Anyone with a 1st generation dodge experienced clicking when slowing down, turning, @ slow speeds? I swear it is the brakes, but I have had it checked 3 times, and no one has been either able to reproduce what I am talking about or that there is no problem. As of yet...it has been about 1 year....I have had no problems. Would like some feedback on this subject...thanks in advance.

RQ

 

REading the messages on this forum....I have found my problem. The ball joints. Ok....I don't know much about major repairs...I would love to learn how to work on my Durango since I will have it for at least 10 more years....yes....I love it that much!!!! How much would a repair/replace like this cost? Thanks for your honesty and all your information.

 

my 98D had the total balljoint deal at about 60k miles. It is a rough project. The old upper balljoints are rivited in, requiring you to gring out the rivits. The OEM balljoints look like the came out of the "Neon" parts bin. The new aftermarkets are way nicer.
You can test for this problem by jacking the fron up so the wheel is about 1/2 in off the ground, and then put a pry bar under the tire and pry up. Any play is bad ball joint.
Pennsylvania State inspect picked this up for me, cost me $900 to fix. Had we not found, the frontend would have fallen out soon.

I just got new tires (Goodyear Fortera, awesome), got back brakes working good, got a new stero, the old D is feeling preety good..........

 

thanks for the input...will try that today! Hope I get "no play."

 

The ball joints are a very fun project. I was trying to decide whether or not to have some one do mine or do them myself. Found out that a couple of shops wanted 600 bucks just for the labor end of it. So when I found out that I could get the parts for under 200 bucks I went with the do it yourself method. Other than standard wrenches and tools (large c-clamp) you will need a ball joint press kit ($50-100). Get a repair manaul (Haynes), it will tell you everything that you need to remove but it does get a little non-discriptive such as saying that the lower ball joints aren't servicable. I found notes on how to remove the lowers with the parts. Give yourself an entire weekend to do both uppers and lowers. I would suggest doing one side at a time or having some help for when you need to remove the CV joint. I can give you more pointers if you decide to do the do it yourself route.