All I can say is WOW! But still, what we've seen so far here is only the begining, lol! So what was your part in the handling of all that and since you seem to know so much, who makes the LSD and why is it holding up so much better than the open diff? I know the difference between the two...what is the weak spot that's causing the failure and why are the pinion nuts coming loose. Do you think the pinion nuts are coming loose and causing it or is it pinion bearing and shims wearing out and causing the nuts to come loose? I should would like to see some of these failed rearends with my own eyes.

 

The only known issue with the AAM units in the 3rd gen 1500's is the clutch tabs in the LS units breaking off and trashing the gears and bearings.
I guess they changed some things when they went to the could spring suspension in 09.

 

The 1500s is not AAM axels. Its a old in house design built by ZF now. I think years back Chrysler built their own "corporate axles". I would think that ZF builds the liminted slip also. I have no idea why the pinion nuts are coming loose. But I bet Dodge truck Tech assistance does and so dies ZF engineers. Maybe some didn't get lock tight or wrong color lock tight or such. It dosen't seem to be that many. Now the wrong drilled fill holes. Some change made and it was a OPPS not for the better. Chrysler/ Dodge has shown with these RRT program to really jump on issues compared to yesteryear. Back with the DANA issues, every line tech in the shop learned to overhaul axel/differentials we had that many coming in the door for quite a long time. Had a few could do 2.5 day. Then Dana started supplying us reman units. Shipped in hard plastic containers. Stacked to the ceiling in parts dept. I ran into one of those techs at a little dealer near me. The other techs there said. 'Boy he sure can build a rear end" They were younger and not working on cars back then.

 

Ok, so we already know that alot of these rearends are failing early on in dodge 1500 trucks, i`d like to know who`s rearends AREN`T failing in the chevy and ford world. Anyone seen any rearend results for those other 2 brand of trucks...??? (only 1/2 ton trucks)

 

I don't think its a lot of rear ends. We have read about a few that the pinion nut came loose. The fill hole issue was caught early and is being corrected. I'm curious the amount of warranty claims on 1500 trucks this say since first of the rear. Dodge,ZF have those figures I'm sure. So far no RRT or TSB other then the fill hole.

 

What do you you mean when you say "WE" have read about a few pinion nuts coming loose. Who is "WE" because a few of them coming loose is an understatement which is not only evident in this forum but others as well. I'm not trying to be rude here, but do you mean WE as in you and people affiliated with Chrysler? And as far as the fill hole issue...no offense but you are wrong, respectfully. It is not being corrected, it is a temporary fix (words from their own mouths) because the correct fix they say would have been too costly. And about the pinion nut coming loose, it doesn't take a rocket scientist to figure out the problem. It can only be one of two things, pinion bearings, shims or crush sleeves...which ever they use, or the pinion nut itself which I doubt. So it's either defective or cheap parts (more than likely) or craftmanship. It's coming loose because what ever they are using for a pinion bearing ain't working, lol!

 

What ever.

 

If I offended you, I didn't mean too...seriously, lol!

 

Well i have to agree with 1954Radio 100% about the craftmanship of these diff`s. They SUCK...!!!!! I dropped the cover off from mine today, and guess what i find at the bottom of the case....METAL THREAD CHIPS & SHAVINGS...!!!! The kind you get from tapping the thread holes in the case and NOT CLEANING THEM OUT OF THE CASE WHEN THEY ASSEMBLED THE DIFFERENTIAL...!!!!! I have to say, i am NOT impressed one bit...!!!! I saved the chips and shavings, a few of them were caught by the tiny POS magnet they glued into the bottom of the case, but the rest were just moving around in the gear lube and smoked my rear diff. I`ve already decided i`m buying a new set of gears and ALL the bearings/shim kit and crush sleeve on tuesday. I`ll rebuild the rear diff my self. I still have all my tools from years ago when i use to do it for a living. Setting up a rearend is not hard to do, as a matter of fact, its pretty dam easy. Yeah yeah i know,"its under warranty" Well all i can say to that is, warranties are great if you have a tech that KNOWS how to set up a diff, but thers nobody around here thats capable. These techs today are more like bolt-on backyard mechanics. I dont even trust them to change my motor oil and filter...! (recently i had some so called techs forget to put oil in two of my cars twice in a row after the oil change, and not even at the same dealerships, happened at 2 different dealerships...!!!!) Anyhow, i guess the quality on these vehicles today rate right up there with the wanna be techs...most just suck. Sorry to rant guyz, i`m just really pizzed off about what this truck cost and it has issues like this. This surely isnt the only issue i`ve had with this truck either, but i wont go into that right now because those are other issues not related to this.

 

Or...that could be just wear from sloppy installation but you never know. That being said, you can only imagine how some of the repairs could have been done on the trucks that those of you brought in to have new fill holes drilled...wow! Did they even take the rearend apart first or did they leave it together and just change the 90 weight lube afterwards, lol! 90 weight gear oil is like syrup and very sticky, hmmm?