In the last 2 months, I have replaced the upper and lower ball joints, sway links, and CV axles on my 2008 Silverado. Truck was aligned after ball joints were replaced. However, I still have a thumping/clunking that is most noticeable when turning at slow speeds. After fixing the ball joints and sway links, I attributed this to the bad CVs, but, now that they are new, that obviously isn't the problem.
The sound/feel is easily noticeable to me when backing up one way and then turning to go another or when slowly turning into a bumpy driveway or parking lot. Feels like both sides, depending on which way I turn, but is definitely worse when backing with the wheels turned to the driver side then turning them to the passenger side to change direction. There is no vibration, play, or looseness in the steering wheel, no other noises, and steering feels tight. Steering fluid is full and looks fine. At road speed, I cant feel it at all.
Got more and more frustrated in my inability to figure this out so I took it to the shop a week ago and they couldn't replicate the issue. I drove with the mechanic and, of course, I could not replicate it for him either. He put it on a lift in the shop for me to look at and everything is good and tight in the front suspension/wheel, it appears.
I'm a little stumped at this point. I had been feeling/hearing the problem for long enough to almost guarantee the shop could replicate it and, instead, it was nonexistent. The shop owner said maybe the grease in the new CVs just needed to get slung around in the boots better, but that sounds like a hopeful thought to me. Oddly, it has been very cold here for several weeks but it had warmed up for a couple days before I took it in. Not sure how much temperature could impact something like this, but I suppose it's possible. 2 days after the shop looked at it, the issue came back again (cold returned too...)
Just curious if anyone has had anything similar and what the diagnosis was? Thanks