I have a 2001 dodge dakota SLT. When I put it in four wheel drive and move there is a grinding noise coming from the t-case or somewhere around there. I got under and inspected a little bit today. I did discover that my front driveshaft moves if I grab it and shake. It seems loose in the t-case. I don't know if that is normal or not though. Also I thought that there is supposed to be some sort of rubber boot where the front driveshaft comes out of the t-case. There isn't one there, I snapped some pictures to kind of show what I mean. Does this problem sound common at all with dakotas and what do
I need to do to fix it?

[IMG]file:///C:/Users/Brian/Desktop/IMG_0120.JPG[/IMG][IMG]file:///C:/Users/Brian/Desktop/IMG_0120.JPG[/IMG]

 

same thing happened to me. its just the cv joint on the front drive shaft. dirt and rocks probably got into there when the rubber boot got ripped out. if you use 4x4 alot then you need to replace it. so far after about 6months i havent needed to use it.just depends on how you use the truck. they are about 250 bucks on ebay.

 

Thunder knows all about this I think he spent 2 months trying to figure out why his was makin that noise lol

 

Thanks you very much for the help. So how hard of a job is it going to be to change it out for a new one? Does anyone by chance have a link for an "how to" to do it? Thanks again for any help!

 

its very easy to remove. i did it with out even jacking it up. 4 bolts on the front diff and 6 on the cv joint. just un bolt them basically and pull it out.

 

Perfect! Thanks so much for your help!

 

Same here. I thought it was one of the half shafts because that boot was ripped as well. Turns out it was the driveshaft. Seems so obvious now, not so much at the time lol.

 

Haha yeah it does seem pretty obvious now. I guess it is that way most of the time though. So another question, I have been looking around for new driveshafts and I see some that have the cv joint on one end and u-joints on the other like the stock version. Others places have just made the driveshaft with u-joints on both ends. Can I use those without a problem or will I need to stick with the cv jointed driveshaft?

 

get one with both ends as ujoints, much stronger.