I have an 89 Dodge Dakota 4x4 truck. Recently the front end has been shakingsomething awful but not always. When it first happened the other day at highwayspeed (60 mph) I thought I had a flat tire in the front right. Pulled over andit was fine. I then thought my lug nuts got loose. (That's what it felt like)All lugs were tight. I made a U-Turn to attempt to take the truck home slowlyand the shake went away. This was 2-3 days ago and it's been totally randomwhen it happens. I changed the front right tire thinking it may have been asteel belt. Same problem happened to me this morning. Of course turning sharpleft and right resolves it.

The truck has 178,xxx miles on it. The 4WD light is stuck on. I took thevacuum lines off of the front axle and there is no vacuum at all in 2WD or 4WD.I'm guessing the lines are plugged or the sensor on the transfer case is stuck.I plan on replacing this when it gets warmer here in PA. This truck is not myprimary transportation. So I only run it if the snow is bad or if I need tohaul something. I put 1,400 miles on it in the last year. It just so happens mytiming belt snapped in my primary car last week and I have to run this untilthat's fixed.

Can anyone provide any insight on what may need replaced or what's wrong?When I changed the wheel the tie rod on the front right (passenger side) seemedto be in good condition.

I figure if it happens again on the way home I'm going to put it in 4WD whenit happens to see if it changes its behavior.

I know there are some really smart guys on here with these 1st gens. Iappreciate all the help you guys can provide.

Thanks in advance,
Jeremy

 

put the front end up on jack stands and wiggle the tire around to see if there is any play. side to side is tie rod, top or bottom play is a ball joint.

 

or listen for a knock from the suspension when going over bumps, that usually says bad ball joint because the wiggle method doesn't always work.

 

Thanks. I didn't think to do that when changing the tire. It might have to do something with it being 20 degrees outside. ha

If it does it again before I get to check that I'm going to lock the 4HI in to see if anything changes.

Any other feedback or known issues please keep them coming!

 

I'd like to provide some updates to this thread and hopefully get some moreguidance.

On the way home from work Thursday it was acting very badly. Of coursetaking a sharp turn would resolve the issue. However shortly after it would beback maybe every 1/8 of a mile. I finally put it in 4WD and gave it some gas.It pulled out of the shaking.

I took the truck out the road yesterday with my buddy. When the shakingstarts both front wheels have a wobble. I also ended up with a broken brakeline which I think was due to the awful amount of shaking.

At this point I plan on getting the brake line fixed, work on getting that 4WD fixed, but I really have no clue on the shaking. Could it be the steeringbox? Power steering pump?


It should be noted that the power steering went out on the truck about 200miles ago. It cut out on a turn and came right back.

I'm clueless. So any insight would be great!

Thanks guys,
Jeremy

 

There are four steel lines that run from the axle to the NP231 vacuum switch. I found one of the four lines was completely rusted shut. I exchanged them from another truck after verifying that set was good... but it is a son of a gun getting them out and back in the stock locations. They catch a couple bolts on top of the transmisson, and literally had to remove tranny dip stick tube to complete the replacement. I might add.. all this was done on a lift, tranfer case was out and tranny was lowered to the cross member...

I also found the vacuum switch was seized... you can buy them on ebay for about $20 if you do a cross referrence to the Jeep NP231 case.

The front axle lock /unlock was disassembled at the same time and cleaned and lubed to verify functionality... I highly recommend doing the same thing.

My truck actually had the pinnion shaft in the front axle worn through the seal and into the housing... I bought it that way, but I imagine it had to shake like crazy at speed with that condition.

The truck was trailered to me, so I never had a chance to drive it... just jumped right into rebuilding things I found bad. (Just about eveything... LOL)

 

It could be anything. My best suggestion is what has been said already.

If it needed to take an alignment shop and see if they can find it for you.

 

That is what I would do if I was stumped is take it too the shop and let them find what it is for you.

 

Thanks for the feedback guys.

I have slight play left to right on both tires. Both are the same amount of play. Up and down is solid. I even put a pry bar under the tire and lifted up and down. It's solid. Someone told me a steering damper. However this truck doesn't appear to have one.

I saw there are two parts connected to a long bar that goes to the steering column. They look okay but who knows. I noticed in the manual I have there are some greese fitting areas. I'll hunt for them and see if that helps.

On a side note I got the brake line fixed and took out the vacuum switch. It indeed was bad. I added the new one and I'm now getting vacuum to the one hose up front at the hub. If I put it in 4WD the vacuum stops on the one and doesn't change to the other. So I'm uncertain if this is normal or if there may be an offline or bad line some where in between. I was hoping to get the front 4WD issue taken care of incase if it may be the reason it's acting goofy.

Just trying to exhaust all options and starting with things that I know aren't right.

 

I've seen a few trucks with front end shake caused by binding UJoints, even in 2wd and I imagine a CV Joint style axle could do this too but I haven't seen any do this as of yet. Some are confirmed visually, there is almost always rusty dust on the UJoint and/or slop in them (this is the axle UJoint out at the knuckle). This condition almost always changes when the wheel is turned since this changes the load on the UJoint, sometimes they only shake or "grab" when turning (sorta like being in 4Low on dry pavement) sometime they only shake or "grab" at certain speeds driving straight, sometimes they bind all the time. If these axles are the U Joint type, I'd look very closely at the UJoints at the end of each axle, better with a helper quickly loading/unloading the joints by yank-spinning the tire back and forth (forward/reverse/forward/reverse a very short distance). Also check the ball joints & tie rods again, look for utube vids on this (I'd look for you by internet connection speed is pathetic). If you don't know what you're looking for or how to fix it, I highly recommend you not drive far or fast until a mechanic takes a look at it.
EDIT: Sorry, I mis-read your post where you mention checking the up/down play.