I am so glad I dug up this thread. My 2006 Dodge dakota has been starting to be loose, stiff, loose, stiff in the steering. I would be comming off an off ramp, holding a turn, and it will go loose and I will start to oversteer, then i will have to adjust my arm and not push the wheel as hard...

I have a leveling kit on my truck and I though maybe it was killing the rack, and I was going into dodge tommorow. The mechanic on the phone said it sounds like the rack. Now when I go in im gonna suggest looking at the U-joint on the intermidiate shaft.

I really hope this is the true problem. I am covered under warranty for another 6 months, but I wouldnt of thought to much of the truck if the rack was shot at 28,000 miles. I hear there are big steering issues with dodge trucks.

Again Im glad i found this. I guess they still havnt taken care of this with the third gen.

 

Once again, if you're having problems with your vehicle REPORT IT...

Canada: http://www.tc.gc.ca/roadsafety/tp/tp2822/page4_e.htm

USA: http://www-odi.nhtsa.dot.gov

They'll only fix the problem (for good) if they're forced to. YOU HAVE THE POWER!

 

In my 97 Dakota 4X4 I was driving on the back roads because we had flooding on all the other roads when I took a ditch to miss a car and when I pulled out of the ditch my powering steering stopped working, there is still fluid in it a little low but enough to make it run, any ideas to what happened and how to fix it.

 

Hi All, this is my first, and probably will be my only post on this forum, but I had to register to thank you all! I had this issue on my 97 when I hit 110,000 miles, went through the usual aggravations of replacing everything until I get fed up and traded it in on a 05. Both 2wd v6 with a stick. The 05 started at 41k though. Tried the WD-40 trick and confirmed it was the universal. Scheduled to get the lower shaft replaced in two days.

Y'all are awesome! THANKS!!!!!

 

ok so i have a 2000 dodge dakota 4.7, im just about fed up with my power steering, one winter night i got caught in some snow so i popped it in 4wd then after i got it back in 2wd i no longer had power steering, i replaced the power steering pump already, and i tried to spray down the u joints and stuff really good and that didnt seem to have any effect, my turning is very stiff, when its really cold its nearly impossible to turn and when its warmer is easier, someone told me it could be my high pressure line that has collasped inside due to the extreme cold, can anyone shine some light in my direction and give me a solution, i dont want to go out and spend a bunch of money unless its gonna fix it.

 

I have an '04 Dakota and I had this problem about a year ago. When the truck was warm the steering worked ok but in the morning, it took two arms to turn around in my driveway. I replaced the pump and the rack, made sure there were no clogs or restrictions in the lines and put it all back together and got the exact same result. Turned out it was one of the universal joints in the steering column. It would move through one axis, but the U-joint was almost completely frozen in the other axis, causing the stiff-loose thing when rotating the column. This really pissed me off because I had just spent $350 and replaced the factory-good parts with AutoZone junk, and it turned out that all it took was a bit of lube and elbow grease to fix.

A year later, I think I have an issue with the cheap aftermarket steering rack. I hear some clunking/knocking when going over small parking lot bumps and can't seem to track it down except for a tiny bit of looseness in the bushing/bearing in the right end of the steering rack allowing the tie rod to move a little bit at the inner end.

 

well thanks for bringing this up. I've had the same deal, but never thought of it- yesterday in the SCCA road rally, It was power, manual, power, manual.

 

if you have thie issue and have cheaked your front end and still stiff loose stiff cheak your u joints in the steering arm i had the same issue mine were seize

 

Diagnosed my power steering stiffness by using the suggested "WD40 on the intermediate joints". It immediately resolved the issue. Ordering the upgrade / replacement intermediate. THANK YOU for helping me avoid a costly hunt and peck for the problem.

 

These last four months I’ve been on a mission to head off any repairs that may be coming down the pike and with this forum I have found quite a few and repaired them before they broke down or caused me any grief one thing I saw snooping around under my Dakota was these steering u-joints and wondered if they could become a problem, to me they look under sized for what their job is and if one broke you could louse control of your Truck so I wondered if they were a potential problem.

Now I know they could be a problem and I need to watch the steering U-joints and replace the whole shaft ASAP.

Nice post and very helpful