After putting up with the idiots at my local dealership (Champion Dodge, Gulfport MS) I finally took the advice of my friend and had an independent road force balance test done. The dealership had supposedly had one done, they said the truck had 3 bad tires. Goodyear replaced them, it still vibrated. My friend, who sells rfb machines rebalanced the tires, and the vibration finally was gone.

This was after the mutts at the dealership had--over 9 months--(1) said they could feel no vibration (2) found a bad wheel (couldn't remember which one was bad when the wheel came in so they arbitrarily changed the right front) which did not solve the problem (3) replaced the driveshaft, still vibrated (4) called in a Dodge tech who said 3 of 4 tires bad (how could you miss 3 bad tires, I asked--they shrugged (5) supposedly had a road force balance--said wheels were fine, (6) had Goodyear replace tires, which were so badly balanced that the vibration was as bad as ever.

My friend solved a problem that HAH! 5 star dealership couldn't fix in 9 months. This is the last Dodge I plan to own. It runs great now but the gas mileage sucks. I told the sales manager that I was going to cost him as much business as I could. He had the nerve to tell me that it was not a dealership problem but a Dodge problem. I am up to 64 people whom I've directly told to never buy a vehicle from Champion Dodge. They couldn't find their a** with both hands. I suspect this is a "Dodge" thing.
dodg

 

So what was the whole issue then bad tires which tires were bad or was it your rims, i know how you feel with all the complaint's and problem's i've been reading about i dont think i will ever get a dodge or a dakota again, i know these dakota's are not a high end vehicle, but damn take some pride in your work build a top quality truck that does'nt have the issue's that the dakota has, you know there are some stressed out people biting there nails at chrysler and people getting slapped around at alot.

 

I am one of the may stressed out customers. Just read not only many of my own two senses through this site but also so many others. Yes a truck is many things that a car or SUV isn’t that’s why we bought trucks. They should be fun to have and drive. Yes they eat fuel way to much but we wanted a truck no mater what. What we didn’t want was all the crap that this line of product is portraying. It down right ugly the feeling of so many Dak. owners. I’m stressed; I really am over this purchase. This has been a VERY BAD experience. Add salt to the womb and that would be the dealerships. They are without a doubt shameful. I swear I will never by a Chrysler product again. I will by a Toyota in a heartbeat.