Hitch and Exhaust Rust.
 

Has anyone had this problem corrected with Dodge? It is a bit premature to have holes in the exhaust from the cat-back. The hitch is flaking and I need to keep painting it. The Ram Senior service care rep's keep ticking me off and say it is normal. My Subaru bought the same month and year still looks like new.[verymad]

Your truck is 5 years old. How is that not normal? Look at where you live and what they use on the roads in the winter.

I am sure my 00 ctd has a lifetime warranty on the exhaust system, may not apply to your'e truck.

Wrong!
It is not normal. Only the Dodges around here look like that. All the rest like Chevy's and Ford's are around 10 y/o when they look like mine. The rail to rail tube looks great but the center section where the receiver slides in is a real PITA. Your quote is what all the compliant folks say these days and we all (Americans) sit around with our mouths open while big corporations defecate on us. Lets not mention that I would bet 3/4's of the components are made outside the US and it is all assembled in Mexico.

I told the Dodge dealer that this week when picked up the truck from some warranty work. I wouldn't seem like such a BIG PITA if everyone else said what was on their mind, like how disappointed they were. Each time I walk in there the salesmen see me driving the most expensive (upper 90% in the line-up and try to put me in a new one. There are discouraged when I tell them I am waiting for Toyota to import a Diesel pick-up.[rant]

Don't get me wrong, as I love everything about my truck other than BS things that wear prematurely. As I said in the past I had two new Toyota's in the past and put 150,000 miles on each and never had them in for service. Just basic self repaired maintenance. I know I will hear in a future reply "Look at Toyota now" but to rebut that I respect them more now then I did before.[coffee]

Here's the link to the down loadable service manuals:

http://www.dodge.com/en/owners/manuals/

PG 426 and 427 on the 05 ram shows what is covered under warranty.

I think the exhaust would be covered under the federal emissions 8yr / 80K

Call DC direct and talk to them.. Mine is holding up fine here only 42K on the ODO but they love the road salts in our state of "Commie" Colo..

You telling me a 5 year old truck in New Yorks climate will not show signs of rust and deterioration.... Right......and I am Robin Hoods brother.

You are also shooting from the hip. Not to the extent of these two items. You are in Georgia as per your sig I am here and had other vehicles in NY for the past 25 years. All were bought new and held for five years. My excursion looked like new when a sold it to a guy who flew in from Tampa, Fl to buy it. This Dodge came from Long Island where salt use is at a minimum (I lived there also). Even the turbo was replaced due to failure from a ROTTED Waist Gate. With the exception of the exhaust, hitch, bumpers and turbo the rest of the truck looks great.

Inferior metallurgy of the CRAP coming out of these 3rd world countries. Just because you bought a Cummins don't mean you bought AMERICAN. While Smiling ****'in was playing with cigars in the Blowval Office he signed NAFTA which killed this country.

solution..... drop a cummins in the toyota, since you like the toyotas. Also where i live, ive noticed more toyotas with rust on them, then dodge.imo

Sorry don't use the not made in the USA crap story. I have friends who work for Chrysler/Dodge back east in Canada, they have been to the plants in Mexico and the US. The storys they have mentioned about the quilty of workmanship from the US leaves something to be desired. The Mexicans seem to be much better at the work aspect, for one simple reason they have a good job and they appreciate it more.

As for "Inferior metallurgy of the CRAP coming out of these 3rd world countries" To be honest with you I have yet to see much metal come out of the US that is much better. Now that Canada's main Metal refineries are shut down due to US interests we have actually seen a steady decline in the quality of product we are getting.

Now I may not directly blame the actual American worker, Its more policys and procedures that coporate offices come with that really make the difference in quailty control. But still it is the overall contribution of the demographic area it is comming from that gets nailed.

As for the persons muffler rusting out, that is probelly due to many reasons, one of which is the use of less salt and more of those salt brines which actually adhere to metal surfaces and hence need to be scrubbed away. Even places that use little to no salt but have ice and snow will use these brine solutions.

I would have to guess that your out an exhaust system, Chryslers warrenty over covers exhisting coatings, nothing with rock chips etc so they will get out of that one.

The emmissions warrenty may be valid and you might be able to get in under that one. Good luck your dealing with the top Warrenty denier of the Automotive world.

You should have done a better job keeping up with the paint chips. Protected metal will not rust. Unprotected metal will. Do a better job protecting your investment and quit blaming everyone else.

Would you care to explain that one?

Many welders myself included would argue that fact with you..cheap Chinese steel was partially to blame for the MN bridge collapse..There is many industrial metal blogs that tells of rejected Chinese steel structures setting at the harbors waiting on a trip back to the foundry in China to be melted and sent through the process again..

I use good ol USA steel in the mainframe of all of the trailers that I build.. some of the other profiles are not readily available so I have to use that ever spitting import iron on.. The same holds true for the tread-plate that comes out of the Canadian foundries..

I wish I had the time and know-how to drop on in a Yota. Agree they have more than their fair share of rust issues and salt and brines are killing the trucks. But we do not need to constantly have things like water pumps and turbos fail in the first five years. Last week it was the water pump. There are guys on all these forum sites bitching about crap parts. Spend $50,000.00 on a pick-up truck and one should go at least 7 years on 100,000 miles before items like these needing replacement. My last Ford and Chevy diesels were the same with constant parts (minor and major) replacement.
Yea, a Cummins will bring you 300,000 of more of ownership BLISS but when you need to replace the whole vehicle around it piece by piece whats the point.

Toyota had a recall on trucks used in the northern states. The frame would rust through and the frame mounted spare tire would fall off from underneath and hit the highway. Now that recall is extended to all of the US. They issued a letter saying to remove the spare. They did not say what the fix was. This info was posted on Yahoo's front page news recently.

I won't touch a used vehicle from the north it is just not worth it.

I grew up in Vermont and in the 70's new cars would rust through the body in as little as 1 year. A friends '71 Vega rusted through the size of a football in one winter. I personally saw it. It rusted from the inside out and there was no accident damage to cause it.

I owned an Alfa Romeo in Ohio and it came with no real corrosion protection. The amount of rust progression in 1 year was startling. The car literally was evaporating!

My brother has a 96 Toyota with ~270k miles he purchased from me at around 20k miles. Family owned so i know the history. We replaced the wheel bearings around 150k miles. Other then that, nothing else was replaced since new except brakes, oil, filters, etc. Has stock clutch, water pump, alternator, etc.

Another friend at my work as similar truck and has nothing but problems. Complained constantly about it.

I read about hot shotters putting 200 - 400k miles on their Dodge Rams with little or no problems.

Then I read about other people getting a lawyer filing for lemon law with their Dodge.

Q: Does any of this constitute one vehicle better then the next???????? [coffee]

ALL MFG HAVE THEIR SHARE OF PROBLEMS in addition to each vehicle have their own share of problems. Go to church and light a candle if you get a good one no matter which mfg you decide on!!!

No it don't.
I see it around here with friends that take things very lightly and just comply, say nothing and pay in the form of trade it in every three years and just keep paying and paying and paying......... It turns into a life long payment to do nothing but oilchanges. It shouldn't be that way. These same people would buy houses with out inspections and bust my chops after the fact to tell them how to fix things or mostly just take out another loan to have someone fix these dives that they shouldn't have bought. It is the complacent generation.