Adventures in mechanics!
I bought my ’03 R/T with 49,000 miles from CarMax on June 21st, and the truck has been in the shop for 3 of the past five weeks. I noticed a slight knock in the driveline and a high speed vibration on the way home from the dealership. I figured a warn u-joint and planned to take the truck in before the 30 warranty ended. About a week later I started to notice some hunting, hard shifting and delayed shifting, and by the next night the truck was all but undrivable, so I took it to the dealership the next day. They were backed up as it was the Monday before 4th of July and I left the truck with them to get around to it that Thursday. On Friday they told me that they needed a new tailshaft bushing and that they were waiting on the part. They waited for almost a week before they found out that Chrysler does not sell a separate bushing anymore and that they would need to order a new extension housing. They get the new extension housing and try to put it on until they find out they don’t have the right tool to remove it. They farm it out to AAMCO who replaces the extension housing at a cost of $550, which fixed the shifting problem but not the knock and the vibration. Three days later I am driving on the freeway when suddenly the whole truck starts to shake. I pull over and look under the truck and the rear transmission seal is dangling from the front u-joint and the underside of the truck is coated in tranny fluid. I call CarMax who sends a tow truck. They take it a dealership close to where I broke down and give me a loaner car. They farm it out to another tranny shop who finds that the entire drive line had seized up and yanked the tailshaft bushing out. They replace the entire driveline including both u-joints, driveshaft and yoke, the overdrive housing, overdrive friction clutch, and new extension housing bushing (somehow they could get one separate), at a grand total of 1300 on warranty. New the Dak drives like a whole new animal, smooth, quite with great throttle response and firmer shifts, as well as a 2 mpg improvement in mileage. For what its worth, CarMax has been great to deal with though this process, I think they got screwed by AAMCO.


