Something hard to find loose in steering

[wicks]

I've got a little slight looseness in the steering, which is very hard to identify. Had a realy good tech try to track it down while he was doing some other stuff, he was unable to find it. We checked torque of every steering rack and suspension bolt, and I just checked again, found the tower bolts slightly loose but no play.

What happens is when turning to the right, say all the way to right lock, then when turning the steering wheel back, somewhere within the first turn there will be a little "pop", or a little looseness coming from the steering column. It doesn't always happen. Only sometimes. The pop can also happen when rolling over a ground feature that lets a wheel drop a lot, such as a crooked driveway.

The car was restored with mostly new parts in the steering and suspension back in 2013-2015, and I've also done the ring to firm up the upper column at the steering wheel a couple years ago. Seems like something has to have developed a bit of play that only shows up under the above circumstances. Apart from the two u-joints and the coupling, what might have gotten loose that would show only during the above moment?

Any clues greatly appreciated...

[1969911T]

I would Jack up the car, check if the noise happens while turning the steering, if no noise then I have no advice as you need weight on the suspension to create the problem. If you have a noise, then pop off both tie rod ball joints. Then turn the steering wheel back and forth. If the noise happens, then you have narrowed it down to the steering rack and steering wheel area. If no sounds from the steering,Connect one tie rod and check again for noise, then connect the other tie rod. Hopefully you have narrowed down the area. Then feel for movement in the suspect area while someone else turns the steering. You have to narrow down where the problem occurs or else you are just guessing. My guess is a ball joint at the bottom of the strut.

[wicks]

Great plan of attack. I like it. I pulled the lower u-joint which seems very good still, though the needle bearing was very crusty and the coupling bolts and lower shaft are a ball of rust, so I'm replacing that whole assembly with the updated design and the bearing. May not be the source of the problem but could be.

I would Jack up the car, check if the noise happens while turning the steering, if no noise then I have no advice as you need weight on the suspension to create the problem. If you have a noise, then pop off both tie rod ball joints. Then turn the steering wheel back and forth. If the noise happens, then you have narrowed it down to the steering rack and steering wheel area. If no sounds from the steering,Connect one tie rod and check again for noise, then connect the other tie rod. Hopefully you have narrowed down the area. Then feel for movement in the suspect area while someone else turns the steering. You have to narrow down where the problem occurs or else you are just guessing. My guess is a ball joint at the bottom of the strut.