I had just pulled onto highway, was accelerating when I heard a loud grinding banging noise. Rear wheels locked up and the truck would not move. Put truck in neutral and got it to the shoulder. Luckily I was going slow or this could have caused a bad accident, I was shaken up but ok. When I looked underneath the rear driveshaft had come away from the rear differential. The yolk was still attached to the driveshaft.

I had truck put on a deck tow truck and delivered to my local licensed mechanic. Upon mechanics inspection, the pinion nut had come loose and caused the rear driveshaft to separate from the rear differential. Mechanic inspected complete driveline and undercarriage finding no visible damage. There were a couple scrape marks on the yolk and a mark on inside of carrier where pinion nut had ended up. Removed rear diff cover and inspected all gears, no visible damage, no metal in oil. The mechanic installed a new pinion seal, reinstalled pinion nut and torqued, put locktite on pinion nut. Truck is all back together but rear diff is making a noise.

From reading other complaints I am not the only one this has happened to. There are recalls (N08) for this exact issue but they do not cover my year of truck. From what I have read on Dodge forum, if the nut comes loose, you should have the rear diff reconditioned. I am driving my truck locally to see what happens with the diff noise. I am afraid to take it out of town. I have done all the required maintenance on this vehicle as and when needed. It is in exceptional mechanical condition other than the rear diff noise. I have a case #77691797 with FCA Canada Customer Care. I am saving all invoices for work done pertaining to pinion nut.

I am a widowed senior woman on a fixed income. I implore Dodge to expand their recall. Over the last 2 months I have put about $2000 into this truck, new winter tires, new muffler, new power steering cooler, and now I'm just at a loss of what to do next. I hope Dodge does the right thing and expands the N08 Recall.

The rear locked up and the drive shaft came out on the ramp to the freeway. Could have easy been much worse for me had I gone another 20 feet and the car came to a screeching halt on the freeway in heavy traffic. I have found that the 2009 version of this truck had similar issues do to a pinion failure and I hear there was a recall but can't find much info. There is nothing for my truck. I have seen online a several people have had this happen. This will eventually cause an accident if it hasn't already.