Well...I've been noticing lately that my 2005 Ram QC 4x4 has a small leak in the front end...at first I thought it may have been ice melting or something of that nature since us people here in Indiana has seen nothin but snow for some time...Well it has since kept leaking and at home I park my truck in grass and I cant see if anything is leaking so I took my truck to work and noticed a small spot where something had been leaking but it wasn't an awful bad leaking just a small spot on the ground...A week went by and I started getting a rubbing/grinding nosie in my front end...I assumed it was maybe a power steering leak since there is quite a bit of dried oily fluid where the hoses are located...Idk if it is a power steering problem or not...the grinding noise doesn't always happen and it normally happens within the first 10-15 min of my truck running in drive on the road...My second guess is a bad wheel bearing...What do you guys think?

 

Have you noticed any fluids disappearing (coolant, power steering, oil, etc)? The grinding may be a wheel bearing. Jack the truck up (STANDS) and try to wiggle the tire at the 12 and 6 position. There should be no play there. Does the noise change with the way the wheel is turned?

If it is a wheel bearing, I doubt you would see anything leaking, so the leak is likely something else. Another thing you can do is put a piece of cardboard under where you suspect the leak is.

 

I had to have a front diff driveshaft output seal changed due to a small leak so check them as well.

 

i've noticed a leak on the bottom hose of the PS stuff on 5 trucks, a simple fix is a hose clamp. i think this is a common problem and might be why everyone's PS pump fails. fixed mine and my dad's and neither of us have PS problems. i do have the grinding sound too, still not sure what that is.

 

Hmm I don't know...I will check the driveshaft as well...but as of right now I haven't had any leaks and the grinding noise hasn't popped up yet since the adding of PS fluid...

 

Power steering is going to make a whining noise, not grinding.. Put something underneath the truck and catch the leak.. Then see if you can make out what kind of fluid it looks like and go from there...

 

Agreed, put some white cardboard under there so you can catch it and identify the color and go from there

 

I also had a small leak over the cold winter months. Someone had already added the hose clamp on my power steering hose so i simply tightened it up... no more leaking PS fluid. Hopefully that will fix it for you.

 

^^ Same for me. My 05 QC started leaking PS fluid during the extreme cold weather. I tightened the clamp and the weather warmed...no more leak.

 

My power steering cooler rotted thru because of all of the road salt they use here. I replaced it with a trans cooler made from aluminum and adapted the hoses to fit with fittings from the hardware store. Simple 1 hr fix, and won't rot thru again.