I had the now infamous "clunking noise" coming from the front end of my '02 Dakota, had the ball joints replaced a few weeks ago (before the recall officially came out), and still have the same noises, especially during low speed turns. I recently received my recall notification, and the truck is about to go back into the shop, but before I take it in, I would like to know if anyone else had ball joints replaced and found that this didn't relieve the problem?

 

I had my ball joints replaced in November and the problem seemed to me like it got worse...Although I have a 4x2 not a 4x4, so my isn't included in the recall...

 

Hi,

I have a '98 dakota and I had the exact same problem! For six months, I had a clunking noise, and I replaced the ball joints and that just made things worse, now my ball joints broke again, and I'm getting a very embarrassing sqeaking noise on even the smallest of bumps. I brought it in to the shop down the road, and he told me that my shocks were causing the clunking. He said the shocks were hitting a part of metal on the frame of the truck, which caused also my ball joint problem, due to more stress on them. After another hefty 400$ (CAD) I got my shocks replaced and all four ball joints (upper and lower) and now it solved everything. No more noise. Hope this helps.

 

Don't forget to check those control arm bushings!