Upper steering shaft?

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leafsby2

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I’ve looked online with not much luck, some say the clunking is normal and some say the steering shaft. The noise seems to be coming from the firewall and if I press in on the rubber behind the brake pedal that the steering shaft comes out of it quiets down the clunk. Any help will be appreciated Steering clunk here
 
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leafsby2

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Guess the sound has everyone baffled too, I am going to purchase the upper part of the steering shaft that comes with the rubber boot like in the photo. I am very new to ram and didn’t wanna waste the money had it been something common that others knew about.
 

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smoothee

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Do you have excess play in your steering? Could be the bushing in the upper intermediate u-joint like shown in this video

 
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leafsby2

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Do you have excess play in your steering? Could be the bushing in the upper intermediate u-joint like shown in this video

I haven’t noticed any excessive play in steering, just the clunk right now. I will check here in about an hour (I watched that video) I’ve only noticed the clunk from what seems to be coming from under the rubber that seals the firewall, not sure if there is a bushing or knuckle in behind there or not, I didn’t want to force remove it and end up ripping the rubber.
 

Daw14

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Have another person move the wheel back and forth while you locate the issue. Start at the firewall and work to the road, grab the shaft while it’s being turned to determine if it is in the cab or below. Or just start replacing parts ,sooner or later you might find the broken piece.
 

Jeepwalker

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Any time you have a lot of joints that curl around like that (5 last time I counted), and movements are relatively small (corrective steering) yer going to raise the possibility of micro-binding ..and 'release' (a POP). I have that in another vehicle. I replaced it with an all-new shaft (everything from the column to the rack). It went away for like 3-4 months. There almost needs to be a center brace to keep the joints from 'kinking'.
 
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leafsby2

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Have another person move the wheel back and forth while you locate the issue. Start at the firewall and work to the road, grab the shaft while it’s being turned to determine if it is in the cab or below. Or just start replacing parts ,sooner or later you might find the broken piece.
Got my wife to jiggle the wheel while I held the shaft (wow that didn’t sound right for a public forum ) I can barely feel the clunk in the lower shaft, it’s way more pronounced on the shaft that goes through the firewall especially close to the firewall where the rubber is.

It would be a lot easier if I had ever owned a truck before, but I have mostly cars/SUV’s and vans, I had an issue like this with my 2006 Equinox the same clunk and it needed a steering shaft maybe that’s why my brain is telling me that is what’s wrong with this.
 

Zoe Saldana

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I’ve looked online with not much luck, some say the clunking is normal and some say the steering shaft. The noise seems to be coming from the firewall and if I press in on the rubber behind the brake pedal that the steering shaft comes out of it quiets down the clunk. Any help will be appreciated Steering clunk here
Lubricate it and see how it feels.

I did it on all the universal joints and the 'clunk' became smaller.
 
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leafsby2

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Lubricate it and see how it feels.

I did it on all the universal joints and the 'clunk' became smaller.
I can’t really get in behind the rubber in the firewall without risking breaking it, but I did lube the other joints that I could see with no real difference.

I was talking to the salesman (I bought the truck used April 8th) and am good friends with him personally he’s gonna get it in the shop with no charge to me in the coming days and have it diagnosed for free and potently fixed depending on cost.

To note I do a lot of favours for the dealership in question, detailing the odd vehicle here and there when the regular guy is out sick, picking up an odd set of tires customers forgot to put inside their trade in delivering some vehicles during Covid, a lot done for free.
 

Zoe Saldana

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I can’t really get in behind the rubber in the firewall without risking breaking it, but I did lube the other joints that I could see with no real difference.

I was talking to the salesman (I bought the truck used April 8th) and am good friends with him personally he’s gonna get it in the shop with no charge to me in the coming days and have it diagnosed for free and potently fixed depending on cost.

To note I do a lot of favours for the dealership in question, detailing the odd vehicle here and there when the regular guy is out sick, picking up an odd set of tires customers forgot to put inside their trade in delivering some vehicles during Covid, a lot done for free.
Try from the engine side.

The other issue is a bad wheel bearing.
 
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leafsby2

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Truck just got out of the shop a couple hours ago, the said it isn’t the steering shaft BUT it is the steering column that needs replaced.

$1,7xxCAD however I mentioned it to the salesman a couple weeks ago so from what I gather the dealership is going to cover the costs.
 
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