clean with a rag each time the oil is changed and apply new grease. Like I state before you still might hear it but much less noticeable.

Sweet. I've got a tube of lithium grease laying around, so I'll probably give that a whirl. Kind of interesting why they don't apply this at the factory. Maybe I'm the only person who likes to make hard right turns to "whip" into parking spots, but I doubt it.

This is awesome. I signed on here this morning to complain of a clanking noise when I made a sharp turn into the parking lot at my office in the morning. Sure enough --- the problem is already being discussed and a fix has been posted.

I love this forum ....

I know, I said the same thing in one of my posts above. I have yet to apply the fix (this time of year is too darn busy), but I will post my results here after I've done it and tested for a couple days.

One thing to keep in mind, the steering stop is A LOT smaller than it appears in the above photo. It took me awhile to find it because I was looking for something much larger.

Since this is likely a very common problem, shouldn't this find its place into a common problems FAQ somewhere? Has it already?

This is exactly the same place you get the nasty grating sound on 1980's Toyota 2wd/4wd trucks/4runners at full lock (well documented), and the solution is still the same...grease the steering stops.

Hey, I believe it. I've been going about a week strong now and haven't heard it on right turns. Interestingly enough, I haven't done the right-side steering stop and noticed a mild version on a left turn yesterday. I'm going to keep it like this for a couple weeks, and if it has completely eliminated it on right turns I'll be convinced and grease up the right side as well. So far so good!