2000-2003 Dakota Owners - POOR FRONT BRAKE DESIGN

I've had to replace the front brake pads, rotors and calipers 3 separate times on my 2002 Dakota Regular cab. The truck has just over 79,000 miles on it. One these model year Dakotas and a few Durango model years, Dodge used this poor deign where the postion of the caliper is held in place by a cheap metal clip that is shaped like a recurve bow whcih rests on two posts coming out of the hub. When the clips losses its "springiness" the caliper beomes misaligned both left/right, up/down, and rotationally. The brake pads wear unevenly and one side eats into the rotor while the other side of the pad looks untouched. The caliper slips down and rubs against the rotor causing grooves in the caliper. The spring clup flattens out and rubs against the rotor causing a groove to get cut into the rotor wherre it attaches to the hub.

If you take you Dakota/Durango with this setup to the deal about brake vibration, lack of braking power, and even if your caliper is smoking, ask to see the parts as the caliper being misaligned feels similar to if the caliper was sticking.

I'd had it and I'd like to hear from other Dodge owners who've had this issue. (I mean why are the break parts so cheap ... nothing else for these Dakotas in this cheap.) I'd like to get as many owners posting these problems as possible...as if they are willing to replace the cheap wiper motor, they should replace the front brakes with a design that makes sense.


SO POST HERE AND LET'S AMASS A TON OF OWNERS WHO'VE HAD THIS ISSUE!