Attention: TDR Forum Junkies I recently had a bearing failure in my rear axel "American Axel" on my 2004, 3500 4X4. I thought I would pass this along in case some one out there may experience the same problem. Suddenly while in San Diego, CA on a trip I noticed a chattering noise coming from the rear of the truck. I made arrangements with a local Dodge dealer to check it out, but before the appointment (three days later) the noise almost completely went away so I canceled the appointment. A couple weeks later I thought I better have them check it out anyway since I would soon be towing our 10,000 LB trailer back to Ohio and didn't want to have any catastrophic failures along the road.
I took the truck to Rancho Dodge in San Diego and they replaced the rear drive shafts and center carrier bearing which included new universal joints. But the noise was still there.
To make a long story short, I towed the trailer for another 10,000 miles into Oregon and back to San Diego then back home to Ohio. The noise increased some but never got extremely noticeable. Once home I took it to my local Dodge dealer, Greenwood Automotive in Cortland Ohio. I explained my situation to Doug the service manager and he immediately went out into the parking lot and removed the fill plug from the rear differential and found a ton of metal in the oil. Upon tear down of the rear end he found the right side differential case roller bearing had a roller that split in half lengthwise. It is unbelievable that the bearing didn't totally fail and size up on the way home. Thank God for the power train warranty since the total bill came to $1,800. 00 for all new bearings, seals, gaskets and differential carrier plus labor.
Moral of the story is that if you hear a noise that resembles a wheel bearing noise coming from the rear axel... ..... check the fill plug for metal. If Rancho would have done this little diagnostic test, it would have been fixed there. Doug didn't pull the bearing off the old carrier, but it would have been interesting to see if it was a China made bearing or not!!
I took the truck to Rancho Dodge in San Diego and they replaced the rear drive shafts and center carrier bearing which included new universal joints. But the noise was still there.
To make a long story short, I towed the trailer for another 10,000 miles into Oregon and back to San Diego then back home to Ohio. The noise increased some but never got extremely noticeable. Once home I took it to my local Dodge dealer, Greenwood Automotive in Cortland Ohio. I explained my situation to Doug the service manager and he immediately went out into the parking lot and removed the fill plug from the rear differential and found a ton of metal in the oil. Upon tear down of the rear end he found the right side differential case roller bearing had a roller that split in half lengthwise. It is unbelievable that the bearing didn't totally fail and size up on the way home. Thank God for the power train warranty since the total bill came to $1,800. 00 for all new bearings, seals, gaskets and differential carrier plus labor.
Moral of the story is that if you hear a noise that resembles a wheel bearing noise coming from the rear axel... ..... check the fill plug for metal. If Rancho would have done this little diagnostic test, it would have been fixed there. Doug didn't pull the bearing off the old carrier, but it would have been interesting to see if it was a China made bearing or not!!
Last edited:
