Is your Ram towing as Good as it should?

[Terryallan]

Or does it not have the power it should have. It seems that Ram is putting the WRONG gear in their trucks. Seems if you ordered a 3.55.1 axle. You could have got a 3.21.1 axle.
AND they won't even offer to change it out once you catch it. That's just wrong.
Lawsuit now in progress.

[RoyJ]

Terryallan wrote:

Grit dog wrote:
Sucks if the owners didn't get what they ordered but with an 8 speed trans, it's not hard to pick a gear that has the same effective final drive ratio.

Ah, but what about 1st. It's going to be much higher too.

We can debate for days, but here are some facts:

- 8 speed + 3.21 equals the old 545RFE/65RE + 5.029 gears
- Old 545RFE came with 3.92 gears at max, which is rated to tow 10,000 lbs
- 8 speed + 3.21 can easily out-tow ANY 545/65 gear combo
- 10,000 lbs is above the capacity rating for 8 speed + 3.55 gears
- 8 speed has a higher torque capacity than the 545/65 ("70" rating vs "45/50" rating)
- Therefore, any engineer can conclude no damage can occur from towing with the 8 speed + 3.21 combo, at or below the spec for 3.55 gears.


BTW, the max stress on a transmission is ONLY dependent on the torque input of the engine, NOT the output gear ratio (diff). The diff ratio only affects torque experienced by the axle tube, ring gear, drive shaft / hub, wheel and tire.

But that's a 10 page argument in itself which I've done here and on Ramforumz. If anyone wants to debate that I'll draw a free body diagram of the torque path from engine to rear tire.

[Perrysburg_Dodg]

proxim2020 wrote:
Those who're in the auto industry were speculating on what could've happened yesterday in the comments. The axle units are shipped to final assembly from the supplier as a completed unit and they're all bar-coded. The units are scanned to verify that the right unit gets installed in the truck. They suspect that the supplier mislabeled the axles with the wrong bar codes.

If it's really just a few isolated cases then I don't know why FCA just didn't step up and change out the guys gears to keep him quiet. I had a little chuckle when one article referred to 3.55's as the heavy duty gears for towing.

Ding Ding Ding we have a winner....happens all the time to all the manufacturers.

We shipped out three skids of torque converters labeled as I-4 (four cylinder) but they where V-6 converters. None got built into any vehicles as our plant caught it. But the truck with the three skids had to be turned around and sent back to be re-loaded. Cost the pack off and inspector each a ten day DLO (Disciplinary Lay Off)! Bet They pay a little closer attention to what they are paying out next time.

There are thousands of parts in your vehicle and any one can cause a huge headache if they are not correct.There are a lot of trucks running around with the 8.4 Nav radio instead of the smaller non Nav radio because the vendor put the wrong bar code on them. The workers scan the build sheet than the bar code on the item they are installing, if the reader buys it it gets built into the vehicle. Stop the line and you get a write up, keep stopping the line and you get to go home and never come back!

Last year Toledo Jeep fired over 900 people. If you think working in an assembly plant is easy, Toledo Jeep hires over 50 new people every month. Fill out an on-line app and start next month if you think you can hang with real workers!

Don

OH BTW they were V-6 gas trucks only and it was not very many under 20 I think.

[Community Alumni]

Tystevens wrote:

...
But at any rate, my point was, if this is a class action, it means that it isn't an issue of one dealership making a mistake with one truck.

Got it and agree.

[Carlos___Ranae]

Being a Dodge truck owner all my life, I might be a little partial; however, according to the article Fiat Chrysler was the one notifying Mr. Beasley, So it seems to me they are owing to the issue. So this issue is about the size of the compensation versus deceive ness by Chrysler. By the way, we also own a Mustang GT Premium

[Huntindog]

Terryallan wrote:

Grit dog wrote:
Sucks if the owners didn't get what they ordered but with an 8 speed trans, it's not hard to pick a gear that has the same effective final drive ratio.

Ah, but what about 1st. It's going to be much higher too.

All you gotta do is be sure to park on top of a hill. Then the tall gears won't matter.:B

[Terryallan]

Grit dog wrote:
Sucks if the owners didn't get what they ordered but with an 8 speed trans, it's not hard to pick a gear that has the same effective final drive ratio.

Ah, but what about 1st. It's going to be much higher too.

[Grit_dog]

Sucks if the owners didn't get what they ordered but with an 8 speed trans, it's not hard to pick a gear that has the same effective final drive ratio.

[Tystevens]

proxim2020 wrote:

Tystevens wrote:

Wouldn't be a class action suit if it were only one truck. A large number of plaintiffs would need to be involved. So, the problem is either quite a bit more prevalent than that, or it is being misreported as a class action suit when it really is just a single plaintiff.

From the way I understand it doesn't necessarily have to be a large number to gain class action status. As long as the attorneys, in good faith, believe there are a number of others who are similarly affected then they can get certification. Could be as low as 20 really.

Right, but 20 is more than 1. Usually to certify a class, you have to have a pretty decent number of people all in the same boat.

But at any rate, my point was, if this is a class action, it means that it isn't an issue of one dealership making a mistake with one truck.

[Ram4Sam]

Terryallan wrote:
Or does it not have the power it should have. It seems that Ram is putting the WRONG gear in their trucks. Seems if you ordered a 3.55.1 axle. You could have got a 3.21.1 axle.
AND they won't even offer to change it out once you catch it. That's just wrong.
Lawsuit now in progress.

Shakespeare was right........

Sam

[Community Alumni]

If I'm not mistaken the 3.55s are only available in the 3.6L v6 truck and the EcoDiesel. The 5.7L has 3.21 or 3.92 options. If that's true then he probably wouldn't be towing much anyway. If it's true that FCA sent out updated stickers before the trucks were sold, then the dealer should eat the cost. However, if it were my company, I'd just do the swaps to protect my reputation.

[Community Alumni]

Tystevens wrote:

Wouldn't be a class action suit if it were only one truck. A large number of plaintiffs would need to be involved. So, the problem is either quite a bit more prevalent than that, or it is being misreported as a class action suit when it really is just a single plaintiff.

From the way I understand it doesn't necessarily have to be a large number to gain class action status. As long as the attorneys, in good faith, believe there are a number of others who are similarly affected then they can get certification. Could be as low as 20 really.

[Huntindog]

Terryallan wrote:

ib516 wrote:

Terryallan wrote:
And to save the day, That is all Ram would have had to do. Replace the gearing. Poor customer service is the lesson of this story.

....at this point, according to ONE GUY.

doesn't matter how many IF YOU are that ONE guy. I work in the Auto industry, and believe you me. that ONE guy can destroy your reputation, and cost millions in the search to find out what happened.

Our PPM is 12. Meaning out of one million parts we had 12 complaints. Every one of them was brought back to us, and we searched until we found the cause. Not all were catastrophic failures, some just had a little something wrong, and some were influenced by the other parts they hooked up to. But they all came back, and we did not stop until the cause was found.

BTW 12 PPM is WELL below industry goals. But still more that is wanted at our company. As I say. Even ONE can hurt you, and if you are the one. Your day is ruined.

An excellent post. And it reinforces what I have been saying. A truck is a sum of it's parts. One wrong or defective part can have a detrimental effect on other parts.

[Terryallan]

ib516 wrote:

Terryallan wrote:
And to save the day, That is all Ram would have had to do. Replace the gearing. Poor customer service is the lesson of this story.

....at this point, according to ONE GUY.

doesn't matter how many IF YOU are that ONE guy. I work in the Auto industry, and believe you me. that ONE guy can destroy your reputation, and cost millions in the search to find out what happened.

Our PPM is 12. Meaning out of one million parts we had 12 complaints. Every one of them was brought back to us, and we searched until we found the cause. Not all were catastrophic failures, some just had a little something wrong, and some were influenced by the other parts they hooked up to. But they all came back, and we did not stop until the cause was found.

BTW 12 PPM is WELL below industry goals. But still more that is wanted at our company. As I say. Even ONE can hurt you, and if you are the one. Your day is ruined.

[goducks10]

mtofell1 wrote:
This whole issue is like a social media attack on some poor high school kid. Just because there's a story on the internet it MUST be true. And just because it happened on a small group of vehicles the whole brand is bad and every truck is bad.

It's like some people just sit and home and wait for a negative headline to break so they can get on an internet forum and spread panic, fear and negativity.

OMG that sounds like Fox News.