'03 Dodge CTD Dually Puked Rear End...

[Explorer]

Gotta love it 45,000 miles with synthetic fluid changes every 15,000 miles as is speced by Dodge and the helically cut gears within the limited slip unit are majorly chipped and the diff case is cracked as well :shaking:

99.9% of my driving is on highway with a just bit of offroading to get it to campsites carrying a 3500lb camper on it's back and a 7500 lb trailer in tow.

The good news is that it's covered under the 7/70 warranty with a $100 deductable and another $100 to R&R my airbags and swaybar. They stuck me for that since those parts aren't factory and they add time to the job... Fair enough.

[TornadoTJ]

Did it ever howl? A LOT of the 03's had issues right off the bat, mine included. Mine howled badly right after I got it, and they replaced the whole axle.

[Explorer]

It was howling a bit, but not real loud. I think it started howling after the gears chipped and all of the metal got ground down to dust messing up the bearings and such. When I changed the fluid the magnet had a ton of metal "dust" on it, no chunks. There weren't any chunks in the bottom of the housing either.

I forgot to mention that Dodge is replacing the whole axle assembly, that's why they're charging for R&R on the sway bar and air bags. Hopefully this is a revised piece and it will last more than 45,000 miles.

[crashinaz]

That sucks... I've beat my Dana 80 mercilessly with BOMBed burnouts, tug of war on pavement, and other shananigans... The only thing that was able to take it out was sheet of visqueen (sp?) in the middle of the road... Wrapped around the lower U-joint and took out the pinion seal :D... I guess $200 isn't too bad... You're lucky it didn't hold out for another 25,001 miles.

[TR]

i wonder if the chevy guys are having problems with there AAM rear axles?

[BigGreenMonster]

you know what the funny thing is... check out the specs on the lsd in there... it is NEVER recominded by the lsd or any lsd manufatur to run syinthetic lube... but that is what dodge calls for... how does that work?

[montywa]

I think the reason dodge gets away with the synth. is because the LSD is not a clutch type, it uses helical gears.

[ChiXJeff]

Uh....... if it's a Dana axle, it's a clutch type LSD for sure. Don't know about the AAM LSDs.

[Butler]

Gotta love it 45,000 miles with synthetic fluid changes every 15,000 miles as is speced by Dodge and the helically cut gears within the limited slip unit are majorly chipped and the diff case is cracked as well :shaking:

99.9% of my driving is on highway with a just bit of offroading to get it to campsites carrying a 3500lb camper on it's back and a 7500 lb trailer in tow.

The good news is that it's covered under the 7/70 warranty with a $100 deductable and another $100 to R&R my airbags and swaybar. They stuck me for that since those parts aren't factory and they add time to the job... Fair enough.Have you figured out how to blame this on a cop yet?

[reddman]

i wonder if the chevy guys are having problems with there AAM rear axles?
doubt it, they dont have a cummy in front of that axle. :flipoff2:

[SolidAxleDurango]

Uh....... if it's a Dana axle, it's a clutch type LSD for sure. Don't know about the AAM LSDs.

03+ is NOT dana.

[Explorer]

"The 2003 heavy-duty Ram uses and American Axle helical differential or Trac-Rite. The Trac_Rite differential is different then Trac-Lok in that it uses helical gears (Trac-Lok uses clutches) to transfer power to the opposite wheel when slippage occurs."

"If the Trac-Rite assembly has an internal failure it will lock axles 100% side to side."

[TornadoTJ]

They replaced my entire axle assembly, no problems since. I think the '03s had a setup issue from the factory. This problem was actually quite common.