I have a 2003 - 3500 SRW laramie.

I haven't been putting too many miles on my truck the past 4-5 months (maybe 2,000 miles total, 63,000 on the truck.) The truck stays in my garage when I'm not driving it, so it is always protected from weather.

All of a sudden between the last time I drove it and now, the steering feel "heavy" and "notchy". I checked the pressure in all four tires and they are fine. I've driven it three short around town trips and same thing, feels heavy to steer.

When I turn left, the steering feels heavy and it almost feels like i can feel notches in a gear turning when I turn the wheel, almost like it is in 4WD mode. it turns, but it is not easy to turn anymore. When I turn right the problem is less evident.

I checked the fluid level and it looked ok, so is there anything I can check before I take it down to my dodge service department to look at?

 

Mine is doing the same thing and its the driver side u-joint. I thought it was my power steering at first but its definitely the u-joint, so I would check your u-joints.

 

is this covered under warranty... does anyone know? If not, how much am I looking at to have both sides done at a Dodge service place?

 

I think u-joints would fall under the "normal wear" category so I wouldn't think it would be a warrantied part, that's just my guess though.

 

An '03 with 63,000 miles on it is not normally going to have the u-joints covered under any type of warranty.

I've had plenty of steering-related problems on my '05, all covered under the Chrysler MaxCare warranty. I barely made it over 30,000 miles before they reared their ugly heads. I've had two steering gear boxes replaced so far, and a PS pump, and some frame problems....

Maybe yours is just a u-joint if you're lucky.

 

You can try sucking some of the fluid out of the PS pump reservoir and then replace it, see if that makes a difference.