Hi all,
Well, it's over. Dropped off the truck this morning and picked up the check from Dodge. As some know, my brake shudder became so bad the truck's ABS would fail during braking and skid. When you were behind the truck you could actually see the rear wheels bounce. The truck went in with just over 12k miles on it.
Lemon Law attorney was excellent and got paid straight from Dodge, never cost us a cent. Hated to do it, but Dodge gave me no choice. 6 times in the shop, and once in for over a month with over 900 miles put on by the dealership. They paid for all the mods, and actually in the end, they paid me for owning it.
Well, back to GM I go. I was sick of GM and their dealership issues, sick of the service to be exact. But after my whole Dodge experience with two seperate dealers, GM just is no where near that bad. Not trying to offend anyone here, we loved the Dakota. And, I am sure some of you have the coolest dealers. And the buyback process was the worst. One of the dealerships actually tried to change information after they had given us printouts so that the truck did not look like it was at the dealership for the month, and that they didn't put over 900 miles on it. I didn't mind that the truck had a problem, it happens. It was just the service that got me.
To all with the shudder, good luck with the vehicle. I sincerely hope it never gets as bad as mine, and a wreck occurs. And if you are thinking of a buyback, contact an attorney. Dodge will not deal with an individual.
I'll hang around, especially if anyone has any ?'s on the shudder. I'll be off soon to pick up my 04 Chevy 2500HD Duramax/Allison in Arrival Blue. Crew cab, short box.
Best of luck,
Will

 

WOW that's awesome they bought it back. You know I have had that happen before as well, I'll be braking, and then while braking if I hit a bump of some sort it has caused my rear brakes to half way fail, almost caused a few accidents in my case. I've had it looked at a few times and finally one dodge dealer completely replaced my rear drums; I dunno, I forget who it was but someone had a rear disc-brake conversion that I will probably get one of these days, I have about 18200 miles on my 05 dak. Good job with that lemon law, what are you going with now that they bought the truck back??

 

I'll guess [sm=confused06.gif], a 04 Chevy 2500HD Duramax/Allison in Arrival Blue. Crew cab, short box.

 

an 04 chevy 2500 diesel....that makes me drool...of course..anything with a diesel makes me drool...I almost bought an 05 2500 Diesel with the Allison, but it doesn't fit in our driveway at home, and I'm not parking it on the street, I have waken up too many mornings and seen neighbor's cars and other cars totalled by drunks the night before...My next truck, Dodge Ram 2500 Power Wagon, and I'll stuff a cummins in it :9 mm mm mmm good!

 

Nice looking Dakota jimboscomp! [sm=smiley20.gif]

OOps I had to edit my post after looking at your photo album, VERY nice looking Dakota!!

 

i know this isnt about cummins in a power wagon but with the front end on thepower wagon the cummins is too big and weighs too much so be very careful and best ofluck and then sign me up for it if it works

 

That is a nice looking truck, somewhat like I want to do my '06. The black nerf bars will go on this weekend and the in-channel vent visors, muffler and CAI are already on. You had me until the blue interior lighting though, I had to stop looking when I saw that.

 

Not bad advice but not accurate either. Dodge will not deal with individuals that don't know how to deal with them. If you know and understand the process an attorney isn't necessary and may waste time.

I also dropped my truck off this morning for buyback and an attorney was never involved. There is a specific process for buyback claims. As long as it is followed, the process is simple and straightforward. It took one certified letter to make the complaint and give final opportunity for repair. After another failure a second certified letter was sent exercising my right for buyback. It was only 14 days ago when that final notice was sent.

 

I had that famous "Brake shutter", the dealer fixed all four brakes and I have not had any additional trouble.

 

Good to hear you got rid of your problematic truck.

I hope Dodge can find the actual problem out (I know there is a TSB and whatnot, but evidently that doesn't help), as it doesn't look too great.