It always makes me laugh when guys are so blinded by their love of a brand even if it fails them. I bought a Dodge and with nothing towed behind it is unsafe?

I guess if you spent 50 grand plus on a truck you feel pretty dumb when it drives like junk? Kinda funny how many times does Dodge want us to buy the truck?

We pay the dealer when we buy it, we pay the dealer to make it work like it is supposed to and now we have to pay to bail them out from going broke?

How much do you think your truck is going to cost you?

 

Personally, I hate what Dodge has become over the past ten years. But for me, It's a Cummins thing. No other engine comes close to the Cummins reliability, longevity and performance standard. I've willingly sacrificed to put up with the Dodge part so I can have the Cummins part that goes along with it.

I know it's going to be painful, but I hope the company fails so they can be forced into bankruptcy and get on the with business of reorganizing. Maybe then they can start building quality products again.

 

I went back and re-read H36 and it makes sense now... I guess im lucky that the dealer also put on the updated parts (AA-AD) when i had it in to replace the steering box... cause they are replacing the "updated parts" (AA-AD)under the H36 recall, with the new AE parts...
I'm really glad now, that i bought the truck from the dealer with the lift and tires already on it... 4 steering boxes and misc steering parts later....
Makes me upset that people are having to come out of pocket to do this..

 

My thoghts as well Ace. I'm just a bit bitter with the whole thing hence the angree posts .

 

With all your anger towards Dodge I bet the service department really looks forward to your visits-- When you find the perfect truck and the perfect dealer, let me know--they will get all my business. Until then I'll keep my Dodge.
Jay

 

Hey Roger,
No, my truck hasn't given me any problems at all, no warranty issues whatsoever, last time it was at the dealer was for a recall right after I bought it, now it has 55k km on it. I don't think anything will change once the warranty is up and if there was ever a chance of that happening I wouldn't have done all the mods to it, I love the thing.

One thing though, I'd never consider a Toyota (or any other non Cummins truck)...


<EDIT>
BTW, no "brand loyalty" here, this is my first Chrysler product since my 64 Valiant I had in high school!
(170 ci slant 6 with the 3 on the tree, 1 spd wipers and a 2 spd heater, what a beaut eh?)

 

I have a 6" suspension lift with drop pitman arm. Will I be able to run this upgraded steering, or will I have to do something special.

 

I'm running a 6" suspension with a drop arm and had no issues installing the upgraded steering it works just fine, you'll probly need a new steering stabilizer though, I'm running a dual steering stabilizer and made it work, modified the old bracket to work with the new u-bolts that came with the new bracket, it works but the angle is a lil funky, truthfully I need to spend the 170 bux for the steering stabilizer, I'll get around to it at some point......

 

So my old BDS steering stabalizer won't work with the new upgraded steering?????

 

Well i may have spoke too soon....
Took my truck to the dealer Friday afternoon, and dropped it off... I get a call about 30 minutes later from the service mgr saying that my truck isn't in the computer as being covered under the recall.....
I explained to him that regardless if it's an 06 or not... the parts that were put on by them in Sept 08 are the ones that are being recalled..... He tells me, that may be the case but it's still not one of the trucks that the recall falls under...
Uh what??.... huh??....??? UH HELLO??!!! IT'S THE PARTS THAT ARE BEING RECALLED, NOT THE TRUCK!!!!!!!!!!...???? right??

Anyway... After about 15 minutes of back and forth arguing he asks me if the truck is having steering problems... i tell him yes (which it is..) So he says that the parts that were put on in Sept are still under warranty, and if they are defective they will replace them under warranty.....
Cause you couldnt have save us both the hassle of looking like jack a$$'s arguing for 15 minutes in front of other customers, by just telling me that in the first place??!?!!!.... ugh... dealers... i just dont get it....

so i guess we'll see what happens when they call me later today.....

 

Sometimes they just need a little help understanding and figuring things out.

 

The shocks might but the bracket that mounts to the tie-rod won't, the old ubolts that mount the old bracket are to small a diameter, the new steering kit is much beefier, the tubing is probably 3/8 to 1/2 larger in diameter... i used my old bracket with the new ubolts, and just drilled new holes, hence the funky angle I was talking about in the previous post!!

 

I guess another thing I will ask. I just went to my Dodge dealer and got some prices on stuff I need.

52122362AE--steering rod & link---$278/tax
52122370AB--Damper---$130/tax
5086672AB--Upper Ball Joint Package---$240/tax (pair)
5086674AB--Lower Ball Join Package---$180/tax (pair)
v8016665AA--Axle U-Joints---$104/tax.

Seems like a lot??? I saw some people getting the price for the steering kit for $222/tax.

 

I think the price of the steering kit has gone up 5 or 6 times since we first started talking about it. I think some of the on-line Dodge parts places sell it cheaper than your neighborhood Dodge dealer. Remember that the steering stablizer and the new pitnam arm are not part of the steering kit. They have to be purchased seperately. I'm not sure on the price of the ball joints. I know lots of people have had trouble with the stock ones and many people have gone aftermarket ball joints. Moog lowers and Carli uppers seem to be the choice of most although the Carli are reeeeeeal expensive but they are suppose to last a life time.
Jay

 

Don't forget that you need the pitman arm to and if I remember it was 75$
They told me 315, 145, 75 and a few bucks for the nuts and bolt that are needed.