moe7404

last Dec had the ft aliened. now the aliment is needed again, with two new tires, and a striped bolt. cost $550. my mech said that the frames on dakotas are a little week. and move a round some. if this is true can the frame be beefed? buying an aline,ent every 4 mo is NOT what i need.

TVLynn

Millage ? 4 wheel drive ?

RacerHog

Sounds like the alignment guy is week....Just My opinion
But Alignment just does not go out of alignment for no reason..

moe7404

well it is a 2 wd. 120,000. miles iam trying to get this TWK to last the rest of my life. iam only 65 years

TVLynn

I would bet the upper ball joints are bad !!!!! Common Mopar problem. BIG problem is if you have the oil changed ? They never grease the chassis, you have to watch them do the work !!!!

Moparod

Dollars to donuts it's either ball joints or front wheel hub bearings, or if you're lucky like me, both. I have a '02 2wd Dak I'm in the middle of doing a front end rebuild on @ 94,000 miles. The ball joints, tie rod ends etc are not serviceable, no grease fittings. The replacement parts have them. All four ball joints, both outer tie rod ends are bad- the boots are dry rotted and completely dried out with no grease at all. Both of the wheel hub bearings are also sloppy and can't be serviced; the complete hub assembly is actually a little cheaper than buying the bearings by themselves, go figure.

moe7404

the ball joints and bearings are not old. with out looking i know the oil change is less than 3,000. miles.
i think ill be glad when i dont have to drive and spend my day harassing my buds an truck web sites. LOL LOL

RacerHog

Man, I would hunt down that problem and kill it. I hate tire wear and vehicles that drive like a "LogTruck"..
Hope you find the problem Moe...

pro-tech

Moe, Where are the tires wearing??? Inside is a Toe out problem,, Outside is a toe in problem,, Both edges is tire inflation,,, Choppy wear is shocks ball joints etc.. If it is only one tire then it will be a tie rod end or camber/caster problem... Just so you know camber /caster doesn't usually wear tires it will make the car/truck pull to the left or right...Ball joints cause the toe to be out from the looseness and cause tire wear that way.. not to mention the danger of the pulling from left to right.. Or completely falling apart... A big factor is after you get an alignment if you don't get new tires they will continue to wear in the pattern that is started from the misalignment... If you just had the ball joint done and the alignment and the tires are the old ones.. replace them or rotate them front to rear and rear to front..Bill

moe7404

the two frt tires had normal wear. so they got replaced. new on the back the rear good tires moved to frt. the alinement was adjusted to good numbers. the camber and caster was from -1.3 to -1.9. now camber is -0.5 and -0.6. caster is 2.6 and 3.1..... toe .05 and .05. but REAR left toe .42,,,rt .02.