3 months ago a drunk moron wrecked my 5 month old 05 Cummins 4x4. Threw his car in reverse on the interstate and spun... I plowed through the front of his car while towing an empty flatbed trailer, did $17k in damage to my truck, mostly front suspension. Airbags did not go off. My passenger and I were ok except for my sprained middle finger.

Month and a half ago I received the call that my truck was ready to pick up. After driving 500 miles I arrived at the dealer in the morning and found a lot of little detail shit not right on the truck. I waited around all day while they fixed it and then headed on my way. Made it about 300/500 miles and the front track bar bolt came out and cause 70 mph death wobble so bad the front axle dented the oil pan. Month and a half after that I finally have the truck back... and I need to decide if I want to sell it or keep it.

There are still things that need working on... the passenger side door handles look shitty, and it won't clean off. It now has the 70mph vibration, never had the hint of one before. And it now has a pinion bearing type noise when coasting to a stop.

Other than that the truck does seem to be "good as new". And when it comes to cars I'm one anal SOB (just ask the dealer how much shit I found that those so called professionals overlooked). I've even had several "experts" comment on what a good job they did repairing it. But I still don't like driving a smashed up truck, especially one I still owe 30k on. And after having the track bar come off at 70mph I find it kind of hard to trust the dealers work. And the rebates are pretty good on the 06's right now. Downside is I'd have to give up my NV5600 and truck that gets 19mpg in mixed driving and 7/70 warranty for a G56 with plain old 3/36 warranty.

Opinions appreciated! I will be getting some diminished value for it, not sure how much yet... and if I keep it I get to put that toward my wheeling shit rather than a new truck.

If you can afford it.. buy the 06.. I would take a G56 and less mileage over something thats been smashed to hell and won't ever drive right again.

Scott

I would suspect your vibration is the front driveshaft and the bearing noise is a pinion or t case bearing where the drive shaft attatches. If the bearing is bad enough that could be your vibration too. Probabally got bottomed out in the accident. My rig was totaled before I bought it, I havent had any real problems with it in 50k but I recently had the internals in the fuel tank fall apart. It looked like it had been like that quite a while. My point is, their is always the chance that future problems can arise, even 50k later. Then again, you may never have another problem. I would just keep it, be anal, and get it fixed right.

Mike

check the caster, most likely its just a body shop type problem...I mean alot of times they can fix a car great but a truck..they are not a 4wd shop and alot of times know little about the way things work.

honestly..I would check the eccentrics on the front Lower control arms, and measure castor..a bad angle could be your driveline vibe right there..
most likely will go away under even slight braking or acceleration but make noise at nuetral..all forces but neutral will change hte castor alittle..
that or as said above a tossed DL wiehgt, or a bad bearing from impact...most likely t case if that is the case...check tcase for cracks

if the caster, front housing, and tcase are fine...IMO there is nothing but cosmetics and normal wear parts that will be affected.

it will be a lot of work but you need to talk to your insurance company and tell them how shitty the repair is!

I had a bad repair done on a truck and it ate a dick. Make that shop pay to get it done right elsewhere!

don't forget to get the money from the insurance company on the depreciated value of the vehicle that often gets overlooked...once involved in an accident, the value of the vehicle is lower even when repaired...carfacts...you gotta love them...

Thanks for all the advice... I need to use the truck this weekend but hope to get it in the shop next week and get some things fixed. The first shop that did the work has already paid about $4,000 to repair the damage done by the track bar, my time, a rental truck, hotel, etc. Last I heard the insurance company was still withholding payment from the dealer until I was happy.

I do need to find a good alignment place around here and have them check it over. The first dealer never checked caster after installing a brand new front axle and all new track bar and suspension links. They also had the truck set at a slight toe out... within Dodge specs, but moronic none the less. Both eccentric bolts were in the direction of shortening the lower control arms.

The second dealer didn't give me any alignment info, I need to ask for some... but now one eccentric bolt is all the way short, and the other is all the way long... so I probably have a huge caster split between left and right.

Not really worried about the alignment though, I've already voiced the concern with insurance and I'll have them pick up the tab for this 3rd alignment. I'm worried about the stuff that can't be fixed.

Get rid of it. My 98 ctd got death wobble after hitting a retread on the highway. It never went away. my 03 ctd doesn't have it. Dodge death wobble sucks. my co-worker just got rid of his 04 ctd, due to death wobble and he says his new one doesn't have it. If your that anal, it shouldn't even be a question.

Get rid of it. My 98 ctd got death wobble after hitting a retread on the highway. It never went away. my 03 ctd doesn't have it. Dodge death wobble sucks. my co-worker just got rid of his 04 ctd, due to death wobble and he says his new one doesn't have it. If your that anal, it shouldn't even be a question.Getting rid of a vehicle over a death wobble sounds a bit drastic. Most common death wobble cause is a loose drag link or weak stabalizer shock. They are a lot cheaper than a new truck.

Also, if you have one caster cam forward and one rearward then your just stressing the bushings. The straight axle cant possibly have two different caster angles unless its bent, it a solid axle.

Mike

Sell it now that you can still sell it as a "like new" truck. One or two years later it will be an used, wrecked truck...

JMHO

I have an 04 Dodge 4x4, cummins. I got in an accident last year. It damaged the right front fender/grill area. After the body was fixed and they tried to give it back to me it was obvious that it had an alignment problem. While trying to fix the problem they replaced, all 4 control arms, complete front axle, all steering components, steering box.
After all this it seemed to be right. The only problem I see is when turning hard to either left or right, when it hits the steering stops you can hear a "pop" like the coil spring is shifting. I don't know if it did that when it was new or not.
After 3000 miles it started acting like the caster was out again. Turns out the upper and lower ball joints on both sides were wore out and the new steering box had a problem. The repair facility showed me a factory service bulletin on 03 and newer Dodge 2500 amd 3500 steering boxes and ball joints failing prematurely. After arguing with the insurance company they decided to cover it.
I have put about 5000 miles on it soo far and it seems fine.
I was hell bent on trading it in or selling it outright after all this. I owed $26000 on it and the highest offer i got was $20000.
Because the dealers are offering such good prices on new trucks the used truck value is in the crapper.

Sell it! After crashing mine hard and putting it back together it was NEVER right again. After fighting it for 8 years I finally sold it and got a new one. JJ

keep bitching at the shop and the insurance company, this is why you pay for insurance.

if the adjusters are that far apart, I'd ask for a shop to measure the frame and ask for a printout, most of the nicer shops will be able to do this for you, it's exactly like an alignment printout except for your frame. Usually accurate down to the milimeter, you will know for sure if it's bent. Best to look for a shop with either a Chief Genesis or Car-o-tronic measuring system. I'd demand this if you're having alignment issues.

call your adjuster and re-open the claim over the mechanical issues before they call it "wear and tear". Eventually they'll straighten it out if you complain enough.