Differential Unit problems of the 2004 Dodge Ram 1500

I was traveling on roadway there was a loud bang, truck skidded to stop and would not move. Truck had to be towed, appears the rear differential pinion shaft has snapped off. The truck is currently parked in a snow bank until I can evaluate what needs repaired/replaced. There have haven been numerous complaints and recalls on Dodge differentials, I can assume due to the numerous complaints of the clutch pack retainer clips failing that they failed causing shock load to the ring and pinion gears and therefore snapping the pinion shaft and wedging pinion gear and ring gear. This truck only has 80,000 miles on it has never been abused, off roaded or done any heavy towing, had something like this happened at interstate speeds and or towing a trailer it would have been catastrophic.

Pinion nut came off causing rear differential to lock up and almost cause an accident.

Pinion nut on rear differential came off and pinion fell into differential causing rear wheels to lock up at interstate speeds.

Vehicle suddenly began making a loud droning sound while going around a corner on residential streets, reminiscent of an airplane flying overheard or a semi truck's "jake brake. " the sound stopped after the vehicle straightened out. On the next two corners, the droning sound repeated, and vibration was also felt coming through the floorboards, but the sound went away after straightening the vehicle out. After the second corner, the vehicle accelerated to about 20 mph. There was a sudden loud bang. Both back wheels locked up immediately, as evidenced by the skid marks on the road. The driveline also disconnected from the rear differential at that time, leaving a trail of oil on the road. The mechanic who inspected and repaired the vehicle indicated that the nut securing the pinion gear had come loose, allowing the pinion to move out of its correct location. The result was that the axles to both rear tires locked up. It appears that similar issues related to pinion nuts loosening have been found on many other vehicles of this make and model. Recalls were issued for over 250,000 Dodge Ram 1500 vehicles from the 2005 model year to correct an issue with the nut on the pinion. Over 250,000 additional Dodge/Chrysler vehicles from the 2009 to 2012 model years were also recalled for a pinion nut issue.

The contact owns a 2004 Dodge Ram 1500. While driving on a highway at approximately 65 mph, the vehicle stopped suddenly. The vehicle was coasted to the side of the road. A police report was filed. The vehicle was towed to the dealer where it was diagnosed as differential failure. The manufacturer was notified. The vehicle was not repaired. The approximate failure mileage was 149,000.

Tl- the contact owns a 2004 Dodge Ram 1500. The contact stated that while driving at 45 mph, the vehicle came to a complete stop and failed to accelerate when the accelerator pedal was depressed. The vehicle was towed to an independent mechanic when it was diagnosed that the rear differential was defective and needed to be replaced. The vehicle was not repaired. The VIN was not included in the NHTSA campaign number: 12v474000 (powertrain). The manufacturer was notified of the failure. The approximate failure mileage was 168,256. Jo.

At approximately 155k miles, differential started howling when traveling from florida to virginia. Took vehicle for service. Limited slip differential clips had fallen out and broken up in the gears damaging the bearings. Had the differential rebuilt with all new bearings and clips. At 160k miles, same issue occurred damaging the pinion bearing. The vehicle is now on jack stands in my yard as I save to purchase a rebuilt unit at over $2k.

The contact owns a 2004 Dodge Ram 1500. Upon slowing down at approximately 10 mph to turn into a fuel station, the gear assembly fractured and the rear differential failed. The contact heard a loud noise as the failure occurred. The vehicle was towed to a repair shop who provided an interim repair of the gear assembly and inspected the differential and noticed that it fractured prematurely. The vehicle was driven back to the contact's residence and parked due to the noise continuing from the rear. The contact was not included in NHTSA campaign number: 14v796000 (power train). The vehicle was not diagnosed or repaired. The vehicle was included in NHTSA campaign number: 15v313000 (air bags), but was unable to determine when the part would become available to schedule the recall repair. The manufacturer was notified of the failure and provided no remedy. The approximate failure mileage was 164,000.

Upon returning home from a round trip of about 120 miles a large puddle of oil was located in the driveway was noticed under the rear differential of the vehicle. A large metal part had ripped a hole in the differential cover causing the oil to leak out. The metal part was still sticking out of the cover. I brought the vehicle in to a local shop and it was discovered the clip retaining the gears onto the carrier in the differential had come loose and been thrown through the cover, and all the fluid leaked out. The entire differential had to be rebuilt for almost $1,800 at my own expense. Then about a year later Chrysler did a recall on the same issue, but I was told my truck was not included in the recall, with no explanation. This is not acceptable and I expect to be reimbursed for my out of pocket costs, as well as having the recall done to keep from having the same thing happen again.

I was driving at freeway speed, around 70 mph. Suddenly, I heard a noise from the rear of the truck and I noticed my speedometer went to zero. I was still moving at the same speed. The fault code identified a failure in the speed sensor in the rear differential. I was out of warranty, so I pulled the differential cover off and found what was left of the speed sensor in the bottom of the housing. I also found pieces of what was later identified as c clips from my lsd clutch assembly. The inductive portion of the speed sensor protrudes into the differential housing and was hit by the flying pieces of c clips. The carrier bearing also had a grove cut into it by these clips as they worked their way out. I am told that if I had not caught this, it would have resulted in carrier bearing failure and lock up of my rear axle. I removed all of the metal c clip pieces and removed the remaining c clips that had not yet fallen out. I don't know if there is any connection, but my left rear leaf spring cracked in half on the lower main leaf. I had to replace the spring assembly at my cost. I now have a permanent whine at low speeds and currently have 125,000 miles on my truck. I am certainly glad that I found these metal pieces when I did! there appears to be many complaints regarding this failure in my truck model, ranging from model years 2003 through 2006 Ram 1500 equipped with the 5. 7 hemi. At this time, Chrysler has not acknowledged the patterned failures in these rear differentials.

The contact owns a 2004 Dodge Ram 1500. The contact was traveling 35 mph when the vehicle began exhibiting an abnormal grinding. The vehicle was towed to their mechanic where the contact was informed that the rear differential was failing. The dealer was contacted and advised that the failure was common for his year, make and model between 75,000 and 100,000 miles. The vehicle was not repaired. The failure and current mileage was 93,000.

Clutch pack retainer clips in 2004 Dodge Ram 1500. These clips failed in my rear differential leaving large pieces of metal in the housing. The dealership fixed it under warranty but I'm concerned it will happen again. My main worry is that if they fail at highway speeds it could lead to rear end lock up without warning. I belong to a Dodge enthusiast group online and about 80% of people who own the 1500 with a limited slip differential have had clip failure,sometimes completely destroying the rear end. I really feel like something needs to be done about this as Chrysler has chosen to turn their backs on the problem.

Subj: rear differential failure dear sir or madame, several months ago, I purchased a used 2004 Dodge Ram 1500 that was out of the warranty period. On Dec. 7, 2006 I had my rear differential serviced by an ase certified facility after reading numerous postings on several online forums discussing rear differential failures for this vehicle and after I experienced a loss in general performance of the truck. As suspected and as documented by other owners, the clutch retainer clips of the rear differential fell apart in the differential housing causing the entire rear end to fail. I am in process of having all moving parts in the housing to be rebuilt by a drivetrain specialist and will cost in excess of $1000. I was also told by the technician servicing the vehicle that it is quite possible that this problem if not caught in early stages, can create a catastrophic failure of the rear end eventually leading to lock up. In speeds in excess of 50 miles per hour this can cause vehicle roll overs and total loss of total vehicle. The fact that daimler-Chrysler has yet to issue a service bulletin for this issue is aggravating and shows their lack of sympathy for their owners and as well as other drivers on the road. Thank you, kenneth mosley .

On all 2002-2005, and maybe 2006, Dodge Ram 1500s equipped with the 9. 25" rear limited slip differential. The retaining clips on the lsd fail and begin grinding a ring into the housing. When enough grinding has occurred the clips can become free destroying the rear differential. In some cases it cans cause the rear differential to lock up. If this occurs at a high rate of speed you can imagine what it would be like to have your rear tires lock up going 75 mph down the freeway. Myself and many others have called into Dodge to complain about their faulty lsd's. Since no one has died I guess they don't care. I know it is cheaper to only fix the ones that get caught within the warranty, then it is to fix every single 9. 25" lsd on the road today but it is wrong. I asked the Dodge representative on the phone if Dodge would cover the differential again if it fails out side of the warranty since it was a known problem on my vehicle and had to be replaced. I was told no. I would have to call in a see if they could do a good will coverage. This is a major issue and it is a wonder, and pure luck, that no one has died from having their rear-end locking up on them doing 75 mph down the freeway. I have pictures of the beginning stages of this problem if you would like to see them. I also know a large number of people who have been stuck with a bill to replace the failed unit themselves only a few thousand miles after the warranty. Even if Dodge does repair it the same junk lsd goes right back in. This is a very simple problem to identify during scheduled maintenance if the dealerships were told to look and Dodge had a better item to replace them with. I hope you can do something before someone does get injured or killed by Dodge.

Ram 1550 with 19" tires has experience 2 successive rear-end failures. Replacement parts include case, bearings and ring/pinion. Failures occurred at slow speed. Had they occurred at high speed and the differential locked up the vehicle would most likely roll over and injure/kill the occupants. There is anecdotal reports of such failures in internet user groups and elsewhere. I have suffered 2 failures in 2 000 miles (30 000 and 32 000 miles) and I am surprise to seee no action on this topic.

At approximately 10,000 miles our 2004 Dodge Ram 1500 began pulling hard to the right. At highway speeds, the vehicle will cross 4 lanes of traffic within seconds if the driver is not pulling to the left in order to compensate for the right pull. We have had the vehicle aligned several times by different dealerships as well as at alignment shops, and the issue persists. Daimler Chrysler claimed the issue was tire related, and we had the tire dealer move tires around repeatedly trying to make the problem go away. We have also replaced tires with no change in the pull. Recently, we noticed the pull is far worse when the vehicle has a full tank of gas, which leads me to suspect weight or weight distribution is a factor. We had steering rack and differential failure at approximately 25,000 miles. Both were replaced and the problem continues to exist. Also, alignment numbers go from within specification to wildly out of specification each time the truck is placed on a rack. This vehicle control issue is 100% repeatable.