For the last few days I noticed a bit of play in the steering wheel, but barely noticeable. Today, as I pulled in my driveway, a very loud grinding noise began as I was turning. The steering wheel would sort of jump instead of a fluid turn, and made a very loud grinding/clunking noise. I called a shop and asked about the issue, and when I left to try and drive there, I couldn’t turn the wheel at all backing out, as soon as I turn it even a tiny bit, an extremely loud grinding/clunking noise starts. Any ideas or suggestions. I’ll be having it looked at by a shop once I have a tow truck pick it up.

Thanks for reading.

 

Probably CV joints.

 

This truck has electric steering, right? Sounds like a failure in the rack. Don't think CV joint issues wouldn't cause play in the steering wheel.

 

A recall for the steering racks was issued for a problem with contamination of the control circuits during assembly which could result in miscellaneous steering problems, including lack of control, though grinding noise isn’t mentioned.

If the shop determines the rack is the problem, verify if the recall has been done.