2009 Dodge Power Wagon tie rod end failure

[crawler#976]

Of all the failures I've had - track bar included, this one sucked the worse. I'm truly lucky to be alive.

I parked the truck on Sunday morning last weekend at 1:00AM after returning from the Parker 425. We had been on the race course with oncoming race traffic at 9:00 PM - we had permision to leave.

I had come up Yarnell Hill and thru the White Spar section of Hwy 89. Both are reknown in AZ as some of the best roads for crotch rockets - tight twisty mountain roads. I was in a serious hurry to get home, so I was doing damn near double the limit - 45 to 50 in 25 posted turns. These are the kind of turns that if you screw up, it's a long, long way down.

Drove the truck into work on Friday, and hit a bump in a construction zone, got bit of death wobble. Heard a pop, felt the steering get funny, real funny, went thru an intersection, and pulled into a turn out on the opposite side of the road. I didn't make it all the way into the turn out before the d'side tire decided to point where ever the hell it wanted to.

In both cases on Sat and Sunday a failure could have been deadly.

I never felt anything odd until I hit the bump yesterday. Zip. Nada. Zero.

 

[SilverBullet]

So mark, is this a known issue with the PW? Seems like a recall may be in order.

 

[crawler#976]

From what info I've gotten from the DodgeTalk forum it seems to be an alignment problem. If the tech doesn't get the ends withing 5 degs of each other, they tend to fail. The last people to work on the front end was Dodge when they replaced the ball joints. The ball joints were shot at 17K.

 

[GTABurnout]

From what info I've gotten from the DodgeTalk forum it seems to be an alignment problem. If the tech doesn't get the ends withing 5 degs of each other, they tend to fail. The last people to work on the front end was Dodge when they replaced the ball joints. The ball joints were shot at 17K.

I think thuren answered this question. About the draglink. Link...

http://www.expeditionportal.com/forum/showthread.php?t=56606

 

[Texel]

I too had the same issue luckily I had just slow down to turn of the highway. A minute earlier would have been a different story.

 

[crawler#976]

hmmm...

Seems like this is more of a problem than I suspected. Perhaps Dodge needs to look at this a bit more closely!

 

[GTABurnout]

hmmm...

Seems like this is more of a problem than I suspected. Perhaps Dodge needs to look at this a bit more closely!

Scary for sure. I had to readjust my draglink to make sure it wont bind after an alingment. How many people have no clue this is a problem and are driving around one sharp turn from a bad wreck.

75 mph with no steering is a deadly situation....

 

[bobcat charlie]

Oh great! I 'upgraded' to the '08 steering linkage...

 

[bob91yj]

Yikes! That could have been a bad deal for sure!

How did you guys do at Parker? I crew for 1706 (Jeepspeed), we went from 9th to the lead, then broke a Pitman Arm and Heim joint tie rod end. Battery/stick welded everything together on course to get to the pits. We finished, ended up 9th.

 

[BKCowGod]

Hoo doggy! That reminds me of the time my Jeep J2000 lost its rear wheel. I had just gotten off the freeway and I looked over and saw a 33" Mud terrain rolling past me with its halfshaft bouncing along with it. Fun stuff!

 

[1leglance]

Wow Mark, glad you are ok and the truck sounds pretty fixable
lucky man truly luckly

 

[1leglance]

Wow Mark, glad you are ok and the truck sounds pretty fixable
lucky man truly luckly

 

[toddz69]

Wow! Glad to hear that you're OK, Mark, and that the TRE didn't let go out on 89.....that wouldn't have been good.

Todd Z.

 

[Larry]

I think something is going on with the supplier of steering components of late model Ram’s. Seems odd that Chrysler recently had a campaign on this issue but trucks outside of the breakpoint are popping up with similar complaints. I am not a big fan of calling big brother but if you are not getting satisfaction from the dealer or Chrysler Customer Assistance I would file a complaint with NHTSA. This is a serious situation.

NHTSA recall details on the tie rod assembly for 2008-2009 Ram 2500 and 3500’s
http://www-odi.nhtsa.dot.gov/cars/problems/recalls/results.cfm

File a vehicle safety complaint here… (this is where recalls are born!)
https://www-odi.nhtsa.dot.gov/ivoq/

 

[Larry]

For some reason that link didn’t work. Here are the details of campaign 09V005000

NHTSA Campaign ID number : 09V005000


Vehicle Make / Model: Model Year(s):
DODGE / RAM 2500 2008-2009
DODGE / RAM 3500 2008-2009

Manufacturer: CHRYSLER LLC Mfr's Report Date: JAN 06, 2009
NHTSA CAMPAIGN ID Number: 09V005000
NHTSA Action Number: N/A

Component: STEERING:LINKAGES:TIE ROD ASSEMBLY
Potential Number of Units Affected: 32,782

Summary:
CHRYSLER IS RECALLING 32,782 MY 2008-2009 DODGE RAM 2500, 3500 AND 3500 CAB CHASSIS PICKUP TRUCKS EQUIPPED WITH POWERS AND SONS STEERING LINKAGE. THE STEERING LINKAGE DRAG LINK INNER TIE ROD TO PITMAN ARM BALL STUD MAY FRACTURE. ALSO THE STEERING LINKAGE DAMPER ATTACHING THE BRACKET MAY YIELD AND SHIFT ON THE LINKAGE.

Consequence:
THIS COULD RESULT IN A LOSS OF STEERING CONTROL AND THE RESTRICTED ABILITY TO TURN THE VEHICLE IN ONE DIRECTION INCREASING THE RISK OF A CRASH WITHOUT WARNING.

Remedy:
DEALERS WILL REPLACE THE STEERING LINKAGE DRAG LINK INNER TIE ROD END ASSEMBLY, AND INSPECT THE STEERING LINKAGE DAMPER BRACKET FREE OF CHARGE. THE RECALL IS EXPECTED TO BEGIN ON OR BEFORE FEBRUARY 16, 2009. OWNERS MAY CONTACT CHRYSLER AT 1-800-853-1403.

Notes:
CHRYSLER RECALL NO. H36. CUSTOMERS MAY ALSO CONTACT THE NATIONAL HIGHWAY TRAFFIC SAFETY ADMINISTRATION'S VEHICLE SAFETY HOTLINE AT 1-888-327-4236 (TTY 1-800-424-9153), OR GO TO HTTP://WWW.SAFERCAR.GOV .