Mine doesnt do it every day.. probably 5 times in a month

 

TIE ROD ENDS ARE GOING OUT LOL ur tires COULD start going two different directions, which on the highway could be fatal...

 

I had that happen on my mustang.. not cool.. I was only going 5 miles though ....

 

No klings I haven't had more time to check it out yet. Yeah I know what can happen if a tie rod completely goes. I'm about ready to just say screw it and replace all 4 ball joints, and all tie rods so I know they're all new. Crappy thing is I'll need another alignment and I just had one done a week ago.

 

If you had some front end problems, the people that did your alignment should have had you fix those first, yellow. Ball joints are a common problem with these dakotas whether they fall in the recall or not. My96 dak made the same noise once, i replaced the uppers and it went away.

 

hey man i have been though this popping front end problem alot with my 99 dakota rt 2wd.... i have replaced all the ball joints top and bottom and still had the problem... so i replaced the steering outer tie rod ends and helped a bit but still does it when i stop and turn corners... so i ordered a set poly bushings to replace those crappy rubber ones.. mine are really bad... havent put them on yet but i looked at my rubber ones that are on the truck now and they are shot... i happen to have two sets of poly bushings from energy suspension... due to idiots i ordered the first set from... long story... here are the bushing i got on ebay

http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&ih=014&sspagename=S TRK%3AMESE%3AIT&viewitem=&item=33018467880 8&rd=1

so i am hopeing that will fix the problem... also make sure you grease you ball joints too that causes binding and premature wear!!

so id try if i were you is grease all the ball joints you can get to and find on there... and make sure you look at your rubber bushings...

i have 125k plus on mine and mine are bad

hope this helps...

 

Fixing them this weekend. Ball joints look to be good. They shouldnt be that hard to change?

 

If you look and v8performance.com in the tips and tricks section, look for the popping sensation article and cabmountarticle. I had a similar noise as you and it ended up being the cab mount fix.

 

i read an article a couple of months ago about the same thing. Turns out it was the steering column.......