thank you for the welcome. I had the shop do it so i dont know the brand, but they used new coils on the front which were 20% stiffer and it helped a little, but the truck still bounces all over the place and bump-steers. The back was dropped 4.5 by replacing 2 leafs and used shackels.

 

ok, so the shop talked to monroe ant the struts they have for the front (71100) are for 4wd. so i called my buddy and he said the only difference in the strut would be the weight its intended for so they'll fit my truck, but they'll be a little more stiff than intended.

 

My shocks suck also, at first I thought it was just a truck thing but after reading all these complaints it is obvious it's a Dodge issue. I'll probably add rancho shocks in the future.

 

my stock 07 4x4 QC V8 shocks sucked. After having them changed twice, and finding out they all sucked, I payed the labor,(about $315) the dealer provided the parts to put 08 front shocks,springs,sway bar, and sway bar end link. A bit better than anything from 07s, still not as good as it ought to be. Some folks confuse people complaning about shocks with others complaining about stiff ride, I just hate the bouncing, on the highway too, not just some rough road. Now when they wanna sell me some extended warranty it is worth less, cause the front shocks I will not replace with stock ones, Rancho for me, next go around. Bad enough they want to sell you the extended warranty for about the same price as as one that doesn't have the lifetime powertrain already

 

I am looking at my 3rd set of shocks on the front of my 07 4wd. First set was replaced at 24000 miles, truck now has 53000 almost all highway driving. Our local Dodge dealer is "unaware of any problems" with these shocks and wants $650 to replace both sides.
How tough is it to do yourself? I definitely do not want the Mopar replacements.

 

Order yourself some Rancho or Monroe struts and take them to a corner shop to get installed. You should be able to walk away for about $400 after parts and labor.

 

got my monroes for $140 shipped. Shop wants 250 to install. Provided they dont run into any problems...lol

 

Doing the install yourself some people have had horrible trouble getting the bottom attachment bolt on the strut out. You will also need to compress the springs to get them off the strut which is damn near impossible without either grinding down normal spring compressors or using a wall mounted unit. If you can get them out I'd recommend having a shop with a wall mounted compressor remove the springs and put them on the new struts for you, that would make life easier and probably be fairly cheap.

 

I have a whopping 34,500 miles on my truck. I have had replaced under warranty: both outer tie rods, both sway bar links on the front, both front sway bar bushings, transmission lines (twice), the upper cab corner on the driver's side above the rear window looks like its separating where the top and side come together, now I have a major vibration that I can't pinpoint yet, I have a popping or thumping sound which sounds like ball joints, the front end bounces like its head banging to my music (I'm thinking worn struts), and I also have to replace the rear sway bar links and bushings. I had my windshield replaced after a rock hit it and the glass shop said my windshield was not sealed properly from the factory and could have been very bad had I gotten into a wreck. I drive 8 miles a day round trip to work and back on a road that was repaved 2 years ago. I have done off-roading with other makes of truck in the past and had no where near the issues I've had with this Dakota. Not to mention that a retard designed the cross member that goes right under our oil drain plug.

Thanks Dodge for over pricing my truck for what a POS its been and then have it **** in my face every time I change my oil!!!!

Dodge, you wonder why you went bankrupt and had to be bailed out when you are selling a product that you know is faulty and will not fix it. The above mentioned parts and labor came out of YOUR pocket because you made poor decisions while building this truck. Next time they go it will be out of my pocket and will not make me happy. My next $30,000 or $40,000 for a new truck will be spent more wisely I can assure you. If you would spend a little money up front and build our vehicles with top notch equipment and design them to be used rather than looked at then maybe you would gather some more customers to pay for your investment. Making your vehicles with cheap parts and cheap design is not going to save your company money if you are having to replace everything underneath them because they are faulty (not to mention giving your company a bad reputation for having weak and unreliable vehicles). This just PISSES OFF people like me that spent $32,000 of my hard earned money (more than a year's pay for me!) on a piece of crap truck. We DO NOT have to shop Dodge, Ram, or Chrysler the rest of our life and we WILL go elsewhere where other companies have their act together. You should thank your styling team for your sales, because that's why I bought mine. I owned a 1997 Dakota with similar front end issues. I loved its appearance and that is why I bought it. Nice to see in 10 years you didn't fix any problems. I've learned my lesson with this truck!!!

 

you could just spray the top of the strut where the shaft comes out with some oil or WD40. Drive it a few days to collect some dirt and return to the dealer with leaking bouncy struts. I guess they would have to replace them then under warranty, they are leaking now!