Our drive-shaft fell out and busted a hole in our gas tank while we were traveling up the hwy at 65 mphs. It caused us to wreck. Dodge never helped us, we had to turn it in on our roadside assistant insurance and now pay higher insurance. They did send a recall last year but of course the accident happened already and it was fixed by then. They never payed for the fire dept clean up or any thing. We had to do it all. Not to mention the pain and suffering we had.
rear drive shaft fell off. rear differential locked up
At approx 70kph (40mph) rear end started to howl. Howling became worse under deceleration, within seconds a loud clunk was heard. The dif locked both wheels. I was able to steer the vehicle to the side of the road.
Observations: Rear drive shaft was laying on the road. The four bolts and flange that secure it to the pinion where in position. The pinion nut had come off the pinion. The front pinion bearing was on the flange that had fallen off with the drive shaft. This allowed the front of the pinion to raise up out of position and lock the crown gear. If the speed had been higher I would have definitely lost control of the vehicle. Further observation of the threads on the pinion gear reveal there is no thread locking chemicals present. (loctite)
Update from Aug 10, 2012: The Vehicle is at Kingston Dodge Chrysler where it has been for 4 weeks. When this incident happened the Dodge VOR (vehicle off road) report stated I was the 13th customer awaiting a new differential. One week later I was the 75th person waiting this part. This indicates the problem is much larger than reported.
my wife was diving to work his morning and she heard a noise and slow down and the truck stop the driveshaft is on the ground and oil all over. took it to dealer. will see what happen on friday when i go in to dealers. will get back to you..
While I was driving on a highway, I heard a terrible sound out of the rear of my RAM truck. I tried to stop my vehicle as soon as I could while the sound kept on getting even terrible. When I stopped and looked at the bottom of the vehicle, the Driveshaft fell off from the rear of the vehicle without any warning or any engine light signal. The vehicle was not in a position to be driven further, and I had to get it towed to a nearest chrysler dealership in Coquitlam.
It has been 3 days now and I have not yet heard back from Chrysler dealership that what is the real cause of this problem and what will be done to fix this issue. On checking with them, they say that they have no solution to this problem till now. Luckily, my vehicle is still inside the warranty period and so the dealership says that the cost to repair will be covered, but they have no fixed timeline on how soon they can fix it. I tried reaching out to Chrysler and file a complaint about this, but the response from chrysler is not very helpful and they are not at all worried about my sufferings and loss that I am currently facing due to this vehicle not being available/ready for my use yet.
Just seen on Internet Dodge knew about this problem last summer. Now it's been almost a week Dodge towed it back to Dealer lot & nothing has been done. Rear End has Catastrophic Failure locked up & Driveshaft sheared off at Rear End. It was making noise less than 24 hrs after Dealer recall service of rear sway bar replacement. I was at stop sign tried to accelerate heard loud bang noise & truck didn't move. Got out looked under truck saw Driveshaft sheared off at Rear End & Fluid leaking out. With this problem they should give me a loaner truck or a free rental truck. Note My Dodge Ram is my Business service Truck. I'm a Disable Navy Veteran. Dodge Please Help me. Thank You
A D V E R T I S E M E N T S
Our drive-shaft fell out and busted a hole in our gas tank while we were traveling up the hwy at 65 mphs. It caused us to wreck. Dodge never helped us, we had to turn it in on our roadside assistant insurance and now pay higher insurance. They did send a recall last year but of course the accident happened already and it was fixed by then. They never payed for the fire dept clean up or any thing. We had to do it all. Not to mention the pain and suffering we had.
- Georgia V., King, NC, US