Did the guys blow the diagnosis?
The guys blew it! The creaking he was hearing with the wheels turned hard left or right is coming from the front steering stops, which were notorious on these trucks for making noise. They had little plastic caps on them that would wear out every so often, leaving unlubricated metal-on-metal when the wheels were turned hard in one direction or the other, or both directions, depending on which stops had worn out.
I used to test for an honest mechanic when I owned this truck by asking them about this sound. The honest ones would say the steering stops, because it only cost 20 bucks to fix. The money-grubbing guys who didn’t know anything about these trucks would replace your wheel bearings, ball joints, tie rod ends, and charge you a kazillion bucks. Plus they usually wouldn’t fix the steering stops, so you’d still have the noise afterward.
Whaddya all think?
YOU were acting as the eyes, ears, sense of touch. Anyone here, in cyberspace, had none of those senses in which to examine your truck. If you didn’t transmit that sensory data, how could anyone in cyberspace have your advantage?