Driving to work yesterday morning and heard what sounded like a right rear wheel bearing going and BAM!!! Driveshaft hit the pavement doing 45 mph. Removed the driveshaft and using the front wheels drove into a fire department to get the truck off a highly traveled road.

Just spoke to the dealer and the entire differential needs to be rebuilt. Yoke is being replaced but not the driveshaft? Ring & Pinion are toast. Not sure if they are replacing the entire carrier or rebuilding my original core? Axles are being reused, but new bearings & seals will be installed.

I bought this truck brand new from the dealer's lot in 2003. Never roasted the tires, or went off roading, basically babied the truck since new. Had planned on changing the front & rear end fluids for the first time this spring.

Truck is a 2003 Quad Cab 4x4 Hemi with 34,900 miles so it's covered under the basic 7/70,000 powertrain warranty. Mechanic said he's never seen such carnage. Rear wasn't leaking so looks as if I just had a bad pinion bearing. Good thing I wasn't doing 70 mph on the highway. Only recent activity the truck has seen was towing a '72 Chevelle SS 454 home from MA last month.

Has to be at least a $2,500 job. Asked to have the driveshaft balanced, dealer said if it vibrates after the rebuild they will order a new one?

Very strange to say the least! Anything specific I should ask them to replace or inspect?

 

glad you have the warranty. I dont know if it is a 2500 dollar job, but expensive either way. Maybe you should have changed the diff fluid before this, but seeing as you only have 35000 miles on it, probably didnt hurt anything.

By the way, have pictures of the SS?

 

Unable to post pics at work. I'll try tonight from home.

 

I'm wondering if you are the many who have the factory LSD, a failed clip could have gotten wedged in there and exploded the whole thing. Sadly, they use the exact same parts to fix it...
If it weren't for them fixing it under warranty, I'd say get a good shop to do it with upgraded gears and a master install kit that uses Timkin Bearings, best bearings available...

 

Yes, truck came equipped from the factory with LSD. Hope the tech knows what he's doing. Rather get an entire new rear but it's not my dime.

 

Many, many Dodge 1500 owners have had the "C-Clips" fail on the factory LSD, some get lucky and find the broken pieces have made it to the magnet on the bottom of the differential, while others have not been so lucky and have had the parts jam up the works and eventually destroy the rear end. If I were a betting man, I'd put the ranch up for that's what happened on your truck...

Do a search on here for "C-Clip" (it's not really what they are, but it's the common term) you'll be able to read for a week...

 

aaahahahahahhahaaaaa. Just because i was reading the post from yesterday. I figured you would have had the correct lingo by now????? hmmm....slacker...lol
I know. Just using the language that most people know.

 

The problem is you do a search for the correct part name on here or even Google it and you only get 5% of the "HITS" you'd get if you searched "C-Clip", hence, they are C-Clips, for all intensive purposes...

 

I know, that's why I made that last statement. You are using the..Here, I'll put it like this. Your just using the Mechanically challenged lingo!...lol

 

Quote:
Originally Posted by dirtydog
aaahahahahahhahaaaaa. Just because i was reading the post from yesterday. I figured you would have had the correct lingo by now????? hmmm....slacker...lol
I know. Just using the language that most people know.



He He He He...........................Al.