POPPING NOISE 1. Loose steering gear
mounting fasteners.
1. Check fasteners for proper torque and
retighten as necessary.
2. Loose outer tie rod mounting
nut or jam nut.
2. Check fastener torque. Replace nuts as
necessary and tighten to specifications.
3. Loose intermediate (steering)
shaft coupling at gear input
shaft.
3. Make sure coupling is fully seated on
gear input shaft. Retighten or re-seat as
necessary.
4. Worn tie rod (outer or inner). 4. Inspect and replace if necessary.
5. Worn axle half-shaft. 5. For evaluation and correction, refer to the
appropriate Diagnostic Information .
The above is from the service manual. With the truck having 67k on the clock and 41k of it with the current 37" toyos I wonder if the tie rods aren't bad. One of the things I did note was the nuts seamed loose when I checked about two months ago. I broke them totally loose and re torqued per the manual which is 44ft-lbs plus 105 degrees. Something I see that's interesting is that it says that the tie rod ends need to be lubricated during replacement. I bet alot of folks are doing that......... as in, not many. The diagram appears to point to the top of the boot/mating surface between the end and the tie rod surface.