Truth or government overreach?

[dznf0g]

Usually, but not always tie rods let go during low speed "parking lot maneuvers " . That's when the forces of steering with non rolling tires are the greatest. Ball joints...not so much.

[switz]

I watched the front tires swing outward from a broken tie rod as a Lincoln was trying to pull into the local Ford dealership back in the 60s.

[wvstreamer]

Then there is the Toyota floor mat. Really?

[J. Morgan]

Regarding the Toyota thing, if all cars had a means of turning off the car with a manual disconnect, (i.e a key ignition switch) "runaway" Toyotas would have probably never been an issue.

Remind me to never buy a car without such an archaic devise.

[tjdonahoe]

I grease my tie rods every 4000 miles when I change oil, they are fine. My wife's toyota has a key switch and is a good car. My kW has 1.4 million miles and never repaplaced anything on it, it is all still good, why worry.

[Ted S.]

I guess I need to get on the internet tomorrow and fine me an old Ram to trade in.

[dznf0g]

Originally Posted by SteveH

J., I think had there been, we would have already heard about it, and in the total numbers of 4X4 Ram trucks sold, the tie rod end broke on only a very few. However, to have a tie rod end break while driving, no mater the speed, is a pretty major event.

I actually only heard of a few of them on the Cummins Forum, and there was one actual video, as I remember. It gave me major motivation to get mine changed.

However, other brands aren't immune:

Dude! Really! I wouldn't condemn any truck for any kind of breakage in those conditions. Let me count the ways and this actually defends many of my posts over the years:

You may cause damage, premature wear by:

Lifting the truck
Using bigger tires
Chipping or modifying the engine
Exceeding GCWR
Exceeding max trailer weight

If you do, something in the system, the weak link, will fatigue, break, or wear out faster.

The OEM specs are there for many VALID reasons!

[SteveH]

Originally Posted by dznf0g

Dude! Really! I wouldn't condemn any truck for any kind of breakage in those conditions. Let me count the ways and this actually defends many of my posts over the years:

You may cause damage, premature wear by:

Lifting the truck
Using bigger tires
Chipping or modifying the engine
Exceeding GCWR
Exceeding max trailer weight

If you do, something in the system, the weak link, will fatigue, break, or wear out faster.

The OEM specs are there for many VALID reasons!

I know, I know, it's an extreme example, and under any kind of competition, stuff breaks. And IIRC, manufacturers void all warrantees if the vehicle is used in ANY kind of competition.

[SteveH]

Originally Posted by tjdonahoe

I grease my tie rods every 4000 miles when I change oil, they are fine. My wife's toyota has a key switch and is a good car. My kW has 1.4 million miles and never repaplaced anything on it, it is all still good, why worry.

You won't grease the tie rod ends on a Ram truck because they have no fittings.

[cwf]

Sweet!!!!
I don't plan to mod or push my 2500 like that... Or over expose due to improper loading.

Originally Posted by dznf0g

Dude! Really! I wouldn't condemn any truck for any kind of breakage in those conditions. Let me count the ways and this actually defends many of my posts over the years:

You may cause damage, premature wear by:

Lifting the truck
Using bigger tires
Chipping or modifying the engine
Exceeding GCWR
Exceeding max trailer weight

If you do, something in the system, the weak link, will fatigue, break, or wear out faster.

The OEM specs are there for many VALID reasons!

[tjdonahoe]

Steve , On my 2007 dodge 2500 ,there are grease fittings on my tie rod ends, one zerk each, I grease them every 4000 miles when I change the oil.

[SteveH]

There are no grease fitting on the '12 tie rod ends, neither the original, or the ones installed in the recall, and not even the plugs like the used to put in them to save money.

However, yesterday I learned there were two versions of the recall parts, and the first version were also recalled. I have the first version.

http://api.viglink.com/api/click?format=go&jsonp=vglnk_143817322769610&key=bc f926a0fd377e7dff5eddf9bf3b1844&libId=icor6vd601000 azu000DAg7urngex&loc=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.cumminsforum .com%2Fforum%2F2010-2012-general-discussion%2F1721162-fca-might-want-your-truck-back-massive-recall-22.html&v=1&out=http%3A%2F%2Fwww-odi.nhtsa.dot.gov%2Facms%2Fcs%2Fjaxrs%2Fdownload%2 Fdoc%2FUCM453386%2FRCMN-13V529-3026.pdf&ref=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.cumminsforum.com%2Ff orum%2F2010-2012-general-discussion%2F1721162-fca-might-want-your-truck-back-massive-recall-24.html&title=FCA%20Might%20Want%20Your%20Truck%20 Back%20-%20Massive%20Recall%20-%20Page%2022%20-%20Dodge%20Cummins%20Diesel%20Forum&txt=http%3A%2F %2Fwww-odi.nhtsa.dot.gov%2Facms%2Fcs%2Fjaxrs%2Fdownload%2 Fdoc%2FUCM453386%2FRCMN-13V529-3026.pdf

[crispyboy]

Originally Posted by dznf0g

Usually, but not always tie rods let go during low speed "parking lot maneuvers " . That's when the forces of steering with non rolling tires are the greatest. Ball joints...not so much.

When I was a young kid of 9 years old when I started to drive our farm truck with manual steering my dad taught me -"never turn the steering wheel until you start to move as it is tough on the front end". To this day it is still ingrained into my daily driving.

I have had all the steering recalls done to my truck and it is solid. I knew from the first day of ownership that the truck would perform it's best with the stock size tire and no lift. When I did my research before buying the truck I could see the pattern of trucks that had problems. Typically it was those trucks which had over sized tires and a lift of some sort. The geometry of the whole front end changes. The same with the head gaskets on the Cummins engine. Trucks with head gasket problems are typically those that get hotrodded. From the factory these trucks are designed to go several hundred thousand miles (wear items on the suspension are to be expected).
I did upgrade one aspect of the steering system more as a preventative maintenance. I put in a steering box stabalizer brace. This brace is designed to take much of the stress off of the lower bearing in the steering box. In the future when the ball joints get changed I will likely upgrade those.
What's going to hurt me worse is that the media hype is going to cause depreciation to my truck.

[switz]

As fate would have it, when I purchased my Cummins diesel engine, it came in a Dodge wrapper. Dodge's historical reliability has been way lower than the Cummins reliability.

I have modified the front steering with braces and upgraded tie rods along with other non-steering mods. Since it came with 17" Michelin tires, I will continue to use that same tire going forward. However, it does look too small with the huge fender opening for the tires.

The handling can best best described as numb. It does not wander, but is not as precise as the Mercedes.

When towing the Classic, my scale numbers are well within the specifications for the axles and tires. When the speed limit allows, I cruise between 62 and 65 and the engine EGT is down around 650 to 750 which means it is not working very hard.

The overall experience to date has been satisfactory with no trips to a dealership for defective parts.

My Airstream experience to date has not been as trouble free.

[Lumatic]

I just bought this 2008 Ram 2500 Laramie diesel with 43,000 and love it so far. The day I bought it the PO gave me a airbag recall notice he jus got. I called up a Dodge dealer who said they don't have the parts and don't know when they will.

Then I heard about this buy back thing. I did a VIN search and found 2 closed recalls related to the tie rod issue. I spoke to PO who said he took the truck in and was told the tie rods were a different design that were not affected.

This truck was gently used. Not a tow vehicle. And the PO did impeccable maintenance. Definitey keeping the truck.

[SouthForkAS]

Just FYI- I recently got a recall notice in the mail for a 1994 Jeep Grand Cherokee (with Pentastar badging) regarding the gas tank issue. This was not my first notice- I bought the GC in 2013 and recently sold it.
I'm guessing I was the third owner, 20 years and 200k miles later, even I got recall notices in the mail. (even tho the vehicle had factory tow pkg and didn't need their prescribed "fix")
Like they say (in your case) no news is good news
but still check it out

[SouthForkAS]

The good news is ZJ and WJ owners without the tow package can get a free Class 3 tow hitch installed :-)