I've had the following problems:

Warped front rotors - 16,000 miles
Outer tie rods worn - 24,000 miles
Front wheel bearing failure - 24,000 miles

What's so bad is that the rotors weren't covered by the 3/36 warranty so I ended up eating half of the cost after fighting with Dodge. The tie rods and wheel bearing both occurred after 36 months so I paid for the tie rod replacements as was able to get Dodge to cover all but $125 of the wheel bearing replacement.

I do not haul anything with my truck, go off-roading or in any other way treat my truck roughly. It seems outrageous to me that I would have so many failures with front end components with so few miles on it.

How common are my problems?

 

My brakes in general lasted 51k. They needed replacing now. Tie rods went at 35k? And my ball joints and sway bar links lasted 50k. Since you had dodge replace them your looking at probably replacing them yet again soon.

 

thats the reason i dont put crappy balljoints on my truck lol

 

That's why I just spent $275 on upper and lower moogs lol. Moog sway bar links to come too lol.

 

ouch.

oh and front sway bars are a waste of space and weight

 

With the exception of the rotors, I think most everyone has the same issues (at least I don't see a lot of complaints about rotors). The factory components are pure junk. If they are replacing things under warranty, they are using the same factory junk so it will go bad again soon. Most of us have upgaded these parts with aftermarket (better) parts from Moog. Tie rod ends, ball joint, struts, sway bar end links (I prefer to keep mine on) can all be found at Rock Auto. Most of these are greaseable and last way longer than the el-cheapo factory parts.

 

Not I, I mean I did have a wheel bearing fail at around 8k and the my rotors had some weird corrosion issue at 39k but everything else is tight and legit.

 

my bearings lasted 100000 miles, did my own brake upgrades with Napa parts, well worth it. now at 120000 miles, I have to replace tie rod, getting new tires and alignment this weekend, did the rancho upgrade years ago

 

So are the Autozone versions.

I'm having trouble getting the control arm bolts out. If I find the bolts I'm just going to cut the olld one and have them pressed out of the bushings. Replacing both lower control arms just so I can replace a $30 ball joint is just plain retarded.

 

Autozone stuff is usually junk, in my experience, unless you get the good name brand stuff.

I buy a lot of stuff from Rock Auto now if it can wait. 99% of the time, they are half price of what you can get at Autozone, O'Reillys, Advance, or NAPA, and they almost always have all the good name brands. Currently trying Deeza parts on the wife's 2006 Durango (semi-similar to 2004-2007 Dakotas, I have read) for the sway bar links. Supposedly almost as good or just as good as Moog, and occasionally cheaper. Made in Turkey. We drove it for a while with none when we were waiting on parts (rather than dealing with the constant rattling noise over bumps), and we definitely noticed it, noticeably more lean in corners.