Consumer stated upper ball joints wore out prematurely.
1998 Dodge Dakota suspension complaints
Page 4 of 8: complaints 71 to 100 of 217, newest first, as owners wrote them.
1998 dodge dakota upper and lower ball joint failure. Reported by repair shop when asked to perform a front allignment. I was told that tey have never seen a worse case of worn out ball joints. They told me that an allignment cannot be performed without the ball joint repalcement. Fron end is loose and makes a popping sound when turning. Truck has approximately 85,000 miles. No repair completed as yet. I was informed by the repair shop that a recall to correct this defect is likely to be initiated soon and that I should wait for the recall and avoid driving the truck until fixed.
I started to notice a loud popping noise coming from the drivers side front wheel well on my 1998 dodge dakota slt club cab. I took my truck to an independant garage and was told that my ball joints were in desparate need of replacement. I was told by the ase certified mechanic that the ball joints are sealed and could not get the proper lubrication causing premature failure. The mechanic also stated that the ball joints could have failed at any time causing the wheel to fail which would result in loss of control of the vehicle. I asked the mechanic if the replacement ball joints were greasable. He told me yes. I feel that the original ball joints were not designed properly by daimler chrysler, and this is a safety issue that warrants a recall.
Left and right ball joints on my 1998 dodge dakota pickup truck failed with only 46,000 miles on the truck. I had to replace them in order for the truck to pass its state safety inspection.
Ball joint problem with 1998 dodge dakota. I have had symptoms of the problem, heavy clunking in front right, for about a year now. I went to the dealer believing it was an upper ball joint problem. I even asked them to replace the uppers. Dealer diagnosed problem as lower ball joints and I paid for them. I beleive they were just out of stock on the uppers. 7 months later, the clunking has gotten worse and when backing out of a parking spot with the wheeel cut hard to the right the front end "hopped" to the side. I had this happen twice in the same day, and took the truck to the dealer the next day. They now admit it needs upper ball joints and are charging me $500+. It is clear that this is a design problem based on the number of people having problems at relatively low mileage.
After taking the vehicle into a repair shop, the ball joints were completely worn out after only 40k miles. *jb
My 1998 dodge dakota sport 4wd 5.2 auto has a loud squeak in the suspension area. I took the truck to get an oil change and asked that they make sure they lubricate all areas. The tech told me my ball joint was the problem and that it needs replaced. He told me that dodge had a recall on them. Is this true? I will be calling the dealer this week to see if they can repair since this may be or already is a recall.
There is a squeaking noise in the front end while driving. Dealership indicated that all 4 ball joints needs to replaced due to premature wear.
The vehicle had to have both lower ball joints replaced. The vehicle has only 29,045mi on it. *jb (right and left lower ball joints) there was excessive tire wear. The mechanic determined that the lower ball joints to be worn within excess of the specifications and could not be aligned.
Discovered upon vehicle inspection; abnormal wear to front tires, front brakes and rotors, upper and lower front ball joints.
Low miles on dodge dakota, upper and lower ball joints had to be replaced.
While driving, a loud popping noise was heard coming from the front of the vehicle. The consumer was able to drive it to the dealer for inspection. The mechanic informed the consumer that the front lower ball joints needed to be replaced. Please fill in additional information.
While driving at any speed, a squeaking/popping noise was coming from the front of the vehicle. The vehicle was taken to the dealer. Who informed the consumer that both front lower ball joints needed to be replaced.
I went in to get my truck aligned because the outer end of my tires are woren. However, I was informed that all four of my ball jionts were worn out and that this is a very common problem with dakotas. I am looking into fixing them but if they are defective and will be recalled I would like the manufacture to pay to have them fixed.
The rubber boot on all 4 ball joints shredded and all of the grease was lost and washed out. *ak *sc
While vehicle was being serviced technician noticed that the ball joints along with the tie rod ends were loose. *ak
Front end noise. Excessive tire wear and frequent front end allignments. 2 lower ball joints failure requires replacement replacement of faulty lower ball joints.
While driving the consumer heard a loud knocking noise coming from the front upper ball joint. The dealership was notified, but did not resolve the problem. *ak
At 50k miles the front end was extremely loose and steering control was becoming quite dangerous. No off road activities. Both upper and lower ball joints were pretty much destroyed. After 1300$ to fix the front end found that the steering worm gear is also worn out. Steering is still dangerous. The steering should pretty much never fail and under normal conditions the ball joints should last at least 100k miles.
Purchase of used 98 dakota on 8/14-04, noise in front end, returned to used car dealer, bad ball joints, replaced bad parts.
Ball joints, front upper, and lower wore out, and were very loose. Took vehicle to the dealer. However, the problem still existed.
The lower ball joints were worn and needed to be replaced. In a discussion with the dealer representative, I was told to retain my bill since although there had not yet been a recall, there may be one in the future. From this conversation, it was obvious that this is a problem as has been indicated on several news reports and newspaper articles.
The vehicle was having a problem with the ball joints. The ball joints caused excessive tire wear from the inner sidewalls.
Consumer heard a clicking noise in the front of the vehicle. Once the vehicle was turned off consumer still could hear the clanking noise. The ball joints have been rerpaired twice.
Upper and lower ball joints deteriorating 5-24-2004, 27,675 miles steering intermediate shaft 6-22-2004. Ball joints, lower control arm, and right wheel bearing had to be replaced by dealer.*ak steering intermediate shaft had to be replaced at freehold dodge nj very loose front end, hard to control, bounce. Typical symptoms of a front end falling apart. Dates above are replacement dates. Third major problem is all of the bolts attaching the cab are deteriorated. Taking to my nm dodge dealer. Can not even take off the bots they are so bad on the cab of my truck [xxx] I have been the owner from day one. In my parents name in new jersey for insurance rate reduction. Updated 07/24/2012* js information redacted pursuant to the freedom of information act (foia), 5 u.s.c. 552(b)(6)
Both upper ball joints were loose and had to be replaced in order to pass state (mo) safety inspection. Vehicle mileage was only 35311 and the inspection and replacement was performed by a dodge dealership.
Consumer took the vehicle to the dealership for inspection and the mechanic determined that both upper ball joints were wearing prematurely. Consumer will have the mechanic replace the upper ball joints. *ak the vehicle made a squealing noise. The mechanic discovered a ball joint problem. The brake warning light had come on and the p/s wheel squeaked when going over bumps. *sc
An independent shop replaced the lower and upper ball joints lat september at the consumer's expense. Dealer notified. *ak the cv drive and axle shaft were also replaced.
(1) events leading to the failure were simply normal driving. Nothing special or out of the ordinary was done or attempted. (2) the ball joints on both of my upper and lower control arms have failed. The joints were original equipment and are permanently sealed supposedly requiring no maintenance. However the rubber boot surrounding the joint failed, thus leading to water and other road grit to enter the joint. Thus the joints did not remain lubricated, eventually leading to mechanical failure. (3) due to dodge not selling the individual ball joints, I opted replaced both of the entire front control arms. Due to the cost of that repair I opted to purchase and install aftermarket ball joints for the lower control arms rather than replace the entire arm as had been done with the upper. The repair was very labor intensive; especially on something which should require minimal if any maintenance.
I have a dodge dakota 98. I went in for an alignment today. My 69 dollar alignment was bumped up to 830 dollars. They said that all of the ball joints need to be replaced and that this happens all the time with the dodge truck of this year thru 2003. They told me that my wheels might just fall off. I told them not to perform this since I did not have the money and they told me to watch out for bumps and sharp turns. My truck is not making any wired noises and I cant believe that this issue was legitiment since you would think a recall would have been issues for such a dangerous thing. I went online of course to look into this and found that this is currently being looked into by the feds. If I had not gone in for the allignment, and my wheel fell off with my 6 year old child in the car I or her / both might not be here. I will be driving my other vehicle for the time being and would like to know when this will be recalled / addressed. Firestone put at the bottom of the recommended services: system failure - required upper-both ball joints/ lower both ball joints the money is one thing. Me and my kid is another. And with no indication of this problem, that really concerns me!!!
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