Ram 3500 Track Bar Recall R-46

[Bill]

What is the business link program? Never heard of it before. My service mgr has a link for loaner cars. It's called a phone number and customers have to dial it themselves.

Have to agree. Really not much room. Has your ser mgr seen it that way? I would like to have the Artic Fox camper but the wife likes the couch, two recliner chairs, flat screen TV, A/C etc. All the comforts of our home.

 

[gsbrockman]

What is the business link program?

http://www.ramtrucks.com/en/ram_commercial/businesslink/

 

[NickSullivan]

Yes, my service manager has seen it and they said "Yes, it will hit that bracket under a hard compression". They inspected this when they had to replace the front spring that was leaning up against my frame rail. They removed both springs so they could cycle the axle up to the bump stops. They gave me my truck back and said there is nothing we can do at this time, but if a TSB comes out we will be sure to contact you.

 

[Bill]

http://www.ramtrucks.com/en/ram_commercial/businesslink/

Many Tks for that link. I'd be lying if I didn't say I wasn't sitting here laughing my head off especially after just reading this part:
"Members are always first in line for maintenance and repair work.... ... For service work and recall work, I've parked my truck, overnight, with the front bumper almost touching the service bay door to ensure I would be the first vehicle to be worked on. And this is WITH an appointment. Drive by a couple hours later and there the truck sits, parked side by side with other trucks, waiting to be worked on. This business link sounds like one solid program and I just e-mailed it to the service manager of my dealer with a cc to the General Manager.

When it comes to taking your vehicle down for an LOF, (which I don't), there are no appointments for this and Monday through Saturday's you will always find two LONG lines of vehicles ~20+ in two rows, waiting to get their LOF. Only two lifts in this shop. People are now starting to take their vehicles to this Auto shop and having it done there. So needless to say, their losing a lot of money at the Dodge dealership. I'll let ya know how long it takes for this dealership to stop laughing and telling me NO.

 

[Bill]

Yes, my service manager has seen it and they said "Yes, it will hit that bracket under a hard compression". They inspected this when they had to replace the front spring that was leaning up against my frame rail. They removed both springs so they could cycle the axle up to the bump stops. They gave me my truck back and said there is nothing we can do at this time, but if a TSB comes out we will be sure to contact you.

Just like a lot of service departments! What they could do is to pick up the phone, call Chrysler and ask to speak to one of their Tech personnel. If no help their, call their District Rep. If your service department is like mine, there is one special room that is lined with shelfs and they are filled with nothing but Chrysler's books that would cover probably any problem they might encounter. However, one who wrenches for a living does get grease on their hands. 90% of these books are covered in dust, no finger prints or grease.

With the high tech vehicle companies have built, the good mechanics don't mind taking a book or two home each evening and spending an hour reading them so they can become much better than the mechanics that are working on both sides of him and just want a pay check.
the
When they replaced the front spring, did they open a Repair Order? If so, did they write anything up about the other problem? If not, just a suggestion, I'd go back and get something in writing plus having the problem put on their computer under the VIN # of your truck. This way if something happens, they can't deny you brought it to their attention. I'd also be on Chryser's hind end about every week.

 

[gsbrockman]

My appointment was at 9:00 am today. My service writer got with the tech and got the R23 & R36 knocked out, then got my truck on a drive-on alignment rack. At that time, my service writer came back into the lounge and took me to the tech so we could look at it together. Fortunately....my truck's track bar bracket welding looked great and passed inspection. I get two thumbs up!!!

On a sidenote....it was nice to know that the tech did the OCR programming correctly, and I didn't have the annoyances of not having the ABS initialized.

Burned out 472 miles today (from home to dealer then to GatorMade for a stack of three trailers to Clarksville, TN and back home) and all is well.....

 

[EDankievitch]

As I read about this track bar mount failure I'm stunned but strangely not surprised. Ford has been using this front end design for many years now. They use a very large heavy duty cast mounting bracket to attach the track bar to the chassis with a few mounting points to distrubuite the forces of the front end to the chassis and the crossmember under the engine. Ram went cheap with a stamped sheet metal bracket. The bracket has less than half the size of the brackets on my 2013 2500. The older 5 link design that had been in use since 2003 had a TSB that had gone around a few times concerning the tourque of the track bar mounting bolt. The issue was the bolt would loosen over time and then hog out the mount holes. Some trucks had to have washers wielded in to restore the proper location of the holes in the bracket. That said what were the designers thinking when they coped the ford 3 link front end on the cheap? Cheap thin brackets, poor wields! Mounting brackets that come in contact with the axle. This is scary at best. It would seem No one at Ram takes the time to look back and learn from the past mistakes. Haven't they spent enough on front end recalls? Loosing the track bar while towing can and will be come very costly to the family in the rig and the family's around the truck that just failed. And the fact that Ram has No Clue when the proper repair brackets will be in stock is even more scary. The only reason I own a Ram today is the Cummins engine. With the newer trucks chassis and steering linkage coming under question it's making me wonder if it's worth it. Enough Bs Ram it's time to step up and fix these trucks right. People's lives are at involved here.

 

[kthaxton]

Sorry...off topic, but where does "wield" come from in regards to "weld". For some reason I've never seen anyone use "wield" instead of "weld", until the last year or so. I've seen it multiple times lately.
Do people really pronounce it as wield in some parts of the country?

 

[SnoKing]

wield
\ˈwēld\
verb
: to hold (something, such as a tool or weapon) in your hands so that you are ready to use it
: to have and use (power, influence, etc.)

 

[SnoKing]

weld1
weld/Submit
verb
1.
join together (metal pieces or parts) by heating the surfaces to the point of melting using a blowtorch, electric arc, or other means, and uniting them by pressing, hammering, etc.
"the truck had spikes welded to the back"

 

[kthaxton]

Well, I know what they mean.....

 

[skorski]

Went in today for the track bar recall. No cracks and no further fix. Dealer said they would re inspect if I wanted at a later date . My recall calls for adding brackets the dealers does not . go figure

 

[Dogpatch]

Regarding loaner vehicles...

My dealership also states that they don't supply loaner vehicles while yours is in for service.

I went to my sales guy and asked...He reiterated the same but then said "What vehicle would you or your wife buy next"?
I looked at him kinda weird and he said "Pick a vehicle you'd like to test drive for the day" I picked a Grand Cherokee and he threw his dealer plate on it and said with a wink "See you at 5:00".

A good salesman knows how to keep his customers loyal!

 

[Joseph Donnelly]

Are you one of the few people who knows the difference between lose and loose? lol. How about definitely vs. defiantly? It is hard to believe this country puts more money into education than any other, and the students don't know the difference between then and than.

 

[TCDiesel]

I judge people by their or there moral convictions and standards , I could or couldn't care less, English takes on different or differs according to location or region. I have not seen anyone win a spelling contest on this forum and most don't joint to participate in one either.

I can understand that spelling may be pet pee to someone but to be critical of it is just un-called for.

 

[SnoKing]

My mother belonged to DAM (Mothers Against Dyslexia)! I attribute that to my spelling problems. SNOKING

 

[DonFitzwater]

I judge people by their or there moral convictions and standards , I could or couldn't care less, English takes on different or differs according to location or region. I have not seen anyone win a spelling contest on this forum and most don't joint to participate in one either.

I can understand that spelling may be pet pee to someone but to be critical of it is just un-called for.

Another way to look at this; If this person cannot spell and understand definitions of words and proper usage, how the hell can they know what they are talking about? Here is an example; When I visited the Ford dealership last, the salesman made the same old statement of "Ford owns Cummings". It is at that point I know he is full of poo and cannot be trusted or reasoned with.

 

[kthaxton]

Are you one of the few people who knows the difference between lose and loose? lol. How about definitely vs. defiantly? It is hard to believe this country puts more money into education than any other, and the students don't know the difference between then and than.

Actually, those are easy.

I only brought it up because I've heard it used that way several times recently and I'd never heard it used until recently, which I found odd. Maybe it was always the same guy? That wouldn't be so odd.

 

[TCDiesel]

Another way to look at this; If this person cannot spell and understand definitions of words and proper usage, how the hell can they know what they are talking about? Here is an example; When I visited the Ford dealership last, the salesman made the same old statement of "Ford owns Cummings". It is at that point I know he is full of poo and cannot be trusted or reasoned with.

C'mon DonFitzwater, We aren't talking about that, Its the extreme's I'm a terrible speller and would hate to be Judge or My skill level measure by My spelling ability, or exact grammar.

We'll Ford did own some Cummins stock so He wouldn't be lying, they just don't own any now that I can think of...You know what I mean....

 

[EDankievitch]

Now now... Our Presadent is an awesome speller an look at all the great things he's done for us.... I thinks I'll stay illerate.... Nuf said.