2000 Dakota 3.9l 4x4 When I turn my steering wheel there is a grinding noise and when my front suspension flexs even slightly there is noise right up the column to my steering wheel which sounds like rubbing. What could it be?

 

Possibly steering knuckle (lil u joint) on steering linkage had a 97 dakota and it went bad

 

steering wheel noise in these dakotas are normal. They all seem to make a thumping noise when you turn....i believe to the left.

 

I had that small thump as I applied my brakes and it was annoying found out that steering shaft with the little u-joints was the problem I heard lubing them up helps my bottom ones were good all wet with oil but the top ones were dry and rusty so I WD40 it just a bit not too much then a few days later I crawled under and dripped some Mobile 1 on everything even opened up that boot with a screwdriver and dripped some down there I repeated this a week later and now I don’t notice that annoying thump any more. My bottom small U-joint was kind of thick with old oil and dirt I cleaned if with some WD40 Q-tips and rag strips sprayed it with WD40 again to wash off what I could then a few days later dripped some Mobile 1 oil on the U-Joints.

I do think that thump is gone at least I don’t notice it anymore.


dojman It sounds like that steering shaft is toast it needs replacing