I own a black 2004 dodge ram 1500 4x4 4 door short bed with 146,466 miles on it. I have owned this truck from new, almost 14 years. Never has a Pinion Nut back off the Pinion before. We had just got off the main highway, speed was 55 mph and turned onto a back road, speed was 35 mph. When out of nowhere there was a loud bang from under the back off the truck. Then the drive line fell off of the rear end and banged around until I could get the truck over to the side of the road and stopped. Went to the dealer the next day to find out that there has been problems with the 1500 truck rear ends, but per my Vin number on my truck it is not covered by a known problem. Only the 2005 and 2006 1500 trucks are covered. It seems that the 2004 dodge ram 1500 trucks have the same Pinion Nut Issue as the 2005 and 2006 1500's. This could have been a very different out come if we were on a freeway where the speeds are anywhere from 55 to 75 mph. I would hope the Manufacturer of these trucks will take a look into the 2004 dodge ram 1500 pinion nut issue before someone is killed because of a manufacturing process error.

I have a 2004 Dodge ram 1500 4 x 4 3.92 gear ratio made in May 2004. Was driving down the street and I heard a whirling sound then a hard yank vehicle immediately to came to a stop as I heard something dragging on the ground rear wheels locked up in vehicle was forced to come to a stop right in front of the Dodge dealership how ironic.

I looked under and saw what happened then call the tow truck and when I got home I started looking up possible recalls for the vehicle. what do you know there is a recall for the Dodge ram 1500 4x4 3.92gear ratio with A recall on the drivetrain where the nut that goes on the pinion gear is known to loosen and calls the drive shaft to dismount only thing different from my vehicle is that it is a 2005 but manufactured during the same time frame as mine which is Jan. 28th 2004- Aug. 3rd 2005 with apparently the same problem as I noticed when I looked under that it appears the nut on the pinion gear has loosened until it couldn't hold on any longer. You can see on the pinion that the bolt has stripped the end of the threads on the pinion and yanked off the rest of the way leaving clear evidence of what has happened and the drive shaft jumped off with nothing to hold it on and that causes the pinion gear to fall back into the differential lodging itself inside and locking the rear end.

Sad thing is that it's not covered under the warranty even though it was made in the same time frame and it is apparent that the same fault exist in my vehicle as it does in the recall vehicle I don't understand why it is not covered. I will update after I talk to the dealership or a supervisor in the corporate office calls me back. cray170@gmail.com