Hi..first of all, it's a 2007 Dodge Dakota SLT Quad Cab 4x4, 4.7 v8, with 18k miles. Now, what it's doing, is when I'm driving along, I can hear a metallic rubbing, or scraping noise...not very loud, but I hear it, and especially when driving along side a house or something that echo's back the noise. I sort of describe it as the noise you get when a caliper is hung up slightly and part of the brake pad scrapes...maybe even slightly a metallic ticking sort of noise. Also, sometimes, not always, when I back up out of a parking spot, with my wheel turned (usually sharp right) I'll hear a little clunk, and/or a noise that sounds like a tire rubbing. But nothing's rubbing, and a quick visual underneath, and I see nothing loose. I've even rotated all my tires, and the noises are still the same. Also, I don't know if this is related either, and may even be my imagination, but when I'm driving along, if I let off the wheel, it drifts slightly to the right. Nothing major, but I notice it. Also, sometimes when driving along, I can hear a slight hum, which I'll describe as blowing across the end of an empty beer bottle. So, if anyone can point me at all in the right direction, as to what's wrong with my barely driven Dakota, it'd be awesome! Thanks in advance.

 

sounds like a wheel hub bearing is going, remove the tire and see if it is a little discolored, if not. take a q-tip and push it inside. see if the grease is grease, or black.

 

I'll try that tomorrow when I get a chance....also, I was just reading a thread here about a guy with a sway bar end link....some of that is very similar to my prob as well.

 

Jack up the truck with that tire off the ground, check it to see that it rotates freely without noise. Grab the top and bottom and shake it back and forth, if there is play it is your bearing or ball joint. If it all checks out it's probably something else. Move on in your investigation.

 

I could really have a bearing or a ball joint gone at 18k miles? eek... Oh, and where am I sticking this q-tip anyways?

 

Some people have had front end problems at 7k ..... the 3rd gen Dakotas are known for them.

 

Ok, so I just jacked up the wheel, and spun it. I can hear a little metallic tick or ping when I turn the wheel....kinda describe it as either a marble tapping into another marble, or a little metal flap clipping something..kinda like a spinner wheel from a board game, only metal. So I popped the wheel off and turned it some more...stuck my head in to try and pinpoint it, and I'm thinking it's not back much farther than the rotor area itself, and/or at the farthest, the outer part of the cv boot right behind the hub assembly. So does this sound like a wheel bearing then?

 

bump.............any thoughts?

 

Brosh, sounds like a front end wheel bearing. My 07 puked a wheel bearing too around 15k. It started around 8k miles and progressively got worse. It made noise all the time. At first I attributed the noise to the tires until it was real noticeable. Still under warranty and hardly driven, I had the dealer take a look at it and sure enough it was the front left. I had asked how many times or if they had seen this out of the Daks. The service manager said it was an uncommon issue as of then, and it was prolly just a fluke, and that the bearing may had had a blem in the race or what not, that wasnt caught during production. I searched high and low and found no one else with the same problem. 15k miles later and so far no more issues