Dt*: the contact stated while the vehicle was having an oil change performed by the dealer, the service department determined the upper ball joints needed to be replaced. The upper ball joints were replaced and lubricated. There is a the federal safety agency recall, # 04v596000, regarding the upper ball joints. The VIN was not included in the recall. Updated 6/1/2006 -
1997 Dodge Dakota suspension complaints
Page 2 of 6: complaints 11 to 40 of 142, newest first, as owners wrote them.
Dt*: the contact stated while traveling 60 MPH, the steering became hard to control. The vehicle was driven to the dealership where it was determined the lower and upper ball joints needed to be replaced. There is a the federal safety agency recall, # 04v596000, regarding the upper ball joints. The vehicle has the same problems as indicated in the recall; however, it is not included in the recall due to the VIN.
Dt: the contact states there the federal safety agency recall campaign 04v596000 concerning upper ball joints. The consumer is experienced the same problems as indicated in the recall, but his vehicle was not included in the recall due to the model year of vehicle. The contact has not repaired the vehicle. *ak updated 12/27/05.
Suspension, upper and lower ball joints replaced and shocks replaced - 60k miles. Recall on 2000 and up but problem with 97 and up.
Dt: the contact stated dealer replaced both the upper and lower front control arm ball joints in 2003. Upon inspection this year it was discovered the ball joints needed to be replaced again. The vehicle had only accumulated 16,500 miles since they were last replaced. The first replacement was completed under warranty. The current replacement of the ball joint will be done at the contact's expense. He felt they were defective based on the limited mileage.
After reading about ball joint failure on dakotas and durango's I checked my 1997 dakota with 43000 miles and found all upper and lower ball joint seals torn open and no grease in the in the ball joint socket. There is no sign of any grease ever in or around the ball joints. The joints are starting to rattle.
Oct. '04 brought truck in for a wheel alignment and was told the control arm and upper and lower ball joints need replacing at a cost of $1,000. For safety I had the front end fixed. You have ordered recalls for similar failures in the 2000-03 dakotas. The 1997's have the same problem.
The upper ball joints on my 1997 dodge dakota failed with only 28,000 miles on them. I replaced them myself with moog greasable ball joints. I still have the old parts.
Badball joints on 1997 dodge dakota
The consumer took the vehicle for in for state inspection and the mechanic informed the driver that the left and right upper and lower ball joints needed replacement due to corrosion. *nm upper ball joints replaced by dealer at 34,000 mile. At state inspection in 2004 the upper and lower joints were replaced. Manufacturer recalled this type of vehicle but only model year 2000. *bf
On feb. 21, 2005, was driving home from work with infant daughter. Realized something was not right and slowed to 2 MPH in 1st gear. Came up on 9% grade with 4 s-type curves. Entered 1st curve at 2 MPH, truck ran off road, could not keep it on road. Got it back on road only to completely lose control and ended up on other side of road in a parking area (stoped sideways). Truck was put on rollback and sent to ramey dodge (princeton, wv) the next morning. They kept truck until that evening, could not find anything wrong. Parked truck until friday 2/25/05, father took vehicle to another mechanic to have front end alignment. Was informed the wheels were ready to fall off and truck needed to be taken back to dealership on wrecker. My father drove the truck to princeton where he was told it needed upper and lower ball joints replaced on both sides. They kept my truck for almost a week. Total repair bill $811.00. Dad did not get ball joints that were taken off. I called back to get them and was told they had disposed of them.
The upper and lower ball joints and tie rod ends wore out completely. Consumer was concerned that the wheels will fall off while driving. *ak
Consumer had to replace front end suspensions three times due to wear.
At 28000 miles, both lower ball joints had to be replaced due to wear. Recently at 48000 when taken to get aligned, the consumer had to replace both upper ball joints due to wearing on the left side and a broken right side ball joint.
A knocking noise was coming from the front of the vehicle. The consumer drove to the dealer and the mechanic informed the consumer that the left and right upper and lower ball joints needed to be replaced due to corrosion. *jb
The vehicle's ball joints were bad. *nm the vehicle's front brakes also had to be replaced. The consumer learned of a recall for balljoints. The consumer was told by a servce rep that his vehicle was not included in the recall due to the model year.
The consumer's vehicle had the same ball joint problem as described in the ball joint recall for the 2000-2003 model years. The consumer wants to know why the 1997 model was excluded from the ball joint recall. *bf *nm *sc *tc
1997-99 dodge dakota has same problem as 2000-2003. Upper ball joint problems. Consumer wants to know why are you excluding 1997-99 when the problem existed in the 1997-99.
I have a 1997 dodge dakota 2 wheel drive. All four balljoints on the front end are very prone to failure. They wear prematurely as there is no way to lubricate the parts. My wheel has not yet fell off, although the balljoints rattle and clunk because they are worn out prematurely.
The vehicle is making a clicking noise and tends to shake while making turns and is at low speeds. Taken to dealer for check up, and results showed that the front upper ball joints needed to be replaced.
Consumer was replacing upper and lower ball joints every 35,000 miles. Also, consumer replaced the idler arm. Consumer contacted the dealer, who informed consumer that they will not warranty the suspension parts. Provide further details. *ak the consumer stated the manifold plenum gasket was leaking oil into the intake. The consumer replaced the gasket himself.
60,000 miles to and from work no abuse ball joints failed and AC has leak in dash,timing chain and idler pulley makes noise. Radiator leaks transmission fluid plastic tanks on radiator.
Upper and lower ball joints wore out prematurely. *ak......consumer claimed that he had a valid request after seeing notification of a recall on 2000-2003 dodge dakota trucks to replace ball joints. Asked for a reimbursement of $663.60 for replacing upper and lower ball joints.cedar rapids dodge told consumer he had replace the ball joints. They said it was a safety issue and quoted $1,126.50 to make the repair. Howeverbartosh automotive charded $663.60 to perform same work.
My truck started to squeak up front over any bumps. My tires were also starting to go bad, even as I rotated them every 3000 miles. Soon the squeak was really bad so I took it to tuffy auto. They gave me an alignment for the tire wear and said that my ball joints were causing the squeak. I replaced the upper ball joints. Then about 1000 miles later I heard a horrible grinding in the front, took it to the dealer. It was a bad wheel bearing, caused by bad ball joints as described by the dealer. Replaced lower ball joints, wheel bearing, and now all 4 tires as they wore badly due to the ball joint problem. Total cost of 800 plus 4 tires at 130 each. I am in college with a baby as well. These costs killed my budget, and now I find out there is a recall on 2000 and up models. What a deal, seems to me the parts were the same on the 97, but no recall on them? Why, and what is the reason for not including the 97? I also work at a body shop and we had a 99 dakota in a few months ago which had the brake pedal snap off, causing a total wreckage to the dakota, but he ended up fixing it as dodge stood behind the pedal. Why can they not stand behind my truck? I am concerned with my parts on my truck now, are they the same ones being recalled on the 2000 and up, even though they are not being recalled on the 97? What gives?
I was pulling in a driveway with a slight incline at a slow speed when the right front wheel fell off. The lower control arm landed on the wheel keeping the truck from hitting the ground. It was the upper ball joints which failed. New upper and lower ball joints were replaced all around as all of them bad.
Popping, grinding noise while turning and over bumps. Dodge inspected and replaced one upper ball joint and both lower ball joints and both inner tie rod ends.
Going down the road at 55 MPH and all of a sudden I hit a pothole and the passenger side tire came right off , it is the same problem as the 2000 - 2003's have. We have pictures of it to prove it . The upper and lower ball joints let loose the cv shaft pulled out and the shock got bent. The tire turned on its side while the truck was sliding down the road sideways and I was unable to control how the truck was going. The only thing holding the tire on the truck was the brake line. The tire rim had chunks taken out of it and the tire had wear from being on its side under the frame of the truck while it was sliding. We had to get it flatbedded to the repair shop . We had a certified repair shop do all the necessary repairs to the truck to which included new upper and lower ball joints,new cv shaft, new rim adn tire , new shock , axle assembly,brake hose , steering gear and linkage,inner and outer tie rods and a front end alignment.this truck had just been through a nys inspection in december 2003 and passed. This accident happened on october 25, 2004 which left us without this vehicle because it was not able to be repaired immediately we got the truck back on november 10 , 2004. We feel that chrysler should be responsible for the repair bill for this vehicle because they are admitting there is a problem the same as this to the newer models.
(1) popping noise and difficulty steering; 2) upper-ball joint failure .... The joints were so worn that when the mechanic raised the vehicle, the front-right wheel fell off of the truck. (3) mechanic replaced the all 4 balljoints (upper and lower) with non-oem parts at my request. Cost: approx $600.00.
While driving 4 MPH front left end ball joint collapsed. Vehicle was towed to a garage for inspection, and mechanic determined that the front lower ball joint needed to be replaced.
Need to replace upper and lower ball joints on dakota with 173,000 miles. This will be the 7th set of ball joints on this vehicle. Dealer states "no other customer complaints.
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