well... it finally happened .. Was heading back to camp crusin (about 45 - 50mph)down the freshly graded gravel road when to my horror I was approaching a curve in the road, I pulled the wheel to the left only to find the beast was still going straight! I figured it was maybe loose gravel and pulled a little more!!! Still not making the curve!! []I let off the petal and began to lightly apply brakes.. after coming to a stop, and getting my breathing and heart rate back to something near normal, I checked my pants for you know what I mean...
Got out of the truck and walked out front...looking at the front wheels I see one pointing west and the other pointing east!! [:@]Crawled under the bumper and yup... right side tie rod was gone!!! It had cut two narrow shallow groves into my wheel and grease was everywhere!! The tie rod cup and ball seemed to look ok, I grabbed me hammer and after turning the wheel enough I was able to set the cup under the ball and with a good whack!! I got them to seat together. Jumped into the beast and tried to head to camp... a few white knuckled hours later I made it! Just as I pulled into camp one of the service companies guys was heading out (guy does service repairs on our pumpjack engines Arrow and Fords and he has 4 Dodges in his fleet) We stop to chat and I tell him what happened... Guess what he had in his service truck?? yup brand new still wrapped in DC cardboard tie rod... seems he has lots of experience in dodge front ends, tells me the right side fails more often then the left, and he has a steady supply from a dealer about 150miles east of his place. Seems he just sends them the broken tie rods and they just keep sending him new ones free!!!!

So with his help we replaced tie rod got toe in as close as possible, with another week to go in the bush I'll get mine to the dealer and get the other side done. Now I have to buy another right side to replace the one "borrowed". Talked to dealer about getting right side "free/warranty" don't look good, seems Ihaveto write DC Canada about my experience and send them reciept, because I changed it myself... really pi$$es me off your stuck 300+ miles from anydealer let alone a repair shop of anykind and you have to make repairs on the side of the road, because your not going to get roadside assistance where I am! so whats a guy to do ... leave it there!? I will when I get home and send letter off, post my dealings with DC on the matter.

So... there is a moral to this story...there are still plenty of good people left in this messed up world.

PS.Ifany of you do anyoff pavement driving on a regular basis, when your under your trucks greasing the tie rods GRAB them try giving them a twist if they move at all easily.... get them REPLACED!!! Seems the right side is more prone to failure then the left side tie rod. I had greased mine about 5 days prior to the failure had an idea they weren't long for this world but figured they would last a few days longer till at least I got home. [&:]

 

sorry to hear bout the misfortune. at least the service tech was around still!

good luck with Dodge corporate..

 

that was a nice bit of luck! at least you know what the deal is! (and a nice guy for 'loaning' you a tie rod!)

 

I had something similar happen to me on a 99 super doody. .. the sleeve stripped letting the drag link fall out. I was wondering what was going on since I was having to turn the wheel more and more left to keep her straight.

 

Damn Splat I don't you could get any luckier than that.

I could see you MAYBE running into a guy who had a fan belt or a fuel filter, but a tie rod? You lucked out BIG TIME !!

Payback for sure

 

sounds like a good deed was for sure getting paid back...and with a lil luck!

 

Luck? Maybe, but form what this fellow said, its common problem with these front ends, hence him having the spare. Like he said the righ side almost always drops first, and when they start they deteriorate quickly and without warning! Best thing to do is keep an eye on them. If you get any movement (twisting the tie rods by hand) that seem relatively easy get em replaced. I normally carry 2 extra fuel filters, fan belt and spare air filter, never thought about a tie rod. Looks like I might just start! When I had the ole late 80s ford I use to keep a spare steady bearing they were famous for crapin out!!

 

Update...

I managed to limp my truck to a small town 150miles south 1/2 of that on gravel road, pulled into a tiny little Dodge dealer they replaced the left tie rod, but couldn't do a wheel alignment due to lack of equipmnet. So it was down the road as ways to a tire shop which performed the alignment as best as they could due to the type of wheels on my truck they used the ole tape measure thing! Well finally made it back to the big city and homelate tonight, will be out tomorrow first thing to get proper alignment and then deal with DC about getting reinbursed for the "borrowed" right side tie rod... gonna be fun day. [:@]

Oh yeah went through yet another set of rear rotors and pads...so I'll be shopping for rotors and pads again,3 sets in the last 18 months and 1 complete set for the front!!!! the ole 3500 "Heavy Duty" just wasn't meant to be in the mud most of its life

 

Sounds likea great payback...

maybe it's time to consider this option? http://thurenfabrication.com/crossover.html

any idea how much the replacement part is yet? (or did I miss it)

 

Glad to see a good ending to a fateful camping trip. Thanks for sharing that experience with us all and remember to pass on that blessing favor to someone else down the road.