insurance said they would cover it, i just have to pay my deductable obviously. im just waiting to hear back from chrysler first. they said it wouldnt be a problem. there are no tow hooks on the rear. my tow hooks in the front are out because the brush guard is on. i just hooked him up to my receiver hitch...it was a strap, no chain. all this just makes me mad. im gonna have to go down there and take some pictures of it and post it on here. ill try to find a picture on the internet of it.

 

A note on the insurance route. It has nothing to do with whether the company is any good, it has everything to do with how much coverage is bought. Everyone wants the lowest priced insurance they can find, then they find out they are not covered for stuff and blame the insurance company or agent. I'm a car guy who also works in insurance.

 

... standard comprehensive/collision package at my insurer covers offroad. I hear that a couple of other national suppliers charge a great deal extra or do not even offer it. Ergo, "if your company is worth a damn"...

 

here are some pics i found on the internet to kinda give you guys an idea.



you see where that boot connects to the inner side of the wheel assembly? the other side of that connects to the actual axel, that is what broke off



here you can see it better. the second boot down on the left, between the coil-over and the gold bar. as you can see, it connects to the axel, that is what snapped. when it snapped at the axel, it was floppin around and ripped out that censor in my wheel assembly. which also ripped out the brake lines

 

Yeah... pretty sure that Mopar can claim that it broke due to loads and angles beyond spec. On the other hand it is almost impossible to hit something with that area of your truck...

I assume you were in 4wd mode when you were trying to get the guy out... given your lift the angle of the devices providing articulation to the shafts has been increased. This adds to the tendency for them to bind. This is not a problem normally, but it was doubtless exacerbated by the squat induced by towing. The fact that you were under maximum load, and possibly in soft ground where your high traction tires had the most purchase meant that the strain set up by this binding had nowhere to flow to. Result is breakage at the weakest point or the point of bind... which in this case is the same place.

 

well aint that just a B! thats what i was trying to tell them, that it was impossible that for anything to hit it. yes, i was in 4WD. i guess i just dont get it. i was towing like you would tow a trailer....but the front axel broke? WTF?! makes me so mad

 

 

They can say what they want but if you were in mud of any depth you should have broke traction before the axle broke. If you were angled at all it would have slid the back end of your truck around before the axle broke especially since you were strapped up to the hitch. I lived in W.V. till I was 33 yrs old, had 2 Dodge 4X4's and beat the living crap out of my trucks routinely. I pulled semi's stuck in small road side ditches on dry pavement, pulled other trucks out of red clay mudholes sunk to the frames. I never even broke a universal joint much less an axle. And yes mine was lifted too. Bottom line they need to use a better quality part and stop trying to blame you.

 

It's pretty easy to break axles, sometimes when it seems like you were doing nothing at all. I've broken dozens of them over the years - much bigger stuff than they use in the Ram, and all it takes is no traction and then an instant of traction. Mud is the easiest place to break shafts.

 

yup....that would be the picture of it sarge! see how i had to use that strap and wrap it up just so i could drive? it was banging all around in there and i didnt want to mess up anything else...so thats what i had to do