I was reading over at www.allpar.com and found a news brief that DC will discontinue thier 7/70 powertrain warranty. I thought it was great, but I guess they don't.http://allpar.com/news/#ni309

 

Seems stupid to me, If there building higher quality cars/trucks, there's more likely not to need service and if only 10% know about it, I highly doubt its costing them much money. They should just keep it.

 

They did this before - back in the late 80's I think they had a long warranty and when sales started picking up they tossed it. Not the only company to do so either, VW used to have a 10/100k powertrain but dropped that for 4/48 or something.

 

They didn't have the 7/70 in 01 when I bought my dakota. Started it the next year. Kind of annoying at the time, but as it turned out, I didn't need it anyway. First new car I bought (85 chevy) had a 12 month 12,000 waranty. After that you were on your own.

 

I know DC builds a fine vehicle, but it is the extra piece of mind that it gives me knowing that if something happens to the tranny, rear end, engine, etc. It will be covered under warranty. You don't see Craftsman backing down on the warranty on thier hand tools do you? (Although quality as compared to yesteryear is arguable). I would be curious as to what thier anylists predict the savings would be... I guess I'm more disappointed in thier tactics here.

 

Craftsman did change their warranty a while ago in regards to socket wrenches. Used to be if you broke the ratchet they'd toss you a new one, and apparently now they just give you a rebuild kit. That's what I heard anyway, haven't broken any myself yet to see if it's true though.

 

Craftsman also shortened the length of their ratchet handles to make it harder to get enough torque to break a socket.

 

I test drove the F-150 and the Ram each for 24 hours trying to decide. One of the huge factors that pushed me toward the Dodge was the 7/70 powertrain warranty. It's nice to know that I will be able to pay the truck off before I'd be responsible for expensive fixes like trannys, engine problems, etc. If I got to 40,000 miles and my tranny fell out and I had to foot the bill for that ON TOP OF my payment on this beast...I'd never be able to do it. I think that by dropping the good warranty Dodge is going to hurt themselves...not help. [:'(]

 

That's what the 4' floor jack handle is for. I actually used a Gear Ratchet (tm) to install my pitman arm with said cheater bar and even with the super-fine ratchet mechanism it didn't break. I was quite impressed.

And the powertrain warranty going away... I don't think that when they dumped the 8/84 or whatever it was back in the day that the long-term effects were all that noticeable. People always get angry when benefits are taken away from them, but when it comes down to it the product sells itself and you'll take what warranty they offer. There's always the extended one for sale. There are plenty of Dodge buyers who bought because they liked the looks of the truck who won't really care that much if they don't get the 7/70.