Front Suspension Lower Ball Joint problems of the 2001 Dodge Dakota - part 1

The contact owns a 2001 Dodge Dakota. The contact stated that while reversing out of a parking lot, he heard a loud noise and was unable to move the vehicle. Upon inspecting the vehicle, the contact noticed that the front passenger side tie rod broke. The vehicle was towed home, where the tie rod and lower ball joints were replaced. The vehicle was not taken to an authorized dealer and the manufacturer was not made aware of the failure. The failure mileage was 169,000 and the current mileage was 170,000.

The contact owns a 2001 Dodge Dakota. While driving 2 mph, the contact heard a banging noise coming from the passenger side front tire. He stated that the steering was difficult to turn. Upon inspecting the vehicle, he noticed that the passenger side front lower ball joints were disengaged. The mechanic stated that the cause of the failure was due to the lower ball joints not being lubed. In addition, the lower ball joints were rubbing against the upper ball joints. The mechanic replaced the front lower and upper ball joints. There had been no further occurrences. The failure mileage was 65,689 and current mileage was 66,471.

I would like to know why only the upper ball joints on the 2000-2004 Dakotas is covered in the recall as the lower ball joint are the same design where there is no way to grease up the lower ball joints and it would lead to the same problem as the upper ball joints?.

1. Normal driving circumstances. Front end suspension started making clunking/popping noises and steering became erratic. Truck has 85,000 miles. 2. Could not safely drive the vehicle. The steering was too risky. I also noticed while the tow truck driver was pulling the vehicle onto the truck that the front right wheel was leaning over at about 30 degree angle. 3. Mechanic diagnosed that the upper ball joints has basically rusted and deteriorated. Lower joints were also on their way to failure. Additional research has shown that the 4 wheel drive models were recalled. Why weren't the 2 wheel drives. This problem mirrors the issue that they had.

The contact stated while driving vehicle had to swerve to miss an oncoming vehicle. The lower ball join broke at this time. The contact's vehicle went into a creek. The injuries to the occupants of the vehicle were still being determined. The vehicle is currently being inspected.

Consumer owns a 2001 Dodge Dakota. The upper ball joints had to be replaced at 31,915 miles. The lower ball joints were replaced at 37,556 miles. The service dealer stated that there were problems with this year, make, and model vehicle. The consumer stated that while driving there was a noise coming from the front end of the vehicle. He did not notice if there was any play in the steering until the lower ball joints were replaced. Since the replacement it has a tighter steering control. There was a recall on the upper ball joints, but there has been no recall on the lower ball joints.

The consumer stated the lower ball joint was loose and the wheels could actually fall off.

When I recently took my 1991 Dodge Dakota in to have the upper ball joints replaced, I was told the lower ones were shot, also. The truck only has 36,000 miles on it. I only drive on the road and never overload my truck. Why would the upper ball joints be recalled and not the lower? this continues to be an accident waiting to happen.

2001 Dodge Dakota was recalled to replace upper ball joints. During repair lower ball joints were also found to be defective. Had to pay out of pocket for them to be replaced. The failure of the upper ball joints could also lead to the failure of the lower, and this should be included in the recall.

I have a 2001 Dodge Dakota 4x4 - recalled with campaign id #4v596000. While the garage had my pickup apart they called and said my lower ball joint had "excessive wear" -quoted $440 to repair. At 38000 miles and to have excessive wear on lower ball joints is a product defect. I decliined to have then repair due to extreme cost while the truck was apart to repair the upper ball joints.

Recall 04v596000 concerning ball joint wear: consumer received this recall notice, and contacted his local dealer, who informed the consumer that no parts would be available until March 2005.

The consumer states the lower ball joints were worn. Please provide additional information.

The consumer took the vehicle to have the upper ball joints repaired under recall. It was also discovered that the lower ball joints were defective. The vehicle had 40,000 miles on it. The consumer contacted the manufacturer and received no assistance. Provide further details.

My 2001 Dodge Dakota 2wd has 45,000 miles on it and already needs 3 ball joints replaced.

Repairs to the upper ball joint was completed by the consumer prior to receiving a recall notice. Consumer wished to have the lower ball joints repaired since they were defective. Consumer was told by manufacturer and dealer that the lower ball joints were not included in the recall.

Front upper and lower ball joints wore out prematurely. The faulty ball joints caused abnormal wear on the driver's side front tire. The manufacturer refused any assistance because the vehicle was out of warranty.

While driving 30 mph front ball joint punctured the front driver's side tire. This forced the vehicle into a ditch. Consumer had the vehicle towed. Dealership informed the consumer of the ball joint failure and repaired it.

Consumer's vehicle was included in recall campaign 04v596000 concerning ball joint wear. However, consumer was waiting for awhile and was told there were no parts available.

2001 Dodge Dakota quad cab 4x4, VIN no. 1b7662an11s202075 - failure of the front ball joint and the tie rod end that had to be replaced at my cost and will have to replace the the other side next year accourding to the dealer that replaced the the ball joint. . The front end of my truck has been making noise from the time I bought the truck with 59 miles for the dealer and I was told it was becuase of the greaseless ball joint and the only way to have it .

Upper and lower ball went bad after only 40,000 miles.

The vehicle vibrated when the brakes were applied. The consumer thought that the brakes were bad when it was discovered that it was not the brakes but the ball joints had failed. The consumer had to have the ball joints replaced and had to come out of pocket to do so.

Driver side front of p/u started 'knocking' when traversing bumps or making right hand turns at 12000. Passenger side front tire began to feather at 30000. At 37775 with new shocks and tires, allignment was needed to correct pulling to the right. Was discovered that lower passenger and upper driver side ball joints were "horribly shot.

The upper and lower ball joints on my 2001 Dodge Dakota extended cab 4x4 pickup have had massive deterioration with only 17,500 miles on them. They cause tremendous steering and tracking problems, and have caused me to not be able to drive the vehicle because of safety concerns. Because these cannot be lubricated or adjusted, they must be replaced. I will either do these repairs myself in the near future or have then done at a qualified garage, but I will save the defective parts. I have not done anything excessive with the vehicle such as off-roading, trailering, heavy loads, or any "non-standard" use. All equipment (tires included) on the truck is factory, I. E. No aftermarket modifications that would cause non-standard loads or stresses. This type of premature failing at only 17,500 miles is not acceptable, and from my research I understand it is a common problem with the year and model of vehicle.

Wheel and assembly came off while traveling on the highway. Cv joint, ball joints, brake removed.

Upper and lower ball joints need to be replaced at 20,000 miles. Known issue on Dodge durangos that share the same suspension components. Not covered under warranty and a definite safety hazard. Ball joints are the only thing holding the wheels in line and failure could result in a severe accident.

Ball joints have failed after 29,000 miles. I brought it to the dealership twice complaining of the problem. They told me that there was not a problem and did not fix it. I took the truck to another mechanic he determined that it was a ball joint issue. The vehical is now out of warrantee, and I am affaid that the dealership is going to ask me to pay for the fix. I am waiting for the dealership to contact me.

I took my 2001 Dodge Dakota quad cab to a dealer to check a noise coming from the front end of my vehicle. They informed me that my upper and lower ball joints were wearing down and that I could loose the tires on my vehicle while driving. My complaint is based on the fact that all four ball joints should not need to be replaced on a vehicle until at least 100,000 miles. From my research this is an obvious problem that needs correction in these models.

While driving between 25 and 30 mph, consumer heard noise coming through the front end. Dealership replaced driver side upper and lower ball joints. At consumer's expense.

Upper and lower ball joints defective and worn after 60,000 miles. Ball joints replaced by 3rd party autoshop for less than 1/3 of quoted price from dealer.

Near crash due to faulty ball joints on a 2001 Dodge Dakota quad cab 4x4.

Upper ball joints on 2001 Dodge Dakota both balljoints filled at around 100,000 mi. Of highway driing.

Vehicle failed georgia state inspection. Technician indicated the need to replace the upper and lower ball joints.

Ball joint failure. I have already filed a complaint in regards to upper ball joint failure on my truck. When I first started checking on the problem the only repair solution was upper control arm replacement. By the time of investigating for an after market product Dodge had released a ball joint only part. This indicates to me that Dodge saw that there was a unusual amount of ball joint failures. Now to make things worse I am starting to get the same symptoms I had before (within two months of replacing the uppers). Which tells me that either the lowers are going out now or the new uppers were defective as well. It also seems strange that alot of the problems are happening just after the warranty period. I think Dodge may be using planned failure. I also think NHTSA officials investigating this problem should look at comments on other websites. Not everyone knows that they can report a problem on this website. Just do a search for Dodge Dakota ball joints and look and see how many complaints there are out there. The scariest thought are people who will continue to drive the vehicle and not know that it is the ball joint and how serious the failure could be.

While making a left turn from a complete stop front left ball joints failed, causing the front left tire to detach from the vehicle.

Ball joints make loud metallic noise, wear tires quickly, requiring excessive alignment/balancing.