I put this in here both times it happened but the years are switched, not only did I have the ball joints replaced, also tie rod ends and the fricken brakes probably every other year!
I just think Dodge hid the '99 problem from the government to avoid recalling it but the same thing happened to the 2000 models and they were recalled! So all I can say $800.00 later is boo fn hoo that they're closing their doors on the ten year anniversary of this screw job! LOL
I was almost killed when the ball joints failed on this piece of junk. Of course, the feds did nothing to extend the recall to 1999 when they knew that the 1999 Dakota ball joints were failing just like they did in 1998. And we wonder why Dodge is going down the tubes? Down the tubes is a good place for that dump.
the year my warranty was up the dodge garage said i needed my lower ball joints replaced for inspection with only 22,000 miles. the truck was never off-road, just normal driving. i was stuck there so i had it done. i think that was a mistake and i have never taken it back to the dealer since 1994 even for the free inspections.
I took my truck in to have an alignment done today. I was told that I needed new upper and lower ball joints as well as left and right inner tie rods. It is going to cost almost $1200 to fix. Money I don't have. I found the recall for the 2000 Dakota for the same problem. How great for Dodge that they talked the government out of fixing the prior year. I think that Dodge needs to take care of it's customers and fix this problem. After this truck I will never buy another Dodge product again...
- dallasr,
Bucyrus, KS, US
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Without any warning while driving home the truck started making a bumping noise - by the time I (barely) got home and shaking like a leaf, the front left wheel was turned outwards. Had it towed to dealer (Centennial Chyrsler in Barrie, Ontario) at a cost of 70.00 only to have them call me the next day and quote an estimate of 4,300.00 including taxes). I showed the estimate to 3 Class A Mechanics and they all agreed that the dealer was taking me to the cleaners (mainly because I am a woman). My main beef here is with the dealer because not only did they not offer any explanation as to why the upper and lower ball joints and tie rod ends go on a truck that is only 6 years old with 156000km on it. I had to pay an additional 200.00 to have it re-towed to an independent mechanic and the truck was repaired for $2,100.00 less than what the dealer quoted. This could have been a lot worse - I drive the highway every day and I could have been in a serious accident.
Once again, crappy engineering at Dodge raises its ugly head with this pile of crap. Appearantly, Im not the only one with this problem. Our company has another one of these pieces of Dodge junk and the ball joints on it went out too. We also have a lot of Dodge diesels in our fleet that are nothing but crap, but thats another story.
A D V E R T I S E M E N T S
I put this in here both times it happened but the years are switched, not only did I have the ball joints replaced, also tie rod ends and the fricken brakes probably every other year!
- Jeff W., Cedar Rapids, IA, US