Dodge RAM 2500 tie rod end safety recall Anyone else experienced any issues with this recall? I purchased my truck new at the end of 2012. I received a recall notice only after I contacted the Dodge customer service website back in January of this year and asked why I had not received the recall notice for my truck, knowing that mine was in the model year range. I had read about the recall on one of the Dodge owners forums. I got a recall notice in the mail a few weeks after that. So when I called my local dealer to schedule the repair, the service gal told me they wouldn’t get the repair parts in until April. So I just called her back today and checked on the status. She said they have no parts yet and can’t tell me when they would get them. I asked if I was expected to not use my truck this whole time. She told me I could continue to drive it. I asked what if it breaks and causes an accident. She told me Dodge will cover the cost. I then asked what if it breaks and I crash and someone is killed. She had no answer. What is a reasonable amount of time one should have to wait concerning a safety issue of this degree? There is not any sense of urgency about this on Dodges part. Am I just an impatient ass or are they sucking at customer service?
There is 1.2 million of these trucks on the road. Your dealer probably has a waiting list upwards of couple hundred people. Dodge can only supply these so quick and each dealer has a allocation they get each week. They go down the list until your number comes up. It can take a while. Months, easily. Any part of your truck could fail for any reason at any time, shit happens. If you're that concerned about it you might not want to leave the house anymore. Or call Chrysler cust. service and give them your theory of how you're going to kill somebody because of a failure that might or might not happen and they'll probably bump you to the front of the line 'cause you're a whiny bitch. No hard feelings, I was a service writer at Chrysler for a minute.
But I'd rather think that im an impatient ass I guess I was just surprised that they had no problem with the continued use of the truck considering the consequences. Because if this part fails you absolutely would loose control. They must have a very low probability of failure. I have heard that the failure is more likely to happen when the steering is turned to full stop on way or the other, like when pulling into a parking spot or such, so I avoid doing that of course.
You're probably in the same realm as every other dodge truck owner out there as they all eat tie rod ends anyway. What is the exact failure that suppose to happen? Isnt there a few different recalls pertaining to the same sort of thing as well? ps- the new super duties have the "death wobble" when shit starts getting loose. Pretty cool to see a 6000lb truck goin into a tank slapper at 70mph.
I have the same recall on my Mega Cab. It's not all 2500 trucks. They have to check the VIN. If yours is affected, you can wait for the parts or buy MOOG parts and have them installed and pay the difference.
Hell they did the same with the dakotas around 2000. The ball joints were literally SNAPPING in two within 12k miles. Daimler-chrysler said 12k was considered "normal lifespan" for the joints and fought it. Solution is simple. Go to the nearest Orilleys and buy Moog joints. If your ram was like my dakota, oem ones dont have zerk fittings. Moogs will.
The recall notice was pretty vague, it just said the it could fail and cause loss of control. The Dodge forum i read about it on said it was caused by incorrect installation and put undue stress, because of being in a bind or something like that if i recall. But that doesnt point to a faulty part as much as faulty workmanship. So maybe more than just one issue they are dealing with. Question about the Moog parts you guys mentioned........do you think it is a higher quality part than the o.e.m.? If so i might look into that. Thanks for that info.i was hoping for an option to waiting who knows how much longer.
I've followed this for awhile, had the first recall inspection quite awhile ago and at that point no action was required as my tie rod ends were aligned properly. It seems they made the tie rod ends beefier when they redesigned them and maybe a little overboard as keeping them inline (within a 5 degree angle) was required so they would not bind in really tight turns like parking. If they were initially installed correctly and any future front-end alignments kept them that way, no issues. Any shop doing a front-end alignment "should" index them correctly anyway as part of a quality job. It seems though a lot of non-dealer shops don't maintain that quality of work so Chrysler decided the only safe way to prevent future issues was to replace them all with another redesigned end where the indexing wasn't as critical. I've got 105,000 miles on my 2011 and no issues in that time. They ordered my replacement tie rod assembly about 5 weeks ago and I got a call last Friday that parts are in and I'm getting it replaced Monday. Probably not really necessary as the ends are tight, etc. but hey if they want to put new parts in and you get a free front-end alignment out of it, why not. I typed probably much more than necessary but probably Chrysler's lack of urgency on this is that not many trucks have actually suffered a failure due to this. It's more a CYA type thing on their end.
Thats encouraging to know. Thanks for that feedback Dave. I suppose i will just practice some patience for a change.l.o.l. My truck just clicked over 10k miles. Its not a d.d. Just mostly hauls our trailer to the tracks during race season.
Especially better than Chryslers. Caravans with less than 20k with loose outers, that's pretty crappy. They are better IF they are shot with grease every so often, and I don't mean pump it in until it leaks out of the boots, one maybe two shots of grease is plenty and keeps the boots intact and doing what they should be, sealing dirt out and grease in. People that over grease stuff are doing nothing but attracting dirt which gets dragged into the joint eventually. Moog stuff is usually lifetime warranty too. I could see indexing problems on the trucks being an issue, if they are twisted beyond the radius of the joint something is going to give and its likely going to be the joint which would be the extreme failure.
