Sorry for the length of this post in advance, but I must get this off my chest (doctor ordered therapy). I posted up a link to the socket that you need to remove the screw in ball joints for my 92 Dakota 4wd and placed the order. All the parts arrived from Summit 2 days later and I thought I was all set. Then "Murphy" knocked on my front door. First I made the mistake of ordering Mevotech ball joints instead of Moog or PST. I was able to get the left side joint out fairly easily.The new joint threaded in and torqued to 130 ft lbs and so I thought I was home free.Not so fast...the stud went into the socket so deep that even with a thick washer the hole for the cotter pin didn't line with the slots in the nut.(more on this later). I switched over to the passenger side and the old joint came out pretty easily...a little too easily. When I screwed in the new cheap POS Mevotech it spun at 25 ft lbs....oh sh*t! After some interwebs research I found the tack fix for this style of ball joint and set my MIG up to do this seemingly easy task (murphy again). Cleaned everything off, and proceeded to blow a hole in the top of the cheap, thin Mevotech....oh my F*#KING word! Called around and found a Moog K778 for 3 times the money of the POS Mevotech(not a fan at this point) for delivery the next morning.Oh well ...it's only money right? Moog joint arrived and it was readily apparent that it was much better quality.It definitely started much tighter , but would only torque to 75 ft lbs before I chickened out. I then successfully got 2 beefy tacks on it and called it good. Got the bottom nut started and it lined right up and the cotter pin installed correctly.This is because the nut supplied was twice the height as the cheap POS Mevotech nut (reoccurring theme here).
Now for "Murphy" part 2. I went to hook up the battery the next morning after welding and the truck was dead....totally dark.[ Moparts Family Site - Keep it Friendly ]? I had less than an hour before the last FEA appointment available this week. Battery showed 12.4 volts and fully charged but would not turn truck over??? Next door neighbor came over and gave me a boost and truck started right up. I jumped in and raced over to the tire place thinking I was all set...wrong! Truck shut off completely as I turned into their parking lot. Boosted it again and it was up on the alignment rack. Finally I was home free! Turns out battery showed 12.4 volts but only 43 out of 600 cranking amps. There goes another $129......oh well it's only money, right?
Let's get this thing lined up, get a new battery and be done with this right? Wrong! Just then "Murphy" made his 3rd appearance. 1 1/2 hours later the manager comes over and informs me that they don't dare touch the adjustment bolts to set the camber due to extreme rusting.They are afraid they will break and I'll be SOL. Turns out these parts are NLA. [ Moparts Family Site - Keep it Friendly ]... "Murphy" is over in the corner, laughs and raises a glass to my sorrow. This all started because I put new tires on and wanted to get an alignment! It is the next morning as I am typing this after having medicated myself to sleep last night. I also threw the POS Mevotech ball joint out in the woods in frustration. The moral of this tragic story is 1- Don't buy cheap sh*t and 2- "Murphy" always wins Now, to find some good, clean front suspension parts for a 91-96 Dakota 4wd.....anybody?

I feel your pain . . . . my 02 Cummins 2wd, had 65k miles on it last year, when I decided I should replace the original factory shocks . . . . hmmm, that should be a no brainer . . . went to online and researched with I thought I would need, and ended up getting (4) Monroe Gasmatics, or whatever they call them. All information said they were for the 8800GVW rating of my truck . . . . got everything installed no problem. . . proceeded to then take my travel trailer out and IMMEDIATELY knew that the shocks were NOT for 8800GVW . . .MUSH, and Bouncy !!! . . . the old shocks I took off, were wayyy better !!! . . . UGGHHH . . . not taking these back !!! SO, finally found EXACTLY what I needed, just need to get under the truck and put them on . . . .

Well that sucks! I put the new battery in and started the truck up yesterday...now my tach doesn't work..!?

i use mopar parts giant as a reference for parts. it goes back to 1984. that way u have a part number that some places can cross to their number. i have used it at work. i work at a napa store. i will see what i can do fot you in a little bit, as i also am helping a dealer get rid of nos parts. note: there is also a gm and ford parts giant,although they dont show the breakdown mpg does.

went to store a little bit ago, priv of being an asst mgr, to look. no listing for alignment kits like some other trucks do. mopar parts giant not too clear as what parts it takes. looks like reg nuts/bolts. when i go to garage i will look to c if i have a dak fsm.

Thanks for the effort.Those bolts are NLA and are not regular bolts. I spent 10 hours cleaning everything up and freeing up those bolts so everything should be goo to go. We will see if Murphy stops by again this morning.I found a pair of really clean UCA's with the bolts in New Mexico. When they arrive I will refurbish them and install on the truck later. By the way....the FSM and the parts manual are both wrong as far as this goes. The illustrations in both are confusing and very vague.

I feel your pain too.

Biggest lesson here is don't cheap out on parts. For all the time you'll waste jacking around with them, you'd be money and time ahead with the better parts.

I recently installed new ball joints and bushings in my '93 Dakota (2wd) and ran into a similar issue with tightening the ball joints. One was VERY tight when I removed it, thought I was gonna knock the truck off the jack stands because of the length of cheater pipe I was using. Other side was complete opposite. Set the socket and ratchet on the ball joint without the cheater pipe, gave the ratchet a shove just for giggles, and the ball joint turned. Ended up having to tack the new ball joint in place.

I had a local shop take care of the parts that had to be pressed out/in. The first question they asked me when I asked them about doing the work was what brand parts was I using. They said they've had too many problems with off brand parts (I always use MOOG, but even they are coming into question).

As for the tach, it's apparently a Dakota thing. I tried to research it back when I first bought my truck, but didn't find one root cause. Mine works, doesn't work, reads low when it's raining, bounces all over the place when it's cold out. That being said though, mine hasn't been as far off since I replaced the coil.

Fingers crossed...truck is lined up now and goes down the road nice.All due respect....take that Murphy The tach module may be causing the issue. I found a place in AZ that has NOS ones for $25