i have never owned a dodge truck (chevy till now) but have been thinking about it. my wife has a pacifica and i want a dodge truck, but several folks i know have had major trouble with their transmissions and rear gears. i'm talking having them replaced multiple times. this makes no sense to me. they're different year models. they seem to think it is a design flaw. but what i don't understand if it's a design flaw, why doesn't dodge fix it from one year model to the next, and i see no posts here of other folks having transmission or rear gear trouble. please let me know if you'd had trouble or if you're a life long dodge person and have had no trouble. it's hard for me to understand why i know 3 or 4 folks with similar problems if it's not a wide spread problem.....please reply

 

Welcome to DF!

What model years are these folks having trouble with? 94-02 or 03+?

Just curious. Widespread rear-end failure is definitley something I haven't heard about. There are a few issues with the Dana 70 axles, but that's all I know of...as far as Heavy Duty axles go anyway.

 

i not exactly sure of the year models, but they're not very old.....3-4 years or so.....it just concerned me when i ran into several people with the same story...

are you a dodge "expert".....??

if you haven't heard of any....maybe they just had bad luck

 

I've bought an '00 Durango, a couple '02 gas Ram 4WD Quads, an '02 Dakota RT, an '04 4WD Ram Quad CTD, and now an '06 4WD Ram Quad CTD - plus a lot of Fords, Chevy's, and five Toyota Trucks before those Dodges. (Yeah, I wasn't born yesterday) Anyway, my opinion is they all can be great, and they all can have their days. But since your concern is specific, I can tell you the Durango burnt out it's auto tranny at 56K, which was not uncommon, but they no longer match that small tranny with the large gasser they did in '00 - I think the engine was just too strong for the tranny. The two gas Quads had the same engine, but a larger tranny, and I never had a problem with either one. (and one lived in Minneapolis for a winter) The '04 CTD was plagued with one rear axle seal leak that no one could fix completely - I always thought the axle or housing must have been tweaked a little but no one wanted to try that fix (since the other attempts were under warranty) - and so far the only complaint I have with my '06 is the driver's door trim had a slight tear in the vinyl that I know they think I did so it isn't likely to get fixed under warranty. Obviously in spite of an issue with the Durango tranny and the CTD axle seal, I still think highly of Dodges since I bought another.
But you know what they say about opinions...
(oh yes, my brother in NV also has a '04 4WD Ram Quad CTD, and the only issue he's had is the anti-lock brakes have a "unique" engineering that has been a problem for him on ice at slow speeds)
So I say GO FOR IT - get your CTD now before the newer emission diesels come out.

 

the one thing about older dodge tranny's that realy got me was the pump didnt circulate fluid in either park or reverse, kinda weird if you as me, that has been fixed for the newer tranny's.

anyway I can speak for the 48RE tranny that lives behind the Cummins. . .it's a good one. the only people I know that have burned one up was pushing 100 or more horse through it unmodded. but then again I also know guys that are pushing 500hp to the rear wheels that have melted the first two clutch packs together and shattered billet input shafts on built tranny's

anyway, every maker is going to have a bad unit here and there, this is why we have lemon laws