Attention: TDR Forum Junkies 
Back in 1995 I bought a new '95 Dodge 3500. It's been a dependable workhorse for the past 25 years and 300,000 miles. In 2000 a NHTSA (National Highway Traffic Safety Administration) recall was issued that required dealers weld a reinforcement collar to the front spring towers where they're welded to the frame. If cracks were already present they were to cut the old towers out and weld in new.
When I took my truck in back in 2000 I asked about the qualifications of their welder. Got a blank look. Asked to visit the guy, it was a kid with no training who worked in the body shop. Well that wasn't good enough. I explained how I was in a business that required qualified welders and thought my, and the public's safety was important enough to require the same standards. Bottom line, they would not pay for a qualified/certified welder and I decided to just keep an eye on things and get on with life.
Fast forward to yesterday. On a 12 mile trip to town on our curvy country road it was a squirrelly, got a low tire sorta drive. This morning I bumped tires, seemed fine. Checked the spring towers and there's a 2" long crack on the front side of the right tower where it's welded to the frame.
So, with the recall in hand (been in the glovebox for 20 years) I called and talked to the local Dodge Dealer's shop manager. He looked up the vin and said yep, you have 3 open recalls. I knew and had also watched one of those and fixed the other myself (don't trust shop flat rate labor). To both our surprise he was able to locate the reinforcement brackets to do the now critical recall and said they also had to the other two. Guess I'm OK with that as well.
One potential fly in the ointment, as mentioned above the recall states that if a spring tower is found to be cracked it has to be replaced. There are no replacement towers in the USA.
So, if they decide one is cracked, then what to do. That question hasn't been answered...yet.
As it stands, the brackets should show up next Friday and a rollback will carry the old dulley to the shop.
Oh and I do have the local record for oldest recall to come into their shop. Good thing NHTSA recalls don't expire.
When I took my truck in back in 2000 I asked about the qualifications of their welder. Got a blank look. Asked to visit the guy, it was a kid with no training who worked in the body shop. Well that wasn't good enough. I explained how I was in a business that required qualified welders and thought my, and the public's safety was important enough to require the same standards. Bottom line, they would not pay for a qualified/certified welder and I decided to just keep an eye on things and get on with life.
Fast forward to yesterday. On a 12 mile trip to town on our curvy country road it was a squirrelly, got a low tire sorta drive. This morning I bumped tires, seemed fine. Checked the spring towers and there's a 2" long crack on the front side of the right tower where it's welded to the frame.
So, with the recall in hand (been in the glovebox for 20 years) I called and talked to the local Dodge Dealer's shop manager. He looked up the vin and said yep, you have 3 open recalls. I knew and had also watched one of those and fixed the other myself (don't trust shop flat rate labor). To both our surprise he was able to locate the reinforcement brackets to do the now critical recall and said they also had to the other two. Guess I'm OK with that as well.
One potential fly in the ointment, as mentioned above the recall states that if a spring tower is found to be cracked it has to be replaced. There are no replacement towers in the USA.
So, if they decide one is cracked, then what to do. That question hasn't been answered...yet.
As it stands, the brackets should show up next Friday and a rollback will carry the old dulley to the shop.
Oh and I do have the local record for oldest recall to come into their shop. Good thing NHTSA recalls don't expire.
