We got our first snow of the year yesterday (about 10-12" of the stuff), and
with it my first use of the 4WD on my '01 Dakota. I'm getting a funny noise
from the front end, and am pretty sure it's the passenger side CV that's
doing it. This is an '01 6 cyl, 5Sp, 4WD extended cab. It's new to me as of
June, and I have no maintenance history available.
The sound I'm getting is a combination of a rattle that sounds kinda like a
really bad detonation noise from an engine, along with a clanky kinda sound.
It's worse when accelerating, is audible when decelerating in gear, but stops
entirely in 2WD. It also stops when the truck is at speed and I let off the
gas just enough to no longer be accelerating but not enough to decelerate
either. If 4WD is engaged, it'll also do it when braking with the trans in
neutral.
Reading through the FSM, it looks like I'm looking at at least one, maybe
both, of the CV joints being bad. Since it sounds like it's coming from the
passenger side, that's the one I'm betting on.
Is there anything else I should be checking before I start removing the CV
joints here? Or does this seem like a reasonable diagnosis?
This archive was generated by hypermail 2b29 : Mon Jan 01 2007 - 14:53:53 EST