Ok Guys
98 Dodge Durango,only when hot or after you drive it for 5 or 6 miles,the steering wheel gets a huge knock like its about to fall off.You can feel ever little bump in the road--its scary.
I can even feel it in the brake pedals.Under accelaration or letting out.I have replaced so much under that truck that was bad but did nothing to help it.
Replaced ball joints,pitman arm,idler arm,tie rods,and the gear box.Only when driving for a while is puzzling me.
Trucks drive fine untill you drive it for a while and bamn there it is.
I have no idea any help would be greatly appreciated.
Roy

 

I forgot to mention
5.2 and its a 4x4
Any ideas??

 

Have you had the steering box tightened yet?

Most shops will do it for $30 bucks out the door and it is fast.
Also maybe a bad column.

 

I agree as well do you have a steering stabilizer, if so, it could be done!

 

I would also suspect a front tire is bad. After driving it for a few miles and warming the tires it may be going out of round. I ran into a puzzling situation similar to this when I worked at a dealership.

The solution is to drive it for a few miles and when it reporduces the problem, bring it in immediately and pull the front tires and put them on the balancer and look for a wobble. You might be shocked.

If you don't have access to a tire balancer, try swapping the spare for one of the front tires and drive it. If it goes away or changes then you have found your culpret. If not, swithc the spare to the other front tire and try again.

HTH
Jeff

 

Also check your front shocks amdpr suspension? I did not see any mention of that? Maybe the shocks go out when they warm up as you said you suddenly hear a loud knock.

 

The had the steering box tightened.That didn't help.The tire thing is probably not it,becuase its not on smooth roads.When you slow down,or take off or hit any little bump then it feels like the steering wheel is got like a inch of play in it.But its tight (wierd)But I am going to try it whats the worst that could happen--lol
steering stabilizer????
Thanks for some ideas guys.

 

Maybe a wheel bearing?

 

Steering intermediate shaft.. I'm in the process of replacing mine right now. I have the same problem. Reach under the hood and grab the steering shaft, turn it side to side and look for play in the coupler, I can almost guarantee you'll see some.

 

how much $ and how much work to replace the shaft? I have the same problem on a 99 5.2L. Steering is very loose on the road and I have to constantly keep moving the steering wheel left and right to keep the truck from tracking side to side. Looks like I am drunk if I don't keep on it. Sound like a steering sintermediate shaft issue? Thanks