ShaneCTD600

Just to start off, I'm not complaining. I just turned 75k miles and I finally needed to replace my brakes, tires and drive shaft u-joints. So my question is what should I check next and replace. More u-joint perhaps to the front diff? Just looking for some input on some common maintenance items that seem to come up around 75k miles.

Thanks in advance and I still can't believe how lang my brakes and tires lasted.

John Halter

Your U- joints out lasted mine , they only made it about 10,000 miles . My brakes should make 75,000 with ease the way they look now . From what I have read we should be good until brakes again , maybe front ball joints will come into play , who knows . I still have my original lift pump mounted on the engine which could be a problem down the road but I am not going to loose sleep worrying about it . Great truck so far with few problems , make sure you put the drive shaft back together the same way it came apart or if the dealer does it you should mark it before it goes in . A very long story which took many trips back to the dealer to fix and a even longer wait for carrier bearing they screwed up . My suggestion would be do it yourself and put grease able U-joints in .

ShaneCTD600

I did replace the u-joints with greasable precision 330A's. Tell me more about the drive shaft and carrier bearing problem. I assumed that the shaft only fit one way into the transfer case. I assume this because the spline wasn't symetrical, it had a double sized tooth somewhere.

John Halter

The two piece shafts are balanced together and need to be put back together the same way they came apart . The dealer replaced mine under warranty and did not mark them causing a vibration that I never had before that took out my carrier bearing . They also cracked one of the new U-joints putting it in and had a bearing laying under the cap of another . A very simple job that I should have just done myself and I would have saved myself a lot of time . In the end I had 8 trips to the dealer waited 6 months for the carrier bearing and ended up replacing all the U-joints myself with grease able ones . I did a 180 on the shaft and all vibration went away and I will never ever go back to the Dodge dealer in Ashland Ohio for anything . I have always felt the warranty on these trucks is not worth much in most cases , and that Dodge is bringing up the rear in that respect .

rjm022

check your front end- tie-rods,ball joints,etc. i just turned 60,000 miles two days ago and i think i am a candidate for new ball joints. going to check it out this weekend. my u-joints were replaced at 45,000 miles, so you out lasted me- too

ShaneCTD600

Since I think I have a single piece drive shaft (only have 2 u-joints not 3) is is less likely to cause vibration if reassembled a little rotated from original. I made sure not to rotate any of the knuckles when re installing the u-joints but I never paid attention to the spline location at the transfer case. Dumb question, but what is the carrier bearing?

megafast

Might be a good time to drain and replace differential fluids as well.

John Halter

On a single peace shaft you should have no problem with balance on reinstallation . A carrier bearing is the bearing in the middle of the two peace shaft to the rear axle . They help to keep the drive line strait under high torque situations and give a little more ground clearance .

ShaneCTD600

Waiting for 90k for the main fluids again. I replaced all fluids at 60k miles. Thank for the updates. What about shocks? How long do they usually last on heavy trucks like ours?

megafast

Stock shocks last almost to the edge of the dealer parking lot IMHO.
Shock life depends on road conditions you travel on mainly. You should be able to tell if you need new ones, but then again sometimes you get used to the gradual decrease in shock dampening. New shocks might make your truck feel new again.

yamarx1

Had all of my u-joints replaced all the way around before 36000, I'm on second time around had to replace front axle (RT) u-joint along with upper and lower ball joints now I'm at 52000 miles.

2004, 2500 H.O., quad cab.

joshua smith

i have a 2004.5 with 125,000, and i just had to replace the front driveline u-joints and driver front u-joints a bout two weeks ago. cost me $195 to have a shop do the driveline. i did the front axle at home. $61 for the u-joint

1997 CDT 2500 4x4 235,000 gear vendors 8 speed, stage 5 TST fuel plate, 4"exhaust, 370 injectors, full DTT traans, turbo silencer MIA, X-monitor gauges, 4:10 gears w/ limited slip,, new style tow mirrors, STOCK turbo

2004.5 CTD H.O. crew cab long box stock for now

bigfish5

i know this may sound stupid, but how do you know when they u joints are shot. I am guessing a clanking sound when you put it in drive or reverse?

joshua smith

i noticed my front driveline u joints were shot when i used my 4x4 and it almost vibrated me to death. i got that put back in and when i test drove the truck and turned the wheels, it bound up like it was in 4x4.the u joint would turn one way, but not the other. squeeked like hell too. i have not had a problem with the rear driveline , YET

1997 CTD 2500 4x4 235,000 miles, gear vendors 8 speed, stage 5 TST fuel plate, 4" exhaust, 370 injectors, full DTT trans, turbo silencer MIA, X-monitor guages, 4:10 gears w/ limited slip, new style tow mirrors, STOCK turbo

2004.5 CTD H.O. crew cab long box stock for now

ShaneCTD600

My u-jounts squeeked pretty bad at first while backing up then it turned into ta 70mph vibration