Hi, I'm new to this site, so I apologize in advance if the question has already been asked. Well, I have a 2000 ford ranger 3.0 V6 with 100K miles on it that I bought back in '09. Recently, I have done a few repairs on it as it was acting up a bit. I've replaced the front shocks, back are still stock, replaced the spark plugs and spark plug wires, did a break fluid flush, replaced the upper control arms and I'm in the process of replacing the lower control arms and the rack & pinion. I also changed my oil recently, replaced and rotated all tires. Once I replace the rack & pinion and the lower control arms I'm going to get an alignment. A couple weeks ago, I was driving out of Taco Bell and waiting to turn back onto the road and heard and felt a loud thud from under truck and it felt like it was in the center console. It was as if I had hit something, but I didn't. I pulled over in a parking space to look and could not find anything that could have caused this. Again, yesterday, as I was turning left out of my driveway I felt this same thud as before. I backed up, back in my driveway, to check and see if I hit anything and again nothing. I'm at a loss as to what the cause could be. Does anyone have any suggestions as to what this could be? Thank you in advance.

 

what comes to mind is sway bar bushings . If the rubber bushing is wore out or missing you could hear a noise when turning the steering wheel in either direction. If you inspect them and that's what it is they are easy to change and not too expensive.