Just got a call from a buddy on a road trip back to California from Alaska. On the way down he stopped to play in some dunes somewhere in the Yukon territory. While playing he missed a big dip/ditch and hit one side of the front end pretty good but didn't notice any damage. Nothing visible to the tie rods or rack or control arms etc/ball joints/etc.

However when he got back on the road at higher speeds he got what he described as an awful grinding metal sound. Experimenting he found it will occur at a stand still if you rev the motor quickly in park/neutral, giving the noise as the engine spins up. He also found it happens when driving only when he turns left or when he gets over 2500 rpm.

There is no binding or vibration or other indicator of a problem with the steering rack.

He loosened the belt and the noise goes away. Spinning the power steering pulley by hand it feels fine.

I suspect it's got to be related to the pump, but I don't know why it would happen only when turning left. I also don't know how or if the dune jump would have damaged the pump but not the rack.

Any input you have would be great. He was able to limp it along at 45-50 mph to at least get some cell service and his only course of action at the moment seems to be to continue at low speed until he can get somewhere to make repairs but we're not really sure if swapping a pump would resolve this.

Any thoughts?

Thanks!

 

My guess would be something is going on in the steering box

 

Being an LR3 it's a rack and pinion instead of a box. Not sure how that would account for the noise and no noticeable damage to the rack or tie rods. I heard from him that the noise has become constant but faint. No contact since so I hope he's made it somewhere he can do some diagnostic work. I suspect he's lost/loosing a bearing in the PS pump but don't know what that would have to do with jumping the truck as I can't see back-feeding the pump and inducing any damage.

 

Sorry was on my phone and thought this was in the D2 section.

I don't see how what you described would kill the pump. Is he sure there isn't damage to the lower steering shaft?

 

Got an update from Mr. Yukon - looks like a combo problem. He did have a wheel bearing going south making the noise when turning. He also has a bearing going out on one of the belt driven accessories, though he has not yet isolated which. Wheel bearing is in-bound at some expense (I guess Amazon Prime doesn't pay off in the Great White North).