Just received call from 5 Star Dealer Service Manager. Diagnosis of damage due to One and One-Half Quart low lubricant level in rear axle, Ring &amp; Pinion gear damaged, Pinion gear bearings going. Parts have been ordered.<br><br>Ring &amp; Pinion gears are on National Back Order, whatever that means. I am picking it up as it is in driveable condition. They will notify me when parts arrive. <br><br>This puts on hold any towing or long trips out of the area. No driving over 55mph as too much noise. :'( :'( :'( And only 2300 miles, Ring &amp; Pinion Bad.<br><br>If your rear axle is as much as 3/4&quot; below fill hole you could have damage too according to service manager.<br><br>HAVE DEALER CHECK YOUR DIFFERENTIAL LUBRICANT LEVEL<br><br>Wantabee's, now mine, that's two, how many more are out there? <br> ???

 

&gt;Dam it, better check mine just to make sure

 

More bad news boys The vibration in my drivetrain after the new differential was replaced appears to be from inside the tranny...most likely the torque converter. District Service rep has contacted me personally and I have insisted that DC owes it to all current and future customers to take my truck and determine what parts failed first to ensure this does not happen again. If DC does not do this and make the nessessary changes..thier bottom line will suffer from a loss of sales.<br>I have every failth DC will do the right thing....in the mean time...please ensure all you members take your rigs to your dealer to have documented any shortage of lubricant and premature wear of differential parts. <br><br>Take care<br><br>Wantabee

 

Mine was in today for checking rear lube and front wheel balance. Diff was full to the hole. Wheels now with no shudder.

Mechanic and Service Tech are checking on changing out the six speed box for synthetic at first oil change. Odd that the five speed is synthetic but the six speed is dino. ???

HappyBob

 

Fiver, they probably put dino in the 6 speed cause they know you HO guys only use half the gears. That makes the dino last twice as long. Engineering thought for today.

Service manager informed me they order parts with priority of &quot;vehicle down&quot;. He said that means they are to ship immediately to dealer from any source even if necessary from the manufacturer of gears.

Now I sit and wait.

 

How in heck would a Flatlander need anymore than a couple of gears anywho?<br><br>Come on out to Oregon, Nevada or Californicate and check out that particluar shift pattern ;D<br><br>Hunter burning thru the gears

 

Hunter, It is difficult for flatlanders to imagine the mountain grades we have in the west. Who in the flyover country flatland ever experienced pulling 27 miles of 9% grade only to crest the summit and have 9 miles downhill 8% grade. Towing a fiver on these roads takes experience for you and your vehicles to survive without an accident or blowing something.<br><br>We were at a Show in a Tahoe Casino and shared a table with a couple from NY City. They had flown into SFO and rented a car. They had driven US-101 in N Calif. Then driven from Sac, to S. Tahoe via US-50. As the hwy descends into the Tahoe Valley it goes along the edge of a cliff, 35 mph speed, one lane each way with shear drop nest to Tahoe bound lane.<br><br>They looked terrified and kept asking if there was another way back to SFO, they didn't want to drive Hwy 50 again. <br><br>I'm sure the front seat must have been thoroughly soaked when they returned that rental car. Yep, flatlanders don't need all them gears unless they venture out west where mountain are real mountains.

 

Sierra Phil - I can understand those New Yorkers if they had come from the city. If they were from up-state they would have known better. The only big problems I have had since moving out here are the west coasters who don't know how to handle snow and the fact that the chain controls come on before the snow is even deep enough to get good traction in. Oh well -- dealer called last night to confirm the new truck is in Benicia and may be here by the end of the week. Can't wait. Hope the differential thing has been resolved before this one came off the line. Will know soon enough. Have four more months before the racing season starts and I have to start towing again. By the way - we run the dwarf cars about 4 or 5 times a year over at your fairgrounds - great track. Oh, by the way - where I grew up and used to drive big rigs in PA and WVA, we didn't have long hills, but they sure were steep - 15-20% grades were not unusual - fortunately they were only a few miles long.

 

Phil, Being an Eastern flatlander, I'm curious. Just where in the west ( &quot;. . . where the mountains are real mountains&quot do you find a public highway that is 9% grade for 27 miles? If my calculations are correct, that equates to a verticle rise of 12,830 feet I didn't think there where any highway passes that high, but I could be wrong [undecided].<br><br>The Boss Hog<br>

 

Start in Death Valley and go west from Stovepipe Wells. Highway sign are not always truthful of course. Some exageration by DOT helps drivers to be more cautious, they hope. I won't consider going there with my 5er until I have an E-Brake. The one time I pulled that highway I was towin about 5500#. Saw several Motor Homes on down grade with smoking brakes and white knuckle drivers.

Death Valley is a beautiful place to visit in late fall to early spring.
West of Death Valley is the highest point in the lower 48, Mt Whitney. in the Sierra Nevada Range. Only a three of passes are open year round. Some of the passes through the Sierra are over 10,000 ft and covered with 20-30 ft of snow mid-winter. Los Angeles drinks the snow-melt from the eastern slope. San Francisco drinks snow-melt from the western slope.

 

Been there, done that one, Sierra. In a Class A 36' diesel. Fun. Then headed north thru the mountains to come out at Hot Springs and on down to Porterville. Now you would think an adult would know better than take a 36'er up that road, but I only remembered doing it in my souped up Chevy as a teen ager. Sooo, should I be deprived of doing it again in my &quot;mature&quot; years? Of course not. Sure wondered what I was doing there a couple times, I must admit. [undecided]

CrazeeBob

ps: Boss - - worked out those numbers - - it only comes to 10,853.6671 feet.

 

We've got lots of wild roads in these Mountains. The make even the most experienced driver loose bladder control. <br><br>Towed 25 ft travel trailer over Monitor Pass (8314&quot; Summit). All of east side, 10 miles, is 8% except for 1 mile 5%. West side is 7 1/2 miles of 7-10% with truck speed limit of 20 mph. Lots of curves on both sides are 25-40 miles per hour. Stop sign at the end of 10% grade.<br><br>Sign says, &quot;Tractor-semis over 36' kingpin to rear axle not advised&quot;. This one is worse than Death Valley exit. Ebbetts Pas on Calif Hwy 4 is worst of all amound other hurdles it has 6 miles of 9-11%grade with 10 mph hairpin turns, road is so narrow they don't paint a centerline. Steepest portion is 3 miles of 10-12% grade.<br><br>Flatlanders can't visualize these roads. It is fun to watch them when they get on one by mistake.

 

Boss Hog:<br><br>Southern Nevada has no real passes, but I lived in Colorado for many years. The following list of high Colorado passes is for your reading pleasure:<br><br>Coal Bank Summit US 550 10,640'<br>Cumbres Pass State Rt 17 10,022'<br>Fall River Pass US 34 11,786'<br>Independence Pass State Rt 82 12,095'<br>La Manga Pass State Rt 17 10,230'<br>Lizard Head Pass State Rt 145 10,222'<br>Milner Pass US 34 10,758'<br>Molas Divide US 550 10,910'<br>Monarch Pass US 50 11,312'<br>Mount Evans Byway State Rt 5 14,264'<br>Red Mountain Pass US 550 11,008'<br>Slumgullion Pass State Rt 149 11,361'<br>Spring Creek Pass State Rt 149 10,901'<br>Trail Ridge Road US 34 12,320'<br>Wolf Creek Pass US 160 10,850'<br><br>Of this list the most thrilling (without a doubt) is Independence Pass. Driving Independence in a truck for the first time will scare the crap out of you, attempting to tow an RV over it is probably a felony. Many of these roads are only open in the summertime, a few of them are little more than glorified wagon trails, and all of them have stunning scenery. <br><br>Cheers (see you in the back country)

 

In 98 with a new Ram 4 x 4 spent a week in Ouray. Some ??? ???flatlander from ..ansas decided to drive his Ryder truck over Engineer Pass. (recommended for high profile 4 x 4s only) He made it up until the road narrowed. He got stuck between a granite wall and a sheer drop of a few hundred feet. He couldn't move up or down. It took three tow trucks a couple of days to bring him back down the road safely.<br><br>Nevada, I've driven many of the passes towing various trailers, Coal Bank (Red Mountain), Monarch, Rabbit Ears, Tennessee, Douglas, and others.<br><br>With the fiver I take the Mountain Directory West with me to read before I attempt to tow them.

 

Phil, I have been reading about your's and Wantabee's experiences for the past week and I have to tell you that what I saw here probably was 95% of the reason I'm getting &quot;satisfaction&quot; on my issue.
I have a 2003 3500 SLT single wheel, limited slip (2,600 miles) that my buddy commented &quot;the rear end sure whines on this... check the pinion gears&quot; last Tuesday night....
On Wednesday I &quot;discovered&quot; this forum, and that night I pulled the inspection plug on the differential, and sure as shootin, I could not touch any lube with my finger, but determined there was &quot;some&quot; in the case....
Took it to the selling dealer first thing in the morning and they were very accommodating, and put their best man in the truck with me for a test drive.....
You know, sometimes when this happens the guy just looks at you and says &quot;what whine?&quot; but I feel fortunate, that before we had gone 300 feet he was convinced the rear end was gone and as soon as he we got back, he told the hold service team that very thing &quot;this guy needs a new rear end&quot;
To make a long story short... the dealer never waivered for a second in their need to correct the problem but they did need a little help in thinking &quot;outside of the box&quot; to find a solution.
Mine was (and yeah the pinion and &quot;O&quot; gears are on &quot;national back order) that DC authorized shipment of a new axle to replace mine..
Thanks again to you guys posting what you were finding as you went along... It helped me to keep a level head and keep from cutting off my nose to spite my face....