Two problems related to steering tie rod assembly have been reported for the 2003 Dodge Ram 1500. The most recently reported issues are listed below.
This 2003 Dodge was purchase and had started having problems right away there are tie rod links in the front end that snap and in arizona we can not find anyone that sells replacement parts to fix it. Or parts that fit this year and make truck. We have had to get some one to fabricate them for us. The computer box started failing and also an oxygen sensor that fails and causes the truck to randomly shut off you lose all your steering you have to throw the truck in neutral and restart and throw it into drive to get your steering back. After we replaced the computer the rear end of the truck locked up at 65 miles an hour thank god the seat belt are the only thing in this vehicle that are working and thank god we were not going any faster and some one other than me was driving because things could have ended very badly. In the process of trying to fix the rear end we could only find two rear ends in the state of arizona that sold for 1600. 00 dollars with over 90,000 miles on them the rest were completely mangled with the same problem. The more part service people I have talked to all said this is a very common problem with this vehicle. And in my opinion this is extremely dangerous to have both rear tires lock up at 65 and your back end bounce and throw you two lanes over. I have also contacted a Chrysler manufacture that said in 2006 they stopped selling that rear end as a whole because of the problems they have had with it! I think this part needs to be recalled not only for the amount we have had to spend just to keep this truck running but for the safety of others. When you by a vehicle you know about regular maintenance but these parts that are failing are costing more than our truck is worth. We haven't even paid the truck off and already it has sat more than it has ran. We all need help with this problem!!!.
Note: I had to write down florida for the state, because there is no option for puerto rico. While driving in a mountanous area with curves(asphalted road), after a curve at approximately 10-20 mph, I felt the truck lost the right side front tire, when I checked I had lost the part of the front suspension that holds the disc, caliper bearing, tire, ball joints and all other related parts. I recovered the assembly that included the above parts. I took the truck to the Chrysler dealer, they told me they had to wait for a Chrysler engineer to determine if it was a defect( the car was brand new and had about 1700 miles and three weeks old). The engineer arrived to puerto rico last Thursday March 20 2003, and in a couple of hours (2-3 hours) determined that it was all an accident( I am a mechanical engineer). I asked for this information in writing- I still haven't received it). Since the first week I had the ram, I felt a noise that really sounded like a loose part under the dash, other than that I did not feel anything abnormal in the driving characteristics, I had spoke with the salesman and asked him about the warranty procedure, to take the ram in for this noise.