What did you do to your Tow Vehicle today?

[JFlightRisk]

You should be able to find a set of 20 Dorman chrome lugs at Carid for about $50. My F150 takes 24 of them, and the correct metric thread size was less than $40. I punched up a 2011 RAM 1500, and it came up with 9/16x18 thread, chrome acorn, with a tapered seat.

I paid $125 at the dealer the last time, for the same OE style, that'll either deform again from impact use, or road salt will get in them and swell up. Same problem either way.

[SmokerBill]

I checked on Amazon, Dorman 712-544 Wheel Nuts for my truck, a pack of 24 (4 extras) for only $21.64. 44% off! They are on the way. Thanks for the nut tips JFRisk.

I guess I shouldn't have blamed discount tire. I didn't know those shrouded nuts swelled up on their own.

[JFlightRisk]

You're very welcome, Bill. I'm sorry you had to go through all that work on yours. I've dealt with swollen ones on early GM vehicles a lifetime ago. No fun.

[Midnightmoon]

New Bridgestone Dueler AT RHS on my daughter's (wife's former truck) today.

[robkelly]

Finally got her back from the body shop. Very thankful for the Ranch Hand bumper as that saved the damage from being a lot worse than it could have been. I have a feeling the girl I hit will be paying more attention to the road, and especially stop signs, in the future.

[mrmom]

Originally Posted by SmokerBill

Pulled the rear wheel off and patched a leaking hole with a Slime tire plug.

The tow vehicle is my Cub Cadet riding mower, which tows my little red garden wagon. LOL

On my big tow vehicle (the Ram), I repaired all 10 front wheel lug nuts. The yayhoos at Discount tire somehow damaged the sheet metal shrouds on the lug nuts and I couldn't get the 7/8" socket on them. I tried a 15/16 and a 23mm, both too big. So I had to hammer the socket onto each nut and remove it, then clamp the socket in my vise. Had to beat the nut out of the socket with hammer and screwdriver.

Then I filed on each nut for 5 or 10 minutes to make it so the socket would fit again. What a pain in the patootie.

The rear lug nuts aren't quite as bad, but I'll probably go through all of them tomorrow.

FYI, had this problem on my buddy's F150. Found out that they actually make sockets in half sizes to deal with this problem. If your truck usually takes a 22mm socket, you can buy a 22 1/2mm socket and it works great! Who knew?

[mrmom]

Originally Posted by JFlightRisk

You should be able to find a set of 20 Dorman chrome lugs at Carid for about $50. My F150 takes 24 of them, and the correct metric thread size was less than $40. I punched up a 2011 RAM 1500, and it came up with 9/16x18 thread, chrome acorn, with a tapered seat.

I paid $125 at the dealer the last time, for the same OE style, that'll either deform again from impact use, or road salt will get in them and swell up. Same problem either way.

From experience: If you want to replace chrome lug nuts that don't rust or deform, use McGard "Tough Nuts". They have really good chrome that holds up well to the elements and abuse.

[TxLoser]

Hadn’t weighed my setup in a couple years. Needed DEF and fuel, so figured I’d grab the trailer and weigh the whole setup while I’m at it. Pretty much everything but food and a few lbs of clothes which would all be negligible as for pin weight. Did some math and saw that I’m right about the max weight after some additions to account for the family and dog. This is with 3650 payload on the sticker. Actually payload I found to be about 3000lbs after me, bed cover, hitch, sidesteps, gen, airbags and whatever other options not accounted for. It all adds up fast.



Weighed the truck separate next and did some more math. I’ve never weighed the truck on it’s own. To my surprise the front axle weight didn’t budge by even a pound. Maybe a little. Probably burned 3 gallons of fuel between the two and tank is forward of rear axle.

Pin 2760
Trailer 12040

About 22% of weight is on the pin.

Maybe I’m just procrastinating my Christmas shopping.

[TxLoser]

Well, someone call the weight police. I’ll turn myself in. Traded the truck on Saturday. Decided with new values certainly not coming down, and used HD values still high for now, I’d go for it. Picked up a 22 High Country 2500. Got 3k less than I paid for my ‘19 three years and 44k miles ago. New one came with the factory Rancho’s so I installed some 5100’s I had in the garage and my Sumo springs from previous trucks. This truck has 3000lbs payload so about 650 less than my previous truck. I’ll be over 3-400 lbs I suspect. Payload should be fairly accurate since the dealer didn’t install anything. Hoping to pick up a B&W puck hitch tomorrow. The truck looks huge compared to my other, but feels lighter driving if that makes sense. Must be the 10 speed and lighter steering. Still fits in my garage just barely.

[TCNashville]

Nice truck. 3000lbs of payload in a 3/4 ton truck with a diesel engine is quite impressive. You're gonna love the 10 speed transmission.

[TxLoser]

I was surprised by the payload. I went up to the dealer just to look at the sticker as a curiosity, expecting 2600 or something since it’s a 3/4 and high country. Saw 3000, and sales guy gave me to keys to meet him at the main dealership(we were at the fleet lot). That drive of 2-3 miles sold me on the trans.

Lots of benefits over the 19. Bigger back seat area, rear vents, rear USB, rear heated seats, longer bed, retractable steps, puck system, LED headlights, all around parking cameras and hitching camera in bed, better switch ergonomics on towing stuff and towing goodies. Best of all, no more getting fuel and then turning the truck around to fill def under the hood. Lastly, the silver looks clean even after rainy roads. Black looked awesome, but hard to maintain.

Only thing I lost is the sunglasses holder in the ceiling. Also, the Dog needs help now getting in and wife complains it’s a big step up in.

[SmokerBill]

I finally got my new lug nuts. One of the old ones was so swollen and distorted I had to use a chisel to reshape a couple of the flats on the nut before I was able to beat a socket on with a hammer. With the new solid nuts I'll never have to deal with this problem again.

[ttavasc]

New shoes today - just in time for another round of winter weather. The old Goodyear's were getting pretty thin. Went with Pirelli Scorpion All Terrain Plus which are 3PMSF-rated.

[MichaelO]

I finally got my ram back from the stealership. One morning I heard a noise coming from the rear of the truck. I stopped a couple times and looked to see if there was anything that looked wrong. I didn’t have time to do anything more. At lunch I looked and saw that the rear was leaking oil. I figured the axle seal had failed. Since I bought the lifetime powertrain warranty from Chrysler when I bought the truck new, I took it to the closest dealer, Reno dodge. They examined it and told me the noise I heard was the axle bearing. It disintegrated and sent metal through all the gears in the rear end and taking out the axle seal. The service advisor said he submitted the claim to stellantis, the European parent company of ram, Dodge, Chrysler, and Jeep. It took them a week before they looked at the claim and rejected because the incompetent service advisor filed it wrong. So he refiled it the correct way. It then took them another week before they looked at the claim again. Before the service advisor filed the first claim he told me that there was a 50% chance it would be approved. He told me that Stellantis tries to find loop holes to get out of paying for repairs. If it wasn’t approved the repair would cost me $6500. He also told me since the brakes got oil on them that they needed to be replaced. Since brakes are wear items they wouldn’t be covered by the warranty so it would cost me $1100 for new brakes. I talked to a reputable shop and told them everything that the stealership told me and he was in disbelief. He gave me a ruff estimate range and the high part of the range was way cheaper than what the stealership had quoted me. He also confirmed what I already knew, that the rotors that were on replaced last year could be cleaned and only new pads were needed. Since the brakes were removed to do the repair work it should be cheaper than a regular pad replacement. He told me they were trying to double dip in addition to over charging. Luckily stellantis approved the work and it was done and I just had my $100 deductible to pay. Last year when I did the brakes I replaced the pads, rotors, and calipers using a kit from PowerStop. The pads and rotors perform much better than oem. The calipers are mopar calipers that were rebuilt with better than oem parts. They are also powder coated red. The stealership installed a new axle assembly which consists of a new axle housing, axles, gears and brakes. All they had to do is remove the old assembly, install the new and fill with fluid. Since my calipers and rotors are better than oem I had them use them instead of the new ones. All they had to do was remove 4 bolts to remove the calipers and then install the old ones on the new axle housing. It is much faster and easier than bleeding the air out of the brake lines if they replace the calipers. They charged me $195 to reuse my parts. A process that saved them time and expense. They tried at every point in the process to milk as much money out of me that they could. I was treated as if I was too stupid to understand the work they were doing. Every bit of work they did is something I’ve done myself before while working on my own vehicles over the years. They told me the repair is a 6 hour job, but it still took them 3 days to do it. They had my truck for 3 weeks. I wish I had taken the time to have my truck hauled on a flatbed truck to the next closest dealership 35 miles away in Carson City. They are much more competent and honest. If you are ever in the Reno area and need a dodge dealership avoid Reno dodge at all costs.

[Bandit12]

I had an issue with my truck leaking oil in the spring of 2021. I took it to a couple shops I routinely deal with and asked for a diagnosis. First guy said he thought it was the front crank seal and he didn't have time to get it in and since he is a one man shop, he really didn't want the job. Second shop I took it to said he thought it was leaking from a different location and asked if he could take the truck for a bit. He took a few things apart and put a smoke machine on it and discovered it was leaking from the cam case to block gasket. He didn't want to do the job because in his words, if the least little thing went wrong, he wouldn't make anything on the job. I called Reno Dodge and they asked me how many miles were on the truck, about 75K at that point. He told me the engine was warrantied for 100k miles by Cummins and they could fix it. I took it in, and they did the job in about a week. I had them fix another issue I was having with the coolant level sensor at the time, and it cost me about $300 for everything. Fast forward about 2 months and I'm headed out for a camping weekend at one of our local lakes. I get a warning, coolant low. I grumbled because that's what I had them fix in addition to the oil leak. I started watching the temp gauge and sure enough, it started climbing. I pulled over before it overheated and popped the hood. Antifreeze everywhere under the hood. I checked the coolant reservoir, and it was empty. I poured a couple gallons of bottled water I had in the trailer in the tank and limped it into a nearby shop. The mechanic on duty at first thought the water pump let go. I said I'd agree with you, but the leak is visible on the driver's side and the water pump is on the passenger's side. We looked a bit closer and discovered the fan shroud had gotten caught in the fan, which got spun into the radiator and took a nice chunk out of it. I ended up replacing the fan shroud, radiator, water pump and belt since I was that far into it. Cost me about $1K. I can't prove it, but I strongly suspect when Reno Dodge reassembled the front of the engine, they didn't properly install the fan shroud and that's what caused the problem. Since then, we've gone to South Dakota and back that summer, and cross country and back last summer without issue. Truck now has nearly 107K miles on it and if I have any more issues, I'll beg and plead with my local wrenches to do the repairs. Luckily for me, I work at Napa auto parts and can get a break on any parts I buy. Except filters. I've found I can get a better deal on my routine filters from Doc's Diesel.

[kblast523]

Your experience although substantively different from mine echos my sentiment of CDJR, their past step-father FCA and their current step-father Stellantis. My 2019 RAM 1500 was reacquired on January 23, 2020 and spent eleven months at Huffines CDJR (Dallas) post re-acquisition getting repaired. MoPar parts was unable to get parts to repair a current year vehicle for 20 months. And that was pre-plandemic. From filing of the Lemon Law claim on October1 to the execution of re-acquisition, the truck was in my possession only 17 days. I replaced it with a 2018 Nissan Titan SV CC in January 2020 and have driven it 35k miles without issue.

[MichaelO]

Originally Posted by Bandit12

I had an issue with my truck leaking oil in the spring of 2021. I took it to a couple shops I routinely deal with and asked for a diagnosis. First guy said he thought it was the front crank seal and he didn't have time to get it in and since he is a one man shop, he really didn't want the job. Second shop I took it to said he thought it was leaking from a different location and asked if he could take the truck for a bit. He took a few things apart and put a smoke machine on it and discovered it was leaking from the cam case to block gasket. He didn't want to do the job because in his words, if the least little thing went wrong, he wouldn't make anything on the job. I called Reno Dodge and they asked me how many miles were on the truck, about 75K at that point. He told me the engine was warrantied for 100k miles by Cummins and they could fix it. I took it in, and they did the job in about a week. I had them fix another issue I was having with the coolant level sensor at the time, and it cost me about $300 for everything. Fast forward about 2 months and I'm headed out for a camping weekend at one of our local lakes. I get a warning, coolant low. I grumbled because that's what I had them fix in addition to the oil leak. I started watching the temp gauge and sure enough, it started climbing. I pulled over before it overheated and popped the hood. Antifreeze everywhere under the hood. I checked the coolant reservoir, and it was empty. I poured a couple gallons of bottled water I had in the trailer in the tank and limped it into a nearby shop. The mechanic on duty at first thought the water pump let go. I said I'd agree with you, but the leak is visible on the driver's side and the water pump is on the passenger's side. We looked a bit closer and discovered the fan shroud had gotten caught in the fan, which got spun into the radiator and took a nice chunk out of it. I ended up replacing the fan shroud, radiator, water pump and belt since I was that far into it. Cost me about $1K. I can't prove it, but I strongly suspect when Reno Dodge reassembled the front of the engine, they didn't properly install the fan shroud and that's what caused the problem. Since then, we've gone to South Dakota and back that summer, and cross country and back last summer without issue. Truck now has nearly 107K miles on it and if I have any more issues, I'll beg and plead with my local wrenches to do the repairs. Luckily for me, I work at Napa auto parts and can get a break on any parts I buy. Except filters. I've found I can get a better deal on my routine filters from Doc's Diesel.

Have you ever used T & A Performance for your diesel?

[Midnightmoon]

Originally Posted by Bandit12

I had an issue with my truck leaking oil in the spring of 2021. I took it to a couple shops I routinely deal with and asked for a diagnosis. First guy said he thought it was the front crank seal and he didn't have time to get it in and since he is a one man shop, he really didn't want the job. Second shop I took it to said he thought it was leaking from a different location and asked if he could take the truck for a bit. He took a few things apart and put a smoke machine on it and discovered it was leaking from the cam case to block gasket. He didn't want to do the job because in his words, if the least little thing went wrong, he wouldn't make anything on the job. I called Reno Dodge and they asked me how many miles were on the truck, about 75K at that point. He told me the engine was warrantied for 100k miles by Cummins and they could fix it. I took it in, and they did the job in about a week. I had them fix another issue I was having with the coolant level sensor at the time, and it cost me about $300 for everything. Fast forward about 2 months and I'm headed out for a camping weekend at one of our local lakes. I get a warning, coolant low. I grumbled because that's what I had them fix in addition to the oil leak. I started watching the temp gauge and sure enough, it started climbing. I pulled over before it overheated and popped the hood. Antifreeze everywhere under the hood. I checked the coolant reservoir, and it was empty. I poured a couple gallons of bottled water I had in the trailer in the tank and limped it into a nearby shop. The mechanic on duty at first thought the water pump let go. I said I'd agree with you, but the leak is visible on the driver's side and the water pump is on the passenger's side. We looked a bit closer and discovered the fan shroud had gotten caught in the fan, which got spun into the radiator and took a nice chunk out of it. I ended up replacing the fan shroud, radiator, water pump and belt since I was that far into it. Cost me about $1K. I can't prove it, but I strongly suspect when Reno Dodge reassembled the front of the engine, they didn't properly install the fan shroud and that's what caused the problem. Since then, we've gone to South Dakota and back that summer, and cross country and back last summer without issue. Truck now has nearly 107K miles on it and if I have any more issues, I'll beg and plead with my local wrenches to do the repairs. Luckily for me, I work at Napa auto parts and can get a break on any parts I buy. Except filters. I've found I can get a better deal on my routine filters from Doc's Diesel.

Completely unrelated to your issue, but I had the very same thing happen to the fan shroud and radiator on our 2010 Ram 1500. Fan hit and broke the shroud and took the radiator with it. It was due to a failed water pump in our case. But, it sure did make a mess when it went.

[Bookemdanno]

Took the day off to break up the work week. Did an oil & filter change; both fuel filters; air filter; and the cabin filter (yuck!). That cabin filter was disgusting! Guess I need to change that out a little more regularly...probably did it 15k miles ago. Just a hair of 38k on the odometer...she might be the last truck I ever buy at this rate!

[Jerry713]

Nothing like a 10 year old thread still going and active!

I changed out the ESIM (Evaporative System Integrity Module) for the 3rd time on my 2016 Ram with 59k. I think the last 2 times I was buying faulty cheap parts from Auto Zone. Hopefully this one will last.