That's what I was going to say. Better crawl under and try to check it steering box oil level. And look around first to see if you can spot a leak and from where. It does not take much.
Shot bearing in steering box perhaps. Flexible coupling,( sounds like a fun night in)Driving over cobbles.
Best get it done When they are dry of grease they stick and you can end up tearing the steering pin housing from the beam Theres also four other grease nipples on the beam and these need greasing with the wheels off the ground
So you've decided that's the prob because it's the easiest to fix? Take it off and check it, it's only 2 bolts.
no, they're only less than £20 so i thought why not anyway as i'm changing the front shocks and recently did the rears.
Technically you only need to undo the bolt on the beam for the dampener... 5 minutes work at most to check it