I have an issue with my 95 Dak 4x4 and 2 different mechanic / alignment shops cant figure it out. The noise is rather loud and hits hard, hard enough that I can feel it in the floor board on the drivers side and somewhat in the steering wheel. It pops mostly when going over uneven terrain, especially when turning the wheel to the right. It also makes the same noise when I accelerate hard from a stop or near stop.
Please help me try to locate this problem as I have 2 step children, 6 & 9, that ride in the DaKota from time to time. Thanks in advance.

 

Floor board? I'd be checking, in this order:

1) Control arm bushings
2) Motor mounts and transmission mount.
3) Ball joints.
4) Steering gear (95 was a recirc ball design)
5) Torsion bar on the driver's side. When Chrysler first started using torsion bars back in the 50's, they would break and would cause all kinds of sounds.
6) Torsion keys.

RwP

 

I checked the control bushing and motor mounts over the weekend. they are dry but still in tact. the truck sat up for nearly 2 years in garage. is it possible the ball joints have a "dry socket"? What about the intermediate steering shaft?

 

Sway bar end links. Tie rods. Lots of other moving parts to check.

 

I've got the same noise going on. I haven't really checked much out but I do know my day bar bushings are super shot. Sway bar isn't even in them straight any more.

 

hey Cooreman, Could you take a picture of how your sway bar looks now. Mine does look kinda crooked, but the bushings look ok.

 

I'll try to take a photo tonight if the front of my house isn't flooding

 

I'm not sure how to send photos but they don't look as bad as I remember but the center is cracked up and definitely at an angle. I think I'm going to disconnect it and see if the noise goes away

 

Had a similar issue that was caused by a bad...like really really bad, driver's side wheel bearing. It would worsen while turning but I think it was while turning left but I don't remember for sure. When I removed the old one it just fell apart. It was scary to drive because it was all over the road. Fixed that in a jiffy. The sway bar bushings on my truck were also completely shot and shrunken and cracked but it didn't make any noise.

 

When the motor mounts go you can't see it. The only way to tell is the tab the is on the motor will get shiny as it rubs against the part attached to the frame when I pulled mine for a rebuild both where bad rubber completely torn. Which explained my noise and the gear shift handle moving left to right when I let the clutch out during start and shifting.

Dudester