TransferCase problem (solved) + dealer & D/C comments (long post)

[Phrogger57]

Last Monday (Memorial Day) I headed to Salt Lake for a Tuesday Delivery-when I got up Tuesday, I had a severe bearing noise in the Transmission/TransferCase area. Crawled under and found a large (~ 6" ) long wear hole in the transfercase around the outer diameter of the driven (front shaft) gear. Added fluid (always carry some of everything), made my delivery (the added fluid cut the noise CLEAR OUT!) and headed for the nearest dealer, which turned out to be Hinckley Dodge in South Salt Lake. Pulled up in the service lane and went in to the "Service Advisor" 's area. Met a gentleman named Larry Foote. Explained the problem and my situation (business truck, can't afford to be down), and He wrote up the service order to check out the problem. Truck has 66888 miles on it. Larry says "no problem, you are still covered by the 7/70 powertrain warranty ($100 deductible)" . Within 30 minutes, they had the truck in the bay and approx. 3 hours later had the t-case on the bench disassembled. Short story- parts ~$550 (covered by warranty) full case- ~$1150. Here is where I will paint D/C with a rather dirty brush. No parts (or case) anywhere other than D/C warehouse in MICHIGAN, PLUS the parts and case are on D/C's STAR(?) list- any release has to be approved by them. Larry got the approval for the parts to repair, but next shipment will get them here in 1 week (7days). I pay for expedited freight, get here Thursday (this is Tuesday afternoon) ($140).

Larry and Todd (technician) and the dealership did their jobs well and treated me very well, but with the # of trucks on the road ('03 3500 4x4 dually 6 spd) I would seriously think that the parts availability for such a critical part(s) would be greater.



(FYI) The cause ws a stretched T-Case chain. Stretched just enough to allow the chain to ride up on the gear and rub the back case half of the t-case. Apparently initiated stretch this past March ( last time I used the 4x)



KUDOS: Hinckley Dodge, Larry Foote and Todd



Onions: D/C- Poor staging of parts closer to a high 4x4 usage area (Rocky Mountain West).



Any comments? am I expecting too much after having spent ~ $48k for a work truck? -Eric

 

[Slow Six]

I fully agree with you. D. C. is doing a damn poor job on parts. When my lift pump dumped I had to wait for one because DC will not let the dealer stock one. This is crap. Mine was the 8th. pump that month for the dealership. I was 3 months getting a replacement mirror. Last week I needed 2 U-Joints and luckily the partsman ia a good guy and had 3 in stock as there has been a lot of failures. He had been contacted by other dealers for his U-joints as they were on backorder. Another gripe is the outrageous price DC has on parts that the after market cannot sell. The price for the U-joint is close to $200(Can. ) I have contacted DC to voice my concerns and all I get is some politically correct B. S. I agree with you that after spending that amount of money, DC could do better. All hollering aside, I do like the truck.

 

[rbattelle]

Are the transfer case chains that easy to stretch? That's amazing.



It seems like maybe initial demand for these trucks was so high that DC just concentrated 100% on building new ones rather than stocking the parts inventory.

 

[Boonieman]

Rbattelle:



I had a '73 GMC Jimmy at one time. It used the NP-241 (I think) transfer case. It was a full time 4X4 system and I had to change the chain and one of the gears twice while I had the truck. My memory says the chain lasted about 50 thousand miles each time. Now that was on a full-time 4X4 system, and I'm certainly not saying we can expect to be replacing transfer case chains every 50 thousand miles. I have no idea if my truck was average or not, but that might give you a point of reference on chain life.



Danny

 

[Blakers]

Originally posted by Boonieman

Rbattelle:



I had a '73 GMC Jimmy at one time. It used the NP-241 (I think) transfer case. It was a full time 4X4 system and I had to change the chain and one of the gears twice while I had the truck. My memory says the chain lasted about 50 thousand miles each time. Now that was on a full-time 4X4 system, and I'm certainly not saying we can expect to be replacing transfer case chains every 50 thousand miles. I have no idea if my truck was average or not, but that might give you a point of reference on chain life.



Danny

Since yours was full time, it was putting a load on the chain pretty much all the time. The chain runs all the time in our transfer cases, though it is only under load while in 4 wheel drive.



If DC had given us the much-desired option of lockout hubs, this chain would be practically usused unless in 4 wheel drive.



Blake

 

[sag2]

I'm sure DC like any other business that sells parts, they are stocked based on demand. High demand = parts available everywhere, low demand = parts stocked in one place.

As for STAR restricted parts, they are on restriction because they are being replaced when there is nothing bad, or they are replacing assemblies when repairing will do. You can argue that customer satisfaction is most important, but they (DC) are in business to make money, and as many of you have attested to, the dealers just have a hard time diagnosing/repairing things.

May not be right for everyone, but just the reality of it.