72' 2wd manual steering noisy...?

[88Ironduke]

Hey all. Subject is my 72' 250 I-6 manual steering 2wd. With the front jacked up and no load on the front suspension the steering is quiet as a church mouse. Put it down on the ground (of course it sucks to troubleshoot now) and I get lots creaking/groaning noises when turning into the turn but goes quiet when the turn input/load is removed coming out a turn at very slow speed. Obviously not nearly as much when rolling of course. My issue is really noticeable when backing out of my driveway or pulling into parking spaces, hardly anything is heard rolling at 10 mph or faster....

Disclaimer - truck did this before I rebuilt the front end. Its got new tie rods, ball joints etc. I swapped out the steering box no change. The pitman and idler arms are newer and tight with zero slop. The truck tracks really good on the road, its not an alignment issue. The noise is under the hood and not in the column inside the cab. Is there an end bearing in the column that I can spray some lithium grease or grease up and quiet this down? It not an issue although it should be quiet right? Is there some little nugget of lore that can point in the right direction and quiet the old girl up?

Paul

[mike16]

put the front end on jack stands and get a lengtt of 3/4 inch heater hose and use it as a stethiscope to localise the noise,

do the same thing with the wheels on the ground. could be bad wheel bearings too,

does your steering box leak?

a bad bearing in the lower end of the steering column? several vendors sell that bearing