Steering rattle, the steering wheel rotates with pauses and sticks to one side

Hello everyone, I joined the forum because I just bought an used 2nd gen 4x2 from a friend of mine, the truck it’s very well maintained and taken care of, it has 78k miles, and just a week after I bought it I started to notice a rattle or clunking noise from behind the steering wheel inside the cab, and it’s really noticeable when making a turn on a bumpy road, I looked online and I found that it’s a common problem on these, and that the fix was to replace the shaft that goes after the steering wheel and before the steering column. That’s one thing, the other problem I noticed is that when I steer slightly, the wheel tends to stick in position and doesn’t straighten up when I let it go, and the third thing is that I noticed that when I do a full turn on the wheel and let it go, the wheel doesn’t roll back smoothly, It looks like it starts to roll and every half a turn or so it slows down/sticks for a sec and goes back to normal over and over. I found all this problems online and on this forum, and got a slight idea of how to fix them, but my problem is that I took my truck to the dealership for them to check all the same issues I told you, and for the cost of fixing them, and they told me that the steering column was damaged and they needed to replace the whole steering shaft (the column an the shafts before and after it) in order to guarantee the fix, they told me that it’ll cost 1,350 dollars for everything (parts and for the work), I think it’s too expensive, and I found it unnecessary to replace everything but I’m not an expert, they never mentioned the first part I mentioned before, the one that goes inside the cabin and makes ticking noises, and when I asked about it they didn’t understand me, I got a feeling that the just went on the easy route and said that I needed to replace everything and call it a day, but I could be wrong. The thing that I wanted to ask is, first if you can help me identifying the issues/problems that I described, and second what would you recommend me to do? Replacing just some parts or everything? And should I do it on the dealership or with a mechanic? Do you guys think it’s too expensive or it’s okay? And if there’s a way to buy the parts myself and just got them installed on the dealership or a shop, would that’ll be cheaper and worth the time? Or should I just send it and pay for it? (Sorry for the long post)
Thanks!!!

 

Back away from the dealership.... find a local shop or even someone on here,, in your regional threads.
I would start with the parts you mentioned, the steering shaft/linkage. There are several threads and videos on how to do it yourself.

The steering issue could be tie rods, inner and or outer, ball joints, bad alignment, power steering pump or even the rack and pinion.
Jack the front end up and see if you have any play in the tie rods or ball joints. Then turn it back and forth (using the tire/hub) and see where or what seems to be sticking.

 

I agree. The only thing I can add is, to look at the rack itself as you are Turing the wheels.
The bushings may be bad and allowing excessive play in the rack.
Best of luck to you OP, hopefully you figure it out. And it’s not to expensive or hard to fix

 

I think the steering shaft is what you are after it describes everything that you are concerned about

 

In my opinion without air tools it will be hard to get the shaft off yourself