[Durango_Traveler]

Dear Mark,

I had my sway bar bushings replaced at 30 something thousand miles. They had been making noise whenever ambient temperatures were below 50. The dealership replaced them under warranty, the same day they replaced my intermediate steering shaft. Personally, I think the stock sway bar bushings are worthless and of very low quality (like a few other stock D items.) Therefore, I wouldn't be surprised if stock bushings needed to be replaced multiple times during the life span of our Ds.

Now to you second question: From what I have read on this forum and from information the dealership provided, problems with the intermediate steering shaft seem to be very common. Mostly, people start to hear/feel a popping noise coming from the steering wheel either while turning or while moving from a stand still. The latter was the issue I had. In my case, the popping was very pronounced when ambient temperatures were high. Chris (my mechanic at the dealership) replaced the int. steering shaft and all was fine. He even kept the truck for a day to use one of those sound recording devices to make sure the noise was gone (Yeah, he knows I'm very anal about my D ;-) .)

Apparently, the rubber bushings/bearings that are used within the int. steering shaft are prone to fail due to the head generated by the engine. My shaft was worn to the point where you could easily wiggle the int. shaft by hand. Not good. If you have a DC extended warranty, it'll cover the replacement of the shaft. If not, it's an easy "do-it-yourself" job. It's basically bold on/bolt off. The shaft itself was less than $150. Good luck!

Best,
Nico