Creaking Steering Rack

[dal1980]

I have a 2014 SIlverado CC Z71 with about 58K miles, and recently developed a creaking in my steering.  I believe I have pin pointed it to the passenger side on the steering rack.  It appears to be coming from where the tie rod comes out of the rack.  Any one else had this issue?  I did a search on the forum and found a lot of popping and other threads from the rack and pinion but not his issue.  Any help is appreciated!  It creaks when turning both directions, no impact on the steering just annoying as hell, makes the truck sound like a POS. Thanks 

[Snowcamo]

I hope its just the inner tie rod. That's simple enough and cheap well you'd need an alignment afterwards. If its the rack you'd be in for 1k+ likely as I read afterward the dealer has to program it.

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[dal1980]

After investigating further, I had a completely trashed upper ball joint on the passenger side.  I can only assume that was causing a bind somewhere in the front end that was causing the creaking sound.  When the wheel was up in the air with no load on it it was silent.  I make it a point to shake down the front end every time I rotate the tires which was done about 500 miles ago.  My plan was to order Cognito UCA's when i felt a bit of movement in the ball joints.  I didn't anticipate it going from no noticeable movement to a Holy S*&$ level of movement that quickly.  Either way, Cognito UCA's ordered and installed with no issue.  Hats off to those guys, sometimes aftermarket parts can take some massaging but these UCA's went on flawlessly per the instructions ( I know, what are instructions?).  Im back to a tight/ silent front end with better joint angles on my 2" level with the Cognito UCA's.

 

For what its worth, I have a total of 58k miles on the truck currently, about 35k of those are on a 2" leveling (lower spacer) kit.  That is with all stock Z71 components.