well the turning clicking noise seems to be getting more consistent...
I looked under there and had my buddy turn the wheel and it sounds like its from the driver's side. I don't see any excess movement in u joints or ball joints...I recorded a video with my phone from the cab so you can hear it...

http://youtu.be/Y4b9e7zkFIc

 

I just realized you said AXLE u-joint. The clicking isn't continuous and not only under driving. So it clicks when I'm in park and the axle isn't in motion only when I turn the wheel. I've been trying to look at the wheel u joints and ball joints but I don't see any excess play...perplexed!

 

anyone check out the video have any input? it's almost a creaking leading into a knocking...I just checked all the torque specs on everything, track bar and all mounts, etc... all good...only thing that looks bad is my driver's TRE boot is torn but I packed everything with grease and nothing changed...I dont see movement in the TRE the noise sounds like its up higher by the steering box, but I checked all those bolts and the spacer and all is good...

 

so I took the tires off and firmly tried to wiggle everything. NOTHING moved. So I turned the steering wheel and there was NO sound with the tires off. Well there was one very quiet knock at full right but that sounded typical.

So I put the tires back on making sure the lugs were all good and tight and turned the wheel again...KNOCK! Just past top center to the right. My friend and I touched and looked and listened to everthing under the jeep and can not find the source...It really seems to be coming from the steering box or the steering column but again nothing visual!

 

started to grease the steering shaft u joints and the gun ran out...got it half greased. the sound seems to have gotten a little quieter but may be wishful thinking.

is there replacing JUST the joints or do I have to replace a complete half shaft or both?

 

Hey, so I watched your video and it seems that your battling the same thing I am. When I bought my 90 XJ it had the same knocking noise. I found that it was caused by two sources. The first was the trac bar mounting plate connected to the frame. All I did for that was tighten the bolts up. The other one I'm still battling today and have a solution. This would be my gear box. The knocking your hearing could be the box itself getting old, or the force of the gear box trying to turn your wheels is causing the frame to flex making the bolts knock. This is the result of a uni-body frame. If you leave the tires on and turn the steering wheel back and forth, watch the bolt heads holding the steering box to the frame. You may see the sheet metal flexing. If its like mine, you will see it flex. Along with this you may see a light gray mixture around the base of the bolt heads, that is a sign of your steering box moving. This is remedied by a C-Rok plate.



You can either buy one or make one. Its a plate, usually around 1/4" in thickness, that extends more then the length and width of the bolt pattern of the gear box. This helps distribute the load each bolt is putting on the frame over a larger area, which helps strengthen the frame.

 

all great input but those happen to be not my issues. I know this for sure because the track bar is all new with drop down bracket and everything else. I have checked it over and it's all very tight on both ends (2-5 ftlbs over spec).

As for the box flexing it's almost the same reason. I have a JCR bumper with tie in brackets and the tie in brackets are exactly like the c-rock plate. new bolts too.

any other ideas?

 

other then the ideas shared, gear box dying or the joints in the ti-rods giving up. thats all I can think of at the moment.

 

thanks I'll let you guys know how it goes when I finish greasing the drive shaft u-joints and replacing the tie rod dust boots

 

How's the power steering fluid? Sounds like the creaking is coming from the steering wheel shaft more so than outside...

 

fluids good...I really think its the steering wheel shaft too

 

well, greased it as best as ia could and the knocking has gone from a level 9 to about a 2 or 3...so I think its safe to say that it is in fact the steering shaft at the u-joints.