Mine hasn't had the click since I replaced the bearing. I will tell you what caused mine to break initially. I remember hitting a hard pothole on a gravel road and after that it started. I think the shaft flexes upon impact and streches the bearing out. I've been super careful since and never hit another pothole in 5 years

 

Hmmmm, I will have to be more careful then, I have hit my fair share of potholes since installation due to one of the roads I frequent being under construction. Guess I'll grab another one and throw it in.

 

New bearing fixed it. Now that I think about it, my intermediate steering shaft hits one of my primaries when I make hard right turns, so that added pressure on the bearing is probably what caused the new/revised one to fail in the first place.

Thought I could keep the steering wheel in the same place for the install, but I did not and making a hard turn afterwards, I heard a click, click, click... airbag light
Now I have to go to a parts yard and grab a new clock spring, or I might try to fix this one. Broke a $350 part replacing a $20 one, awesome day for me.

 

Bumping up this old thread. For those that replaced the bearing, how tight is the shaft once you do this? I just replaced the intermediate shaft and it's still clunking. I thought I was good becuase I already have a mint green bearing, but it has a lot of play in it. I can noticeably move the steering shaft in the bearing.

 

Still tight.
Replaced at ~110k miles a few years ago. 185k now. No issues.

 

Bumping this up. I replaced mine with the green part, greased it up, and seems to be good for now.

I was extra precautious to not mess up the clock spring since the wheel doesnt look. I tied that steering wheel off in a bunch of places so it wouldnt move while doing this.

Also make sure the new part sits flush against the shaft. Gotta line up the two key marks from the green one with the opening on the shaft.

 

Up to 50k on the truck, no rattle whatsoever. My truck though is a garage queen nowadays. 52k original miles on the clock, hasn't seen rain in 10 years.... lol

 

I was going to machine a metal replacement part but someone already designed and makes one so I ordered theirs. Good deal,

https://www.wolffeng.com/store/p14/G...r_Housing.html

 

Glad you bumped this, my truck just developed a clunk randomly. Need to investigate but I had heard of this before, so I knew what to search anyway.

 

I just installed one of the Wolff Engineering column bearings, and it is a very high quality piece. Customer service is fantastic as well. I had an issue after install, and the owner helped me trouble shoot even over the weekend. Highly recommend this company.