2nd time for left and right ball joints, and tie rod ends. And first time for rear swaybar bushings and end links. Gotta love that shty front end!

 

Mine's at the dealer now for a whole list of issues. One being the clunking in the front end on a rough road or going over a bump, curbing out of the driveway, etc. I'm sure everyone will find it shocking that they told me they can't duplicate the problem. Being an owner of 4 Dakotas now (2 with the current front suspension) I've had just a little experience with the ball joints and/or tie rod ends on these things. Every Dak I've owned has needed one or the other, or both, replaced at least once. And I didn't even keep my other 3 trucks longer than 2 years! They're notorious for it, and the techs HAVE to know that. But yet it takes 3 trips to the dealer with the same complaint before they can finally, miraculously "duplicate the concern".

These service guys treat their customers like total morons (which a lot of people who drive are, and have no clue other than to believe when they tell them there's nothing wrong) but I've been around cars and trucks my whole life and know a little more than the average dummy. Fortunately, the Service Overseer, or whateverthehell they call him, kind of goes to bat for me on some things, so hopefully when they call tomorrow and tell me they can't duplicate the problems, he'll get involved so I don't have to drive down there and act like a lunatic to get some results.

Oh yea, and while I'm at it, the engine has a tapping sound that's been going on for a while now. Can anyone guess? Yep! They said they don't hear any tapping. A dead person could hear this $hit. The service writer told me over the phone that any tapping or ticking noice I hear when the engine is cold is likely from the oil taking a while to get to the lifters to lube them. I wonder how long that takes since I can drive it 700 miles and it still taps. Worthless jerkoffs.

Also, The rubber gaskets on my flares occasionally decide to pop out of the groove, so I told them I want that fixed too. First phone call..."the flare gaskets are fine". I just about popped MY freaking gasket. So when I called back today they said they ordered new ones for the front flares. At least I'm getting somewhere with that.

The last thing I wanted done was a loose door panel on the upper rear passenger door. That crappy plastic cover behind the QC window is loose and rattles going over bumps or when I have the stereo on max (did I just say that?). You can grab ahold of it and feel it's loose, but yet over the phone they told me they...couldn't duplicate the problem.

It's a real shame when you drop $30K+ for a new vehicle, AND buy the service contract, you have to take these morons by the hand, take them out yourself on test drives, and point things out to them in person with a neon sign before they find or 'admit' there's anything wrong and finally cover it under warranty.

 

I know how you feel. I had to argue with them about the trailmaster lift not compromising the ball joints, and that people with out the lift were having ball joint issues! Then they told my the sway bar could be bad because of the tm too.

 

The service department at my dealer gave me a hard time about the TM kit causing the end-links to go bad once. I asked him "Would stiffer springs cause the end links to go bad?" "No" "Well that's basically all it's doing, look at it" "Yeah... I guess you're right". Once they figured out I wasn't an idiot they stopped trying to BS me and were actually pretty good about fixing any other issues I had.

 

HAHA i got new shocks too!

 

you think they would cover grenade damage?

 

Destructive mood tonight French?

 

nahhhh

just wanna see what kinda replacement the stupid dealers will fall for...

my brother in law is a marine, I'm sure he could hook me up with some live grenades, i'll sell em to someone on eBay... ;-)

 

Congratulations you're probably on the no-fly list now

 

Good luck with that, I wasn't allowed to get on base because they couldn't account for a rifle. If they cannot account for any weapon, no one comes in and no one goes out until it is found. Plus if he got caught trying to stealing a grenade he'd probably face some serious consequences. One of my buddies got in loads of trouble for having dummy grenades in his locker during a random inspection.