My daughter has a 1989 Dodge B1500 van and I haven't heard of or noticed a similar problem with that vehicle. (Although, she may have diagnosed and fixed the problem herself, if it occurred.)
Decades ago, I help a friend install a "new" manual transmission. (He couldn't find the correct shift rods so I wound up fabricating one, using two rods with the correct ends.) In the process, I loosely bolted the u-joint and driveshaft to the rear axle to keep the driveshaft end off the floor. I specifically told him to reinstall the u-joint, index the driveshaft, and tighten the strap bolts.
A few days later, he complained of shaking when he got up to speed. I asked if he'd reinstalled the u-joint and driveshaft and he said, "Oh, yeah, I forgot to do that." (I think the people in the next town saw me rolling my eyes. Also, he's lucky the driveshaft didn't fall out of the car.)
Even longer ago, a friend stole the wheel weights off his dad's truck to melt down and cast into fishing sinkers. His dad emphatically mentioned it would have been cheaper to buy him sinkers, compared to having to re-balance four tires.
I haven't run into similar problems due to front-end problems but know people who have. (One person described it as having problems keeping his truck in one lane. Another was pulled over as a suspected drunk driver.) I regularly inspect and perform maintenance on my front-end components, as well as having them aligned, to avoid having to buy new tires more often than absolutely necessary.
