Durango/Dakota have faulty upper ball joints

A

Arnold

Guest

• Nov 2, 2003

• #1

Saw a bit on TV last night.
Said Durango/Dakotas have known problem
with premature wear of upper ball joints.
They typically last only 30K miles.

Anyone experience this?

Is there an aftermarket fix?

 

A

AZGuy

Guest

• Nov 3, 2003

• #2

On Sun, 02 Nov 2003 23:33:29 GMT, "Arnold" <[email protected]> wrote:

>Saw a bit on TV last night.
>Said Durango/Dakotas have known problem
>with premature wear of upper ball joints.
>They typically last only 30K miles.
>
>Anyone experience this?
>
>Is there an aftermarket fix?
>
>

Isn't a 30K life pretty much standard for Chrysler parts?

 

J

Jason Kavanaugh

Guest

• Nov 3, 2003

• #3

"Arnold" <[email protected]> wrote in message news:<[email protected]>...
> Saw a bit on TV last night.
> Said Durango/Dakotas have known problem
> with premature wear of upper ball joints.
> They typically last only 30K miles.
>
> Anyone experience this?
>
> Is there an aftermarket fix?

I have a '97 Dodge Dakota SLT Club Cab with the 5.3l engine. At 70k
miles my driver side upper joint went, at 80k miles my passenger upper
joint went. They were both fairly expensive to replace and now at 95k
miles the driver upper joint is starting to squeak a lot again...

AFAIK there is no aftermarket fix, the geometry of the front-end seems
to be to blame for it. By the way in case you are wondering the only
time my truck goes offroad is when I pull it into the back yard to
hook up the boat trailer. I would think the 4x4s wouldn't have this
problem since they would by neccessity have a more robust front end
design but I don't know if that is neccessarily the case or not.

 

T

TOXICTAVRN

Guest

• Nov 3, 2003

• #4

>Saw a bit on TV last night.
>Said Durango/Dakotas have known problem
>with premature wear of upper ball joints.
>They typically last only 30K miles.
>
>Anyone experience this?
>
>Is there an aftermarket fix?

try posting in alt.autos.dodge.trucks, i am pretty sure there is something out
there, one company that come to mind is www.lukeslink.com who sell track bar
and tie rod ends made to last a liftime



79 T/A WS6 455 ,Hurst 4 spd, Blk w/ t-tops, Heavily Fortified, 4mpg

00 Ram 2500HD QC V-10 4x4,Blk,5 spd,4:10 LSD, 10mpg

98 Intruder 1400, Blk, 5 spd, 25mpg

 

A

Arnold

Guest

• Nov 3, 2003

• #5

"Jason Kavanaugh" <[email protected]> wrote in message
news:[email protected]...
> "Arnold" <[email protected]> wrote in message
news:<[email protected]>...
> > Saw a bit on TV last night.
> > Said Durango/Dakotas have known problem
> > with premature wear of upper ball joints.
> > They typically last only 30K miles.
> >
> > Anyone experience this?
> >
> > Is there an aftermarket fix?
>
> I have a '97 Dodge Dakota SLT Club Cab with the 5.3l engine. At 70k
> miles my driver side upper joint went, at 80k miles my passenger upper
> joint went. They were both fairly expensive to replace and now at 95k
> miles the driver upper joint is starting to squeak a lot again...
>
> AFAIK there is no aftermarket fix, the geometry of the front-end seems
> to be to blame for it. By the way in case you are wondering the only
> time my truck goes offroad is when I pull it into the back yard to
> hook up the boat trailer. I would think the 4x4s wouldn't have this
> problem since they would by neccessity have a more robust front end
> design but I don't know if that is neccessarily the case or not.

Forgot to mention that the ball joint failures resulting in wheel falling
off vehicle.
Best replace those ball joints as soon as they seem bad !!!

 

C

Chris Moorhead

Guest

• Nov 5, 2003

• #6

Moog ball joints




[email protected]

On Sun, 02 Nov 2003 23:33:29 GMT, "Arnold" <[email protected]> wrote:

>Saw a bit on TV last night.
>Said Durango/Dakotas have known problem
>with premature wear of upper ball joints.
>They typically last only 30K miles.
>
>Anyone experience this?
>
>Is there an aftermarket fix?
>
>

 

A

Arnold

Guest

• Nov 5, 2003

• #7

"Jason Kavanaugh" <[email protected]> wrote in message
news:[email protected]...
> "Arnold" <[email protected]> wrote in message
news:<[email protected]>...
> > Saw a bit on TV last night.
> > Said Durango/Dakotas have known problem
> > with premature wear of upper ball joints.
> > They typically last only 30K miles.
> >
> > Anyone experience this?
> >
> > Is there an aftermarket fix?
>
> I have a '97 Dodge Dakota SLT Club Cab with the 5.3l engine. At 70k
> miles my driver side upper joint went, at 80k miles my passenger upper
> joint went. They were both fairly expensive to replace and now at 95k
> miles the driver upper joint is starting to squeak a lot again...

Randomly hit this site. Maybe the cure.

http://www.dodgedakotas.com/boards/group/163-1.html

 

K

Ken Marsh

Guest

• Nov 5, 2003

• #8

Arnold <[email protected]> wrote:
#Saw a bit on TV last night.
#Said Durango/Dakotas have known problem
#with premature wear of upper ball joints.
#They typically last only 30K miles.

Hmmm. My 4x4 Dakota is about 50% over that milage, with no problems.

#Anyone experience this?

Not me.

Ken.
--
-------------------------------------------------------------------------
Mail: kmarsh at charm dot net | Save the environment! Buy US-made
WWW: http://www.charm.net/~kmarsh | heavy industries products.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------