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My tires on the front of the dakota (4×4) have some bad heel toe wearing only on the inside inch or so. The tires themselves have less than 5000 miles on them. The steering in it has about two inches of play and whenever i hit bumps, especially when going around corners the front end wants to do whatever it feels like. I drive on some really bad roads too. Im just wondering where to start. Im for sure going to get an alignment but what else could be it? I know dodges are known for ball joints going out.
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You should definitely go for an alignment but if your car has a bad suspension part like a ball joint then it will just ruin the alignment again so make sure you check on your ball joints and other parts of the suspension before going for an alignment.
Dodges have real junky front end parts. It most likely will have bad parts and will cost a good chunk of change to get it fixed right.
look into some aftermarket parts, some suspension companies also sell high quality tie rods and balljoints.i suppose i shouldnt be surprised that anything is bad in the front, after all it was a plow truck and a farm truck. And to add to the mix it was in a front end collision at some point. Joy.
You have worn parts. 2 inches of play is alot. Get it checked out, it may be unsafe and worse than you think.
Late model Dodges, Dakotas specifically seem to have an issue with the steering column u-joint wearing out. Ive replaced a few in the last year or so.
[quote=”wilddj” post=51844]My tires on the front of the dakota (4×4) have some bad heel toe wearing only on the inside inch or so. The tires themselves have less than 5000 miles on them. The steering in it has about two inches of play and whenever i hit bumps, especially when going around corners the front end wants to do whatever it feels like. I drive on some really bad roads too. Im just wondering where to start. Im for sure going to get an alignment but what else could be it? I know dodges are known for ball joints going out.[/quote]
For the loose steering check the wheel bearings, suspension and steering linkages (including column rag joints), shocks and ball joints. Eric’s video is a good demonstration of this.
Lower ball joints on 2WD Dakotas should be replaced if they have more than 0.020 in. of play. Upper ball joints on 2WD Dakotas and any ball joint on 4WD Dakotas should be replaced if any play exists at all.
If I remember right, these are press in ball joints.
For the tire problem, it sounds as if camber is misaligned. While checking the steering/suspension, also check the control arm and sway bar bushings. If they’re bad replace them and have an alignment done after all bad parts are changed.
just a quick update. I had the truck looked at, at work today. one of the techs said that the ball joints are worn but they are not bad so I wont really look into replacing them for a while. Other than that he didnt really find much wrong with it, and to have them do it at work it would be close to 800 bucks but i am still going to look at the steering linkages and see if any of that is bad.
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