JUST BOUGHT MY 2003 1500 2WD AND WENT TO CHANGE DIFF FLUID AND FOUND 3 METAL RETAINERS AND A TON OF METAL FLAKE IN THE BOTTOM CALLED LOCAL DODGE STORE LUCKILY THE TRUCK IS STILL UNDER POWER TRAIN WARRANTY SO NEW DIFFS ONLY GONNA COST $100 DEDUCTIBLE. I WILL POST MORE AFTER REPAIRS HAVE BEEN DONE.

 

For what its worth, I went to change my diff. fluid on my 04 hemi 1500 3.92 LSD on saturday Apr 1st and found a broken metal retainer on the bottom. Called up the Dodge dealer , Brought it in on Monday Night and picked it up on Tuesday late afternoon. They replaced all the gears and bearings. Under warranty 17,400 miles. No Charge. Hopefully I won't have that problem again. It seems to be a problem for quite a few people. Dodge must have know there would be problems because why else would you be changing fluid at 15,000 miles per
maintenance book. (B schedual) . Usually its at a higher mileage. Anybodys Take on it?

 

Same thing happened to me in December. Clip for trac lock broke. Dodge replaced the whole axel. Had just under 40,000 miles. Glad Dodge has that 7/70 warranty.

2002 4.7 QC
3.92 LSD

 

Well for the 2005 and older, 2006 does not get the 7/70....

 

15,000 miles under heavy towing. It is 30,000 miles under normal use - which isn't much different than Ford or Chevy.

 

Let me guess... Did it look like this?



This is what I pulled out of my 2002 4.7L Quad Cab 1500 Ram 9.25 rear end. The real bad thing is Dodge Has NOT lifted a finger to do a recal on these rear ends. My Truck is PAID for as of last month and I will NOT purchase another Dodge Product untill they get there act straight. They seem more willing to let the cunsumer pay when they run out of warranty... and say...

" clips? From what? Ohh your the first one we heard about EVER! This is NOT a comon problem so you need to pay for the work"....

In my book thats a SCAM! It really makes me mad that they dont step up to the plate.


SPEED SAFE, AIR RAM

 

AIR RAM Wrote:

As bad as I hate to say it, I agree with the above. I have had differential trouble three times, on the third time they replaced the whole assembly and I now have a completely new unit, axels and all. What troubles me is that I have gotten the same story that Air Ram was referring to and who knows if the new unit I have is any better than the originals.

I think Dodge has been less than candid about these problems as they do seem to be widespread.

 

Interesting observations. My brother-in-law's 2000 1500 had the same problems with his diff. At the time, I thought it was caused by him severely overheating the diff by towing 3500 lbs at 60mph for 400 mi. When we pulled the cover, there couldn't have been more than a pint of fluid in there. Turned out his yoke seal was shot and the fluid spun all over the undercarriage. I told never to put it in 4LO since I thought the locker was what broke. Since his truck is way out of warranty, I'll tell him to get a rebuild from someone other than Dodge. Too bad we can't get some kind of FTC, NTHSA, etc. recall thing going.

Roger...

 

I had no problems with my dealer. They replaced the whole rear end assembly with no questions asked.

2002 4.7 QC
3.92 LSD

 

Valkyrie reports this:


Yes, but do you have any reason to believe that the new assembly is any better than the one that went bad. That's the thing that bothers me after seeing that so many others have had this same rear end problem I can only wonder if Dodge has done anything different in the new one that my truck has, or can I expect to get out on the interstate about a hundred miles from nowhere towing my trailer and have the same thing happen to me that happened before.

I'm still not sure how much of my trouble was caused by sorry dealer repair and how much was caused by what seems to be the norm for many of these same rear ends. I'm in the process of writing Chrysler a letter about it to see if I can get any sense of the situation from them but I'm not holding my breath.