Eight problems related to front suspension upper ball joint have been reported for the 2004 Dodge Dakota. The most recently reported issues are listed below.
The contact owns a 2004 Dodge Dakota 4x4. While driving approximately 10 mph, the contact attempted to make a turn then unexpectedly the front driver's side wheel collapsed due to a fractured ball joint. The vehicle crashed into a cement post in a parking lot. There were no personal injuries. The vehicle was towed to the contact¿s residence. There was a recall associated with NHTSA campaign id number 04v596000 (suspension:front:control arm:upper ball joint); however the VIN was not included. The vehicle had not been repaired. The manufacturer was notified of the failure. The approximate failure mileage was 100,000.
2004 Dodge Dakota pickup 4x4 had clunking from front suspension. Replaced upper ball joint.
Consumer wants to know why are the 2004 models being excluding when the problem existed in the 2004, Dodge Dakota they have the same ball joints problems.
A knocking noise was coming from the front of the vehicle. Consumer drove the vehicle to the dealer, and mechanic determined that the left and right upper ball joints needed to be replaced.
I have a 2004 Dodge Dakota crew cab with about 6,000 miles on it. For several months it has been making a crunching sound from the front end on tight turns. I am aware of widespread upper ball joint problems on other Dakotas. The Dodge dealer says there is nothing wrong, but the noise is persistent, and there must be something wrong.
On 10/22/03 I had upper and lower left side ball joints replaced due to noise and vibration with mileage under 32100 miles. On 7/20/04 the rear universal joint had to be replaced at 37821 miles. All repairs 100% my cost. Here we are again at 38340 miles; noise, clunking, and vibration in the front suspension. Back to the dealer.
We just bought a new 2004 Dodge Dakota quad cab. We have just over 2000 miles on it, mostly expressway miles going to work. A few weeks ago my girlfriend (who IA a daimler-Chrysler employee) pulled out of her parking space at work to go home and got about 20 feet and the drivers front wheel fell off in front of the other employees going home. There was no nut on the upper ball joint, but the pin was still in place. And the following Saturday after the incident she found the nut (not broke) lying on our garage floor, right where we parked the truck. She could have been killed on the expressway going to work that day, or killed someone else. After the tow truck driver got there after 4 hours (he got lost), he pulled the Dakota up with chains on the flatbed tow truck while the truck was in park. Then when he got to adrian Dodge in adrian michigan (where we bought the truck) he backed up to another tow truck, hooked up the Dakota with chains and pulled it off while still in park. Also he did some damage to the fender flare. We took pictures of the truck before it was towed. There was no body damage. We wanted a new truck, because we only made one payment and it was a factory defect, but adrian Dodge said that Chrysler said no, they would repair the damaged one. They said it was a factory defect, and because we bought it with a employee discount they couldn''t do anything for us. We are very angry about this. I think it was negligence on their part, because she drove to work without that nut on the truck. And because they towed it on and off the towtruck, it could possibly mess up the transmission. They fixed our truck and we have it back.
The consumer owns a 2004 Dakota 4x4. The consumer's vehicle has the same ball joint problem as described in the recall for the 2000-2003 models. The consumer wants to know why the manufacturer excluded 2004 Dakota .