yep, needed the pinion seal replaced. Had it done yesterday and it was covered under life-time powertrain warranty and they gave me a loaner to get to work with for the day. Always get great service from this dealer, service writer was a tech and I know the service manager. They even cleaned up the sprayed gear oil. Had the 4x4 driveline service done as well ( front, rear and transfer case fluids changed ) while it was there. All Mopar synthetic fluids and limited slip additive. ( ATF+4 in the transfer case ) They pulled the covers off this time, not like previous dealer I bought the truck from, where they just siphoned through the plastic drain plug on the diff covers. Total was $300 bucks for the fluid changes. Kinda expensive for fluid changes but I was going to get the Mag-Hytec diff covers since they have a drain hole but at $260 a piece and I need 2, not really worth it since I may not need to do this again. If you tow, want more capacity, cooling fins, and change it a lot, probably worth the swap though.

 

I have an '09 and got a notice in the mail to bring it in and get the diff looked at. I don't think it was a recall but I'll bet they were worried enough to want to get me in to check.

 

With seeing all the differential failures i`ve seen just on this forum alone, i`m betting chrysler is seeing and hearing about alot more issues than WE all are. Now concider all the others that are out there and NOT on a forum at all and having differential failures. Ther IS a trend and chrysler KNOWS it. They are just trying to avoid a very costly recall. They NEED to recall them ALL, and do the right thing and FIX the dam things correctly before somebody gets killed from a differential locking up the rear wheels and putting ANYONE into harms way..! How would chrysler ever explain a flying broken off driveshaft from a rear differential that locked up, and that busted driveshaft flying right thru the air, right into someones windshield as they drove by. Would it kill you or your wife, or your kids...??? Yeah it would, if it hit you. But i`m guessing chrysler wants to wait to see if that would happen and THEN step up to fix the problem. Yup, lets just sweep the problem under the rug, nobody will ever notice, it`ll save the company alot of money by avoiding the problem.

How light of duty do we really need to be with these trucks when it becomes a safety issue just for the sake of getting one more mile per gallon of gas so that we can please the dam`d EPA. These vehicles today are as thin as paper, and so aren`t the parts they`re made of.

Greed, thats what it all comes down to today.

 

Napa sells double lip seals. Lots of 3rd Gen guys used them with great results after regular seals failed.
For removal and installation.....
Mark the nut position to the Pinion shaft(not the washer as that gets removed and spins freely). It's easiest to mark at the bottom 6'oclock position so you can see easy enough. Count the number of turn to get the nut off and write it down. Remove the seal, replace the seal, use red loctite and thread the nut back on to the number of turns it took to get off. Run the nut till it lines up to the marks you made. Now, go past the mark a tiny bit. 56kmi truck...about 1/16th of a turn. Make a pie diagram if you cant picture what a 1/16th is...lol If the marking is at 6o'clock, run nut halfway between 6 and 7o'clock.
The slightly extra torque on the nut accomodates for minor wear. If you had over 100kmi, I would say go a full 1hr past your marking. Going too tight is bad. Your better off only going to your mark if your uncomfortable than going too far.

 

LU haven't seen you get really down on rams before, whats up?

 

Hi Hunter...
Yeah i know dude, i`m just so fed up with all the **** that i`ve been going thru with 2 of these 4th gen trucks since day one when i drove them of the dealership lot. The longer i own it, the less i want it because both trucks have been to the dealer with SEVERAL complaints. I`ve never had vehicles EVER give me this much trouble in the past like these dodges have. I feel that chrysler just got in to big of a hurry and got these trucks out there without putting the quality with them. Ford & chevy are doing the same thing, but at least ford and chevy try to put a little effort into trying to fix their problems, chrysler (and their dealers) just blows their customers off, as they hope to just ignore you and you will go away. I`ve been a HUGE dodge guy all my life, but chrysler is changing that for me lately. Sometimes change is good, so i`ll be buying something different to drive in the very near future and get myself away from dodge and their sh!tty quality & service. Their dealerships are the most unqualified people in the automotive world, absolute worst i`ve ever delt with. I have 30+yrs master tech experience in the dealership world, i am definatly NOT fooled by their bullsh!t. When dodge starts to put the effort into helping the customer, i`ll start buying them again, but as of right now.... the future with dodge and i, not lookin to good. I`m so tired of people coming in here and saying, "jeez, the 70`s & 80`s were by far worse, what you meen the quality sucks with these trucks" First of all, trucks didnt cost $45,000.00 back in the 70`s & 80`s, so i would expect a $45,000 dollar truck to be of alot better quality today for what you spend.

Sorry guys, slightly off topic and you may not like what i have to say, i`m just fed up.... end of rant

 

LU, guess i have been some what lucky with my last three dodges, i say some what because the first two were totaled, the first was t-boned, the second was run over by a "big rig", while it was parked. they were both 2500 and 3500 diesel. except for ball joints, only ever had to do maintiainence. i wonder if the 150/1500 dodge/1500 gmc have become to "car" like to be used as trucks. when i change the oil and get underneath my 1500 sport, i can see it lacks a little sturdiness. if i really needed a truck, i would step up to the 3500 again, but the new diesels are not for me.

 

X2. I agree with what you said, we pay $40k+ for a truck and its the same crappy materials and build quality used on a $13k car. I ended up quitting my engineering job at their headquarters because I was so fed up with how cheap they were and making us battle with the vendors to save a penny. I saw all the problems and how they didn't deal with them. The big one is using non UV stable plastics when the majority of their cars are plastic, but they could save a penny. Thats the main cause of plastic step pads turning gray or warping. If they past the savings on to the customer it would be a different story.
[/rant]

 

Oh and lets not forget that the 2012+ 1500 trucks even have a lighter built differential in them now than the previous years.
Cant wait to read/hear all the complaints to start coming in on those in here. Hopefully i`ll have got rid of my trucks by then.
When both trucks are gone, i wont be coming into the forums here much longer. I`ve enjoyed talkin to some of you.
Some of you guys are really good dudes... i wish you all the best in the future.

Just a recap on my own trucks with diff issues:
Both trucks i own... Neither has EVER hauled or towed anything...!
1st 2010 hemi truck: pinion seal leaked @ 17,000 miles (lost most the lube)
2nd 2010 hemi truck: horrible diff howel @ 14,000 mles (dealer says let it blow = WTF, REALLY...????)

The dealer(s) have YET to fix EITHER truck to this day...!
I`ve had many other issues, none were ever resolved either. (far to many to list in here)
Call chrysler, and what, get more runaround...? Nope, i`m done with chrysler.
I`ve also realized, that some others in here have had the same problems i`ve had, i wish you all well.

 

I cant wait either, they are all the same go get yourself a titan and get 0 percent for 84 months, Hm that tells me they are as bad as the next,i think people get out of hand with what is an issue and what is just a slight inconvenience--such as recalls they almost all have them.My daughter has a 2011 Caliber 1 year old next month----not one issue by then i had 6 trips to dealer at least for rrts and tsbs and recalls didnt cost a cent when needed got a loaner. It all got fixed so what should i complain for,send me your new forum you will join so we can see your issues with whatever you buy. Sorry for the rant but I could not resist

WHAT I HAVE NOTICED IS YOU HAVE TO FIND A GOOD DEALER ALSO YOU NEED TO LET THEM AT LEAST CHANGE YOUR OIL TO ESTABLISH LOYALTY,MY DEALER IS PRETTY GOOD THEY POINT OUT THINGS TO ME THAT ARE ISSUES UNDER WARRANTY