I sympathize with Njjer's position as a dealer mechanic. And Brandonmiller may have screwed up his factory shocks when he put in the lift kit. That being said, There does seem to be a large group of people who are being negatively affected by a large batch of bad OEM shocks that seem to be totally shot by 25,000 miles. For those people, including brandonmiller, replace your shocks. Quality shocks should last through the 60,000 mile service. They have on every honda, nissan, mazda, and ford I've ever owned.

Oh yeah, if you modify your vehicle, don't be surprised when it's not covered under warrenty. Just because some people got lucky does not mean it will happen to you.

 

I have an 08 TRX4 and have also started to notice the mysterious 'clunk' in my front end the last month or so too. It is only noticable on rough roads, or like when you drive through a pothole, over a sewer cover, etc. I have less than 9000 miles on the truck, and it has never seen off road (yet). So, if it IS the shocks that seem to plague our trucks, it isn't reserved solely to standard 2X4 or 4X4 suspensions. This one has the red, stiffer shocks all the way around. I'm taking mine in sometime over the next few weeks to get a few annoying things serviced so we'll see what my dealer tells me about the clunkety clunk.

 

Sounds to me like it's the sway bars...I had the SAME thing going on with my 07 Dakota and just took it in the other day for an oil change and they checked it out and said I needed new sway bars. The right side was really bad but they're replacing both. My truck is 2 years old and everyone is shocked that they went already...

Yea I had the same problem with the clunking too, every time I would go over a bump it would seem as if the bottom was meeting the ground, it was loud too and bumpy. I took it to the dealer and need new sway bars! Good thing they're free under warranty!

Let me throw out there that it's the rubber part that went bad I believe which I'm sure you all know..

 

i am partial to the factory shocks. i have 66500 on the truck now. at highway speeds 100 to 120 mph i get the bouncing up and down affect. once i slow down to 65 mph it seems to go away. as for the track. they are a plus. the frt end jumps up when coming off the line making the a$$ end squat and away you go. i wish they made adjustable frt shocks for our trucks. that way everyone could dial the suspension in to there liking

 

That's the mentality that has gotten Dodge in the situation they are in, building vehicles that only last for the specified warranty, which most are only 36k miles.

These trucks are targeted towards individuals who want a midsized truck, possibly a work truck, meaning it will see some abuse. Most of us experiencing problems with the suspension only drive to and from work or school; at least the individuals that have made posts on the forum. So when we notice that our trucks are falling apart within 20-30k miles, the phrase wtf!!! comes to mind.

I wonder if you feel the same way if your HDTV or your computer breaks after the warranty expiration, something you probably do not know how to fix. Judging from current offers from Dodge and other American companies, they are trying to change our perspective on how we view their vehicles, they do not want us to think their vehicles will break down as frequently as they, after the warranty expires. They are trying to achieve this by offering lifetime warranties

Honda and Toyota are known to last significantly over American vehicles, Toyota is now the #1 seller in the United States

http://www.autospies.com/news/Toyota...the-U-S-39331/

This goes to show that a company can sell vehicles that are dependable, do not break down, last for a long time and are still able to sell vehicles.

We are not trying to tell you how to do your job, we are just trying to tell you what we are experiencing so you can find out what is wrong with it, you are the expert.

I took my civic to a Honda dealership a few months back trying to explain to him what was wrong with my vehicle, they told me nothign was wrong. There was a weird noise whenever I drove in reverse for a brief period in the morning. They were not able to detect it. During this previous snowstorm I was able to duplicate the noise by throwing the e-break while driving on the ice. I did this suspecting that their might be something wrong with the break system- I'm not a mechanic so I do not know what the hell I am doing. I took it to the dealership once again, this time he was able to figure out what was wrong with it due to what I showed him, the abs module is bad.

My truck had a water leak, I took it to a mechanic told him where I thought the leak was coming from, he decided to take his own route and do whatever he wanted. He sealed up my door, the weatherstripping claiming water was entering through there. He charged me 300 bucks for doing this. I was happy since he had stated my problem was fixed. I later found out, when it rained, that he had infact not fixed the problem. I ended up dismantling the front end of the truck and foudn the leak coming in from the body seam. I sealed it with urethane and the leak is no longer there.

I have another Civic, this one is 2006, the previous one is a 2004. I recently took this vehicle in due to a airbag light coming on. They said there was something wrong with the seatbelt. I scheduled to have it fixed. Well what do you know, when I picked it up as soon as I turned the vehicle on I noticed the light was still on. They told me the vehicle was fixed but did not even take the time to check whether the light actually went away.... I have an appt for tomorrow morning. This part of the vehicle is under warranty, I cannot imagine how much this would already have cost had it not been under warranty.

Most of these mechanics don't give a crap about what they do, they jsut want to run the clock and charge you whatever they can, I am somewhat find with that but at least fix the problem. Most mechanics that I have delt with will call you before they do any work on your vehicle. For example, if I take my truck in because the suspension is out of wack and they find out it needs a new balljoint they will call me to verify if I want the service done, they don't just do it.

Situations such as the ones above further pressure me to ask questions when work is performed not doing so is irresponsible. I do not know how you expect people to have a blind eye and let you do whatever you want.

When I bought my truck the door poppers and neon lights werent' working, I took it to a performance shop to have everything fixed. He treated me well and didn't not rip me off. Since then I have tried to bring everything I need to have done to my truck to him. I have probably spent about 1000 bucks there already. I have no problem spending the money, if they are able to explain to me and show me what they are doing and why. If you start to become impatient with me you will most likely lost my business. I think it is ironic how they expect you to be able to debate them on whether your issue is warranty related and not expect you to ask questions when they are performing work on your truck.

I think it is a shame you left that business, you sound like you know what you are talking about. Don't forget that although your main goal is to make money, you still need to create satisfied customers, repeat business. Judging from your customer service attitude I would defnitely not want to take my vehicle to have you fix it, I would assume you would probably not want to deal with a customer such as myself because I will question what you are doing.

Also, what kind of vehicles have you owned that have not had shocks/struts that have lasted beyond 30k miles?

 

I am sure I will miss some of your questions, but I will try to get most of them.

Let me start with your last one. Vehicles I have owned. Too many to list in my almost 30 years of driving. Here in NJ the roads are always tore up from construction. Suspensions here take a real beating, nothing new here. Only shocks/struts I have has last beyond 30k were on my 3000GT VR4. It had an active suspension and they are not "plain ole struts".

Now someone who lives down south, as in Fla. lets say, their suspension should last a long long time compared to mine. The roads are flat and have nothing as far as "holes" etc as up here. I know as I spent too long in Fla.

Off roaders, well it is a given the stuff will wear out faster.

You as a customer? Just tell me what it is/is not doing, maybe what you "think" may be wrong, and let me do the work/research. No problems there.

Tell me "what to fix", and that is what you will get. Nothing more. If that does not cure "your problem", well pay up and then let me fix what is needed.... and you pay again for this work too.

I worked for Honda, lots of kids spent way more there than needed as "they new what was wrong". I say thanks for the extra cash for that week.

Hondas and Toyotas break. Maybe not as much, but they still do. The best vehicles I have ever owned have been my Dodges. Maybe because I take care of them. Then again, I never really had a "bad" car. Chalk that up to routine maint, and knowing when something was going wrong and repairing before it caused more damage.

In general, most new Techs know ****. They think they do, but they don't. Techs today get paid **** as flat rate has gone down hill each and every year. It use to be you get .1-.2 to change a light bulb, your choice on which you want as an example. Some cars today take .5 just to get the light assembly out, then change the bulb and reinstall. So .1-.2 gets the Tech beat all around. Speed is where you make money, and most today are not only not good enough to fix properly, they are not good enough to fix it correct at any speed/time limit.

TV or PC lasting? Again, planned obsolescence. They should last longer than warranty, but some don't. Get what you pay for here.

How about the new warranties on some cars? 10 years/100K. Fine print says except normal wear and tear items. Shocks, brakes, belts, etc., these are known as consumables. They are expected to wear and do.

I remember someone I know going with their shocks from 0 miles to 100k and they said they "were still good". Only after I changed them did they realize just how bad they were. These things were out slowly and you just can't tell how bad they are until "back to back" comparison is done. IE changing them out.

I thought recently that my front struts were taking a dump on me. I have a home made lift on the struts (approx. 3" at the wheel). I checked them again, they are still good at 30K. Most of that with the lift on them. (2wd truck)

No extra jounce when I try and bounce the truck up and down. Now the rears...they were shot and leaking some time ago. Bilsteins took care of this and improved the ride many times over stock even when the truck was new.

My "problem" if you want to call it that, is that I am a realist. I expect only so much, and when I start and over analyze things, get too wrapped up in the technical aspect. **** happens and with some things, you just can't expect them to last forever.

Does the suspension on our trucks suck? Some say "yes", I say, not really. We all are not having problems with them. My buddies who still work for Dodge tell me the number "bad" vs "good" is well in goods favor.

If they were so bad, you bet you *** that there would be a TSB, Recall, etc on them. It would be all over the news as it was years ago when ball joints where taking a dump. Wad this also Dodges fault? Yes and no. Dodge did spec the parts, but the supplier supplied crap. This was only found out after miles of usage. Nothing short of that would "tell the tale".

Don't think only American cars are like this, as I remember too many things like this with some Jap cars/trucks. As n back in the late 80's Honda had some front engine cross members that would rot away after only a couple of years. If left alone or not noticed when lets say, changing the oil, well the engine/transaxle would land on the ground in the worst case. I personally replaced 100's over a few years.

That is just one example. Reason again I brought it up, just to show that each and every car manufacturer has problems. Sometime theirs, sometime it is the suppliers fault.

Some dealers will "work" with you, some won't. Warranty work pays crap today, so they don't even think of "slipping one by" when the risk is not worth it.

If you have a problem, and you have a "mod" in the problem area, remove mod just to be sure before taking it in. That or suck it up and say that maybe, just maybe, the mod is the cause.

I have my own lift front and rear, I don't expect my dealer to look the other way. If what I did caused a problem, well I knew I was taking a chance. If my engine starts to leak oil at the pan, well I know that my lift did not cause that. And my dealer won't even think about denying me warranty work on that over the lift. If they do, I will run away from them as anyone that stupid will NEVER get near my truck.

If my balljoint wears out at 30k, well I know I "may have " helped that wear out faster with my lift. I won't even ask about warranty work on it. I will just chalk it up as the cost to play and pop in a new one myself.

Sorry about not only the long post, but being all over the place. It is late and I am on pain pills.

As an FYI, I no longer work at any dealer, or "garage". I build race engines for a living. Drag exclusively. Here nothing less than perfect will be accepted. And I love my job.

 

I have 30K on my truck and im getting the front shocks replaced next week they are starting to go. most of the roads where I live are pretty rough, and during the summer I do a fare bit of off road driving

 

Holy CRAP, you guys are long winded. haha :P

 

Well this has been an interesting post to read through. .

I have a question though. Getting back to the topic i have a noise in the front end also but it is more of a hollow sound when i go over any bumps and the front suspension compresses. I was thinking blown shock's. What does that sound like to the rest of you? Thanks

 

Have a mechanic inspect the joint in the sway-bar end links. Mine had a problem and it sounded similar to what you're experiencing. Mine was the end links.