Anyone who knows anything about the Gen IV Daks knows that they are not the most popular out there. If you need confirmation of this, walk into any NAPA, AutoZone, O’riley’s, basically anywhere and try to get parts for one. You’ll find the selection between slim and none. As the rule goes, then more popular the vehicle, the more aftermarket selection of parts you’ll find. This does not help someone like me with an 05 with over 100k on the odometer.

So let me begin by saying this…. I knew I needed shocks about 2 years ago, but I decided to hold out until I was able to get something better than the OEM crap shocks. The ride wasn’t too bad, so I let it go. And then last year Monroe finally came out with a shock for the Gen IV’s, which made me happy for about 30 seconds before I found out that they really weren’t making them. Every time I would check warehouse inventories, all I got was a nice “BACKORDER” note. So I waited a bit longer until about 2 weeks ago when I saw Rock Auto had some, So I whipped out my card and put my order in. Got them in a few days along with some new lower ball joints, which was super cool. And then the nightmare began.

So I decided to let my freinds at Frank’s Auto tackle the beast…. I didn’t have the ambition to tackle a front strut setup, plus I didn’t have the tools for the job either. Dropped off the truck in the morning, came back in the afternoon only to find the truck under a huge pool of PB Blaster from them trying to get the lower shock bolts out. They were so rusted in there it took them about all day to get the components out. You’ld think they would put on some anti-sieze at the factory to prevent this, but I guess Dodge is to cheap to do so. And then the ball joints…. Since Dodge is know for having just crap for ball joits you’ld think they’ld be bolted in, or maybe riveted on like the Gen III’s. Nope, They’re pressed in, which makes replacing them on a Gen III look like a cakewalk! (that’s BAD)

And then the kicker… one of my sway bar links was broke, and none of the parts stores had them! The dealer could get them, but it would be $120 for the set and would take a few days. So the 05 sat all weekend. On Monday one of the links came in, on Tuesday the other one. Then we started looking at the tie rod ends and those needed replaced! But we could get those through NAPA so it wasn’t too bad. So when all was said and done, $1200 I sank into the 05 in parts & labor…. goddamn sickning, coulda got a lot of chrome for the 98 with that!