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Dodge Dakota Suspension and Axles

113 messages,  Last post on Oct 22, 2009 at 4:47 PM

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#44 of 113 Ball Joint Recall Reimbursement? by duke15 Oct 21, 2007 (11:59 am)
My father-in-law has a 2001 Dakota, 2wd. He lives in Virginia and while getting his vehicle inspected (state law) he was told his ball joints needed replaced or he would fail the inspection (non-dealer). He paid to get them replaced, and remembered the recall once he got home. The ball joints would have been covered by the recall. He called the local dealer to see if he could at least get reimbursed for the parts, and they told him that since he decided to fix it on his own, the ball joints aren't covered under the warranty.   Has anyone else been in a similiar situation or think if he writes or phones Chrysler North America that he might be able to recoup at least some of his costs?   Thanks Replies to this message: bpeebles (Oct 22, 2007 4:26 pm) duke15 (Oct 23, 2007 6:55 am)
#45 of 113 Re: Ball Joint Recall Reimbursement? [duke15] by bpeebles Oct 22, 2007 (4:26 pm)
Replying to: duke15 (Oct 21, 2007 11:59 am) That is not what the Dodge folks told me (not the dealership) I received several phonecalls from somone at Dodge (because I had not taken my Dak in for the recall) and she told me that the dealerships MUST inspect/replace the balljoints.   I questioned her for several minuts...explaining that I already had the upper balljoints replaced. She INSISTED that a Dodge dealer MUST inspect/replace them anyway. Replies to this message: duke15 (Oct 23, 2007 6:55 am)
#46 of 113 Re: Ball Joint Recall Reimbursement? [bpeebles] by duke15 Oct 23, 2007 (6:55 am)
Replying to: bpeebles (Oct 22, 2007 4:26 pm) Thanks for the reply, bpeebles. It looks like he won't be able to recoup the cost, but we are still hopeful. He's going to call Dodge North America and see if he gets lucky. I'll let you know.
#47 of 113 Experts say bad wheel bearings: replaced them, but front end still noisy by tjfitz Jan 12, 2008 (3:36 pm)
I have a 1990 Dodge Dakota, 3.9 L gasoline engine, two-wheel drive with about 150,000 miles on the odometer. I've been noticing a kind of "swish-swish" sound coming from up front by the wheels and lately it has been getting to be more of a "grind-grind" sound. It seems to happen twice per wheel revolution, although I could not swear to that.   I put the front end up on stands and took off the tires and then the rotors and pulled out the wheel bearings, inboard and outboard, cleaned out the grease from them and the races and inspected them as well as I could. I spun the bearings but couldn't see, hear or feel any trace of roughness or wear. I regreased the bearings and put them back in the rotors and reinstalled everything. The noise was still there.   I then put the right side up on a stand and this time removed the outboard bearing and put in a new one (just the cone, not using the race provided, but leaving the old race in the rotor). I reassembled and heard the same noise on road testing.   I tried swapping the passenger side front wheel and tire with the rear, but found no change.   I then put the old bearing back in and brought the truck to a tire shop and asked them to have a look/listen and give me an opinion. Their $20 result was to say that the tires are OK but I probably have a bad wheel bearing.   I went home and bought a set of bearings and races for the passenger side rotor and took the cleaned rotor to a local machine shop to have the old races removed and the new ones installed. The shop also "cut" the disc surfaces because they said it isn't always possible to exactly match the position of the new race with the old race's position. I took the rotor home, installed the bearings and new seal for the inboard bearing and heard the same noise with a road test.   Today I took the truck to another tire shop for a second opinion. That mechanic also road tested the truck, put it up on a lift and spun the wheels and his $15 opinion is that the problem was a bad bearing on the drivers side.   I took the truck home and got another new set of races and bearings for the driver's side, but only installed the bearings, leaving the old races in the drivers side rotor. Road test showed that the same noise was still there.   The only odd thing I have noticed in all this is that one of the wheel studs on the passenger side seemed to allow the lug nut to keep turning tighter and tighter. I didn't notice this last time I put the tire and wheel on, so maybe it was not really happening. I looked at the rear side of the stud and it hasn't pulled any deeper into the wheel, and I haven't noticed the stud itself turning.   Would appreciate any guesses as to what can be happening. Replies to this message: tjfitz (Jan 16, 2008 4:36 pm) bpeebles (Jan 17, 2008 6:58 pm)
#48 of 113 Re: Best Shocks for replacements [dustyk] by belvedere65 Jan 12, 2008 (7:00 pm)
Replying to: dustyk (Mar 20, 2007 5:30 pm) Hi dustyk!     In case it hasn't been brought to your attention yet, "LIVE FREE or DIE" is New Hampshires state slogan.     Enjoy all the info on this forum.
#49 of 113 Re: Experts say bad wheel bearings: replaced them, but front end still noisy [tjfitz] by tjfitz Jan 16, 2008 (4:36 pm)
Replying to: tjfitz (Jan 12, 2008 3:36 pm) I left the pickup at a local repair shop and the mechanic zeroed-in on the differential. The shop telephoned me to come back and talk to the mechanic. He pried off the rubber cover over what I suppose is the fill-hole in the back of the differential and held a light there as he stuck a screwdriver in the fluid, then pulled it out and told me to note the silvery color of the fluid on the screwdriver shank. He thinks the carrier bearings are failing. The shop is quoting something over $700 to do a repair, and I am thinking I will park the pickup in the driveway until I can do any necessary work myself!   Getting back to the mechanic, he also held a mechanic's stethescope to the differential near the drivers side axle (this is a two-wheel rear drive pickup) and I could hear some noise, which he described it as a "growling".   He didn't listen to the transmission near the output bearing, but said he is almost certain the problem is in the differential, or possibly the rear axle bearings. (I seem to get in a real no-brain state when talking to any mechanic at any shop, and didn't think to ask him to listen to the transmission, although I had left a typed detailed description of the noise, my work, and also left a new transmission rear seal I had bought a couple of months ago, in case he found that was the source of the noise.)   He also had me get in the pickup on the lift and put the transmission in drive to hear the noise, and it was the same as I hear when driving, so I suppose that proves beyond a doubt that the noise isn't coming from the front wheels, but I'm not as certain about it coming from the differential and not the transmission.   I'll take the truck in to another shop tomorrow for a "second opinion". Replies to this message: bpeebles (Jan 17, 2008 6:58 pm)
#50 of 113 Re: Experts say bad wheel bearings: replaced them, but front end still noisy [tjfitz] by bpeebles Jan 17, 2008 (6:58 pm)
Replying to: tjfitz (Jan 16, 2008 4:36 pm) A proper differential rebuild is an exacting task which requires SKILL and EXPERIENCE. The amount of measurements, shimming and critical know-how required is rare to find in todays so-called mechanics. Especially since most of todays vehicles are FRONT wheel drive.   Unless you find somone reliable to perform the differential rebuild, you may not be happy with the results. A shop that rebuilds differentials for racecars would have the skill.   You may want to consider just having a complete rear-axle assembly installed from a salvage yard. The cost may be less than a differential rebuild. (and the warantee may be the same as a rebuild)   Whatever you do, consider using RedLine lube in the differential in the future. The extra cost is well worth it considering it would have likely PREVENTED this failure in the first place.
#51 of 113 Second opinion says it's the differential by tjfitz Jan 21, 2008 (6:24 pm)
Thanks for the comment, bpeebles.   Went to a second mechanic and he agrees the problem is the differential.   I rolled under the pickup this afternoon with one wheel off the ground, a jack stand holding it up. Then I marked the propeller shaft (drive shaft) with chalk and put a chalk mark on the raised tire and rotated the tire forward to get 10 revolutions of the shaft. I did the same on the other rear wheel.   The result for both wheels is that 10 shaft revolutions make about 5 and 5/8 wheel revolutions, or about 1.78 shaft revolutions per wheel revolution. I think you're supposed to multiply this by 2 to get the gear ratio between the pinion gear and the ring gear, so I am guessing my ratio is about 3.56.   I also took a photo of the differential from the cover end. There is a metal tag fastened under one of the cover bolts. I enlarged the photo and it looks to me as id the the tag has this lettering: "1|8.3" . Could this be 1 ring gear tooth per 8.3 pinion gear teeth? If I multiply by 2, this becomes 3.66.   Am I figuring all this right?
#52 of 113 Noisy rear end after differential fliud change by dodgemon Jan 23, 2008 (11:29 pm)
I brought my 2003 4x4 CC. in for a front and rear diff fluid change to mr. Lube, they used mopar antislip additive and it was quiet for a couple days it actually sounded better, now its really noisy, sounds like the howl of an old army jeep. the cantire mechanic says its prolly the bearings and will be 600 to fix.how can this happen overnight, a friend suggested throwing in jacobs to quiet it down. Any ideas? Replies to this message: docgreen (Mar 10, 2008 3:41 pm)
#53 of 113 Ouch! by tjfitz Jan 24, 2008 (5:52 am)
dodgeman, "I feel your pain." I am scouring the region's junk yards for 7.25 inch, 3.55 gear ratio rear axle assemblies for my '90 Dakota and not having much luck. I may have to remove the whole thing and put it on sawhorses in my freezing cold front porch and see if I can repair whatever is wrong inside the differential box. May have to rent one of those salamander butane heaters to keep from turning into a block of ice (I'm in North Dakota).

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