Steering Tie Rod Assembly problems of the 2004 Dodge Ram 1500

The contact owns a 2004 Dodge Ram 1500. While driving 50 mph, the vehicle began to shake violently without warning. The vehicle was taken to a dealer where it was diagnosed that the tie rod assembly failed and needed to be replaced. The vehicle was repaired, but the failure recurred numerous times. The manufacturer was not notified of the failure. The failure mileage was approximately 60,000.

While driving down the road the left front headlight would give out at random times brought to dealer and was diagnosed as fcm (later found out by another mechanic that it was a loose connector at the tipm issue was also the same exact thing on our work truck a 2004 Dodge ram 3500 dually). The main safety issue is with the power rack and pinion, it has given out twice on the road in heavy traffic, the fix the first time was a complete replacement of the power rack and pinion system. The second time, the replacement of inner tie rod seals. Another computer issue was brought in for loss of power to whole truck at random times, cruise control failing, power surges. Unit replaced twice in one year to correct the problem.

This started out with a tire almost being flat. Pumped up the tire at home and took vehicle to a tire shop to be repaired. When the shop took the tire off the truck, they told me the tire is no good, it is leaking through the sidewall. They put my spare on and I went to the goodyear dealer in my town. The goodyear dealer looked at the leak through the sidewall and removed the tire from the rim. There was 2 , 2 inch cuts on the inside of the tire sidewall (1 at the leak) of this tire that he could not explain. He told me a new tire was $180. 00 and I asked him to contact goodyear corporate because there is hardly any wear/miles on these tires. He contacted goodyear and 3 days later they said they would replace the tire for $94. 00. This tire had 4/32 worn off from it!!! while waiting for goodyear corporate to reply to the local goodyear dealer I took the truck to my local Dodge dealer to have them raise the truck on the hoist to check the rest of the tires for a slight bulge on the inner sidewall because of fear of these tires blowing out the sidewall at highway speeds and causing a fatality! they did not see any but before I left they told me to schedule an appointment to get both outer tie rod ends and the left (driver) side lower ball joint replaced! this vehicle was purchased new on 12-31-2003, has 26,600 miles on it and has always been serviced at this dealer. Parts and labor were covered by warranty but what is going to fail next?.

Rack and pinion steering failure.