What I have HEARD (not yet seen a joint first-hand) is that a running
change was made from old-style steel-on-steel ball joints to a new
design that had a polymer (plastic) barrier between the ball and socket.

I will also add that I've seen aftermarket ball joints on cars
completely unrelated to the Durango/Dakota wear out extremely fast in
recent years. Quality of parts  has just gone into the toilet at an
unbelievable rate over the past few years, I think largely due to moving
production to third-world cheap-labor countries. It would not surprise
me if those kinds of crummy parts are now finding their way into OEM
supply lines as well as aftermarket.