First off, here's what I have:

2005 Dodge 2500 Quad Cab 4x4 Automatic (5.9L Cummins) with ~75k Miles

Everything seems normal, but when i slow down to about 15mph, there is a slight grinding sound and it seems like I can feel a little bit of a "dragging" feeling as well. It's not terribly loud, but it sounds like it's coming from the front of the truck. I drove down my street, got up to about 15mph, put it in neutral, and shut the engine off and it's a lot easier to hear...I was guessing that it was wheel bearings, but I jacked up the front end and rotated the wheels, and it seems like they're fine. I did a few searches, and some people seem to be having a lot of problems with driveshaft u-joints, so i got under the truck and shook both driveshafts to see if there was any "play" in the u-joint...both ends of the rear driveshaft don't seem to have any play at all, but both ends of the front driveshaft seem to have a very very slight amount of play...maybe a milimeter or something. Is that normal? I just changed the front brakes about 2-months ago, so I'm fairly certain that it's not a front brake issue.

 

Just for fun, check the rear brakes as well. My rears went before my fronts.

 

i do need to do my rear brakes...there's actually a slight squeel from time to time right before i stop completely. i checked the rotors through the wheel and they're not grooved at all. i'll probably do them tomorrow just to knock that out. the noise seems to be coming from the front of the truck, though. i had a friend ride with me, and he said the same thing as far as where the noise was coming from. it almost seems to be coming from directly under the middle of the truck, but it's hard to tell. that's why i was thinking driveshaft u-joints, but i don't know. the fact that the front driveshaft has some play and the rear has none makes me think that it might be the front driveshaft u-joints...but maybe that small amount of play is normal...

 

go to a carwahs and wash your front brakes maybe some crap in them

 

OK, when you had it up did you check for binding or play in the u-joints in the front axle?

 

it's been doing this all week, so i would imagine that if something were stuck in the brakes that it would be gone by now. i'll give it a shot, though.

 

no, it didn't occur to me that it could be the u-joints until after it was down. i got under it (not jacked up) and shook the driveshafts at the u-joints to see if there was any play. the rear driveshaft doesn't seem to have any at either end, but the front driveshaft seems to have a small amount at each end. should i jack it up and spin the driveshaft to see if it binds? i spun the front wheels to see if i could hear anything abnormal, and everything seemed to be fine.

 

The u-joints I'm talking about are the ones in the axle, behind the rotors. This will sound silly at this point but, have you checked the fluid level in the front differential?

 

i'll check those and the fluid...i haven't checked either just yet. i appreciate the ideas.

 

sounds like a u-joint in the front driveshaft.