Help me diagnose failures on first test drive

[jsera]

Hey guys, had my first test drive last night and didn't make it out of the neighborhood. Took a couple laps around the block and then decided to head for the open road and that's when the fit hit the shan...

steering was kinda squirrelly but I ignored it and kept going.
As I was making my way towards the road, I hear a pop or a ping (some sort of onomatopoeia) and immediately stopped and put the truck in reverse thinking something might have fallen off. As I was going in reverse, the engine stalled and I found myself stuck in the middle of the street.

The truck wouldn't start (though it would turn over) and so I pushed it over to the side of the road to await a tow back to the house because Id never get up the driveway pushing on my own.

To get the truck to the side of the road I had to turn the wheels and that's when I noticed a dead 2-4 inches of steering with a clnk somewhere in it as you turned the wheel back and forth. The tow driver helped me narrow it down and as I turned the wheel, he says the clunk seemed to be coming from inside the steering box (power steering box-which is brand new) I had also checked for any loose linkages and found none.

So my questions:

1-What might have caused the pop and engine to stall and not turn back on? I suspect it may have been low on fuel but I thought it would have enough to get to the gas station-Ill try this later. I also had removed the cap and checked that the rotor did spin when cranking so its not a timing chain.

2- Whats the clunk in the steering box and what do I do to fix it?