I own a 2010 Dodge Ram 2500. I have less than 20,000 miles with none off road. In the last month the truck has had two fractured tie rod ends! The first at the pitman arm and the second just yesterday at the drivers side wheel. Thank God the first time it occured in my drive way and the second time in a parking lot. Last night I drove 70 mph down the highway to a Christmas parade 30 miles from my home with my wife and three children and the tie rod end broke in the parking lot. I have called every Dodge dealer in the Houston area and no one can tell me anything. No one from Dodge will tell me how I can talk with an engineer and be certain this never happens again. All they tell me is bring it in and they will put it back like it was. Like it was has almost killed my family twice in 30 days. I have been floored at how little response I get and that not one service manager evne knows how to contact a dodge engineer. This is as you can imagine a life threatening problem that has happened twice in a month and know one from Dodge seems to have any idea what to do. At this point if I can't get someone to tell me what is going on and how to make sure it never happens again I want my money back because I sure can't dirve this 50,000 dollar death trap.

Anyone have any suggestions?????????????????????????

 

wouldn't 1 more occurrence bring the lemon law into effect?

 

One more occurance and he may not be around to implement the lemon law.

 

Lemon law is tricky and varies considerably from state to state. But it would bear looking into or at least using it as leverage vs. the dealer.

I can't think of a single 3/4 ton truck made right now that there aren't abundant complaints about premature front end wear/death wobble/etc. I don't know whether it's just trying to get too much of a car ride quality out of a HD truck or what, but EVERY forum whether it be GM/Ford or Dodge is loaded with front end component failure complaints.

I've really not seen any catastrophic failures in the 2500 (at least in the 3rd Gens) or any worse issues or occurrences than with GM or Ford. I know that ain't really giving you any comfort, but every manufacturer makes bad tie rod ends/ball joints/u-joints/etc. Might be you were unlucky enough to get two in a row.

It's actually pretty rare to hear of a Ram 2500 have one completely fail without first showing some signs of wear due to real excessive play. I just replaced mine due to the fact my drivers' side end had about an inch or so of play in it, but it developed a wobble/vibration months ago, giving me plenty of warning PLUS my tie rod and ends are part of my suspension lift, so I can't blame Mopar on the failure...

 

The dealer says the tie rod ends are snapping off because the stabilizer bar is set two inches too low. I can see how that would add some preassure to the steering and the drag link but am having a hard time understanding how that would load up the drivers side tie rod end.

Anybody have any experience on this one and agree or is the dealer grasping for straws?

Thanks for the feedback!

 

Do you have a leveling kit or have the two broken tie rods been removed to have any work done prior to the accident? If the answer is yes it is due to the tie rods not being square to the hole in the steering knuckle or pitman arm. The tie rod goes in slightly cocked and when tightened with an impact gun it fractures the tie rod end

 

Is your truck stock, or have you lifted it in some way?

 

hey john, i have a 2010 3500 with 28,000 miles and this past monday i was entering a intersection and driver side tie rod end fractured and had to cross in front of on comming traffic to due to loss of steering because the tie rod dropped down and got wedged inside of wheel between wheel and rotor scary experience, im just glad it happened at a slow speed rather then the steep twisty noth i had just come through minutes before. Any updates on what chrysler has done to resolve the problem? I live in maine and its the first that my dealer has seen of this type of problem.

 

Dealer gets in touch with his factory rep.Rep gets in touch with engineering.Dealer can call and or get in touch through computer to STAR which is tech assistance and inform of the issue.Probably best if REP handles it.Star is for tech assistance only.

 

Square to the hole or not...sounds like a piece of cheesy material to me and a lame excuse. I am so tired of hearing dealers and techs push the customer out of the door pinning the blame on the them. With all due respect...you know damn good and well that it is faulty material. So far you guys have drummed up excuses for everything faulty in these trucks, from the Hemi Tick, the smelly air conditioners, the roof leaks, rusty bumpers, peeling chrome, and from the rear ends to the tie rod ends. When are you guys going to take responsibility for your actions and do something for the costumer? Like honor your five star service...isn't that supposed to come first...isn't that what you guys claim you are all about? What you are actually saying about the tie rod end is that it is just barely strong enough to hold up as long as you don't modify your truck because it's not strong enough to take any abuse like a Ford or a Chevy could so it will void the warranty if you do. Just like everything else from an air filter to an oil filter which you would claim is the fault of engine failure because it's not a Chrysler part or they didn't put it on. I saw that with my own eyes while getting my truck serviced. Poor guy with a truck had engine failure and they were trying to blame it on the oil filter...Chrysler's warranty and service is a joke to say the least!