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200K mile & Beyond Repair History of The Radio Flyer--2014 RAM 3500 Tradesman DRW 4x4

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#1 · (Edited)
200K mile & Beyond Repair History of The Radio Flyer--2014 RAM 3500 Tradesman DRW 4x4

For informational purposes, I decided I'd start a new thread disclosing repairs of The Radio Flyer.....My 2014 RAM 3500 Crew Cab Tradesman 4x4 DRW.

During warranty, I had a L/R door lock actuator, rear axle repairs http://www.cumminsforum.com/forum/2...xperiences-my-2014-ram-3500-crew-cab-4x4.html and a water pump replacement http://www.cumminsforum.com/forum/2...-failure-94-914-miles-my-2014-ram-3500-a.html .

Since exceeding the 200k mile mark, I've encountered a couple of decent size repairs, obviously out of pocket.

The first repair was a seeping upper radiator hose Y-Pipe in Johnson City, TN on March 14th, 2017 (222,133 miles). This leak could have been babied until I got home, but since Auto Nation RAM of Johnson City, TN had the part and the time to do the repair, common sense, coupled with the thoughts of a tow bill for The Radio Flyer AND a stack of trailers bound for Kings Mountain, NC got the best of me. One upper radiator Y-Pipe hose assembly, one gallon of coolant, labor, shop supplies, and sales tax later to the tune of $273.04 was just fine by me.

Y-Pipe assembly # 52014722AD
Coolant # 68163848AB

Fast forward to March 29th, 2017.......(and 229,180 miles) on my way back home from delivering a 2017 GatorMade 30+5 gooseneck trailer to Louisa, VA I noticed an oil leak near the R/F wheel area. Due to my hours of service, I shut down in Abingdon, VA that night. The next morning I discovered I had a leaking R/F axle seal. I then checked the fluid level, and deemed it good, and drove it the rest of the way home that Thursday.

Upon getting home, I re-checked the level. It required about 1/3 of a quart. On Friday, while making a delivery to Florence, KY and Ashland, KY I began checking availability of seals and a place that would / could do them. Upon arriving home, I again added fluid to the tune of about another 1/3 quart.

On Friday, I secured two new front axle seals...one in Somerset, KY and one in Lexington, KY. I ended up picking them up on Saturday, as I didn't want to chance anything going wrong with inventory and whichever installer I ultimately chose.

On Monday, I delivered a gooseneck stack to the GatorMade retail store in Marietta, GA. Near Athens, TN I checked the fluid---and guess what---added another 1/3 quart.

During the day on Monday, I decided on and secured an appointment with Don Marshall Chrysler (my selling dealer) in Somerset, KY for Wednesday, April 5th.

I was lucky enough to have a really great diesel / powertrain tech with 16 years of experience (all at that dealership, I might add) to work on The Radio Flyer.

While there---I also had the serpentine belt replaced (OEM w/229k miles).

Two front axle seals, one MOPAR serpentine belt, three quarts of Mobil 1 75W90 GL5 synthetic axle fluid, two cans of brake cleaner, and 6.2 hours labor later.....The Radio Flyer is ready to roll down the roads, worry free, and start making me some money again. Although the tech went over on the flat-rate hour allowance, I was still charged by book time.

Front axle seals # 05086686AA
Serpentine Belt # 04627751AA

$785.28 later.......I'm ready to roll yet again.

Below is a few pics I snapped during the tear-down process.

R/F shot of the axle. One can see the evidence of the leak on the tube. After a two hour or so park time, a "puddle" about 2.0" to 2.5" in diameter would be present.


Another R/F shot of the leak. One can see where the leak has been "sprayed" all over radius arm, mud flap, and wheel well liner.


L/F side....with differential cover removed. If you look hard enough, you can see the R/F parts removed by the tech. He also removed the axle while still attached to the unit bearings....with the axle nut undisturbed. One can also see the hub extension and brake rotor.


Front differential cover removed.


The tech was uneasy about working on my truck with 229k miles. Oddly enough....he said he was extremely surprised at HOW EASY the unit bearings came apart from the axle assembly.

Removal of the axles requires ring gear removal.....thus the reason for the differential cover being removed.
 

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#2 ·
The ring gear has to be removed to get the axles out?

That sucks.

Mines at 239.2K and I'm fixing to do the trans fluid and gear lube change.

Put two tires on just before this last trip, old ones made it to 110K miles! Got to love those General HTS60's!
 
#3 ·
You must not be getting flagged at any weigh stations for random inspections getting 110k miles out of tires!!!!

I've been through 6 inspections since August 5th..... :surprise:
 
#4 ·
Nope, haven't been DOT'd in ages. And whenever I have been, so long as there was tread showing all the way across, they didn't check any further. And this last trip there was not one single scale open anywhere along the way.

 
#5 · (Edited)
It sucks having to discard steer tires with at or near 4/32nds tread depth....
 
#6 ·
Thanks for sharing.
Didn't do the unit bearings while in there? What's the over under on that bet? lol

Pretty impressive, creeping up on 1/4 million miles and 2 out of warranty repairs that given time and a shop at home are either minor or not serious. Awesome.
 
#7 ·
Thanks !!!

I rotate my tires every oil & filter / fuel filter change (generally around 13k to 15k miles). I "shake down" the front end of my truck every service. It's been as tight as a mouse's ear to date. EVERYTHING on the front end is OEM.

I read of other's woes regarding front end parts wear, but I've not experienced any. Perhaps the fact I'm running stock, dull, boring OEM sized tires on stock, dull, boring OEM steel wheels >:) has something to do with it....
 
#18 ·
Great update, Greg!

-Guzzler
 
#23 ·
Nice to see your truck is starting to break in. Seen on your fuel for 16, it got an extra MPG. Just wait until its broken in. Then it will be doing good. Enjoyed the above post.
Pete
 
#25 ·
What u joints did you order? Factory ones again or some greasable ones? Just curious, I contemplated doing mine while I was in there, but figured with only 40k it wasn't necessary yet. I had done some snooping around and had a list of which ones people had luck with, I forget which one was preferred, seems like lots of opinions on that matter
 
#26 ·
What u joints did you order? Factory ones again or some greasable ones? Just curious, I contemplated doing mine while I was in there, but figured with only 40k it wasn't necessary yet. I had done some snooping around and had a list of which ones people had luck with, I forget which one was preferred, seems like lots of opinions on that matter
I went back with OEM mopar u-joints.
 
#28 ·
Everything is holding up really good. The driver seat has no rips or tears, although the seat foam in the bottom is a little tired. I priced a new foam bottom....and it was over $300 :surprise: if I recall correctly. All instrumentation and controls work great.
 
#29 ·
I rode in this truck extensively in April. It's in stellar shape. "Feels" like a 100k mile truck.

Extremely well-maintained.

-Guzzler
 
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#30 · (Edited)
Goodies / Band-Aids for The Radio Flyer.....

and NO, none of it is for deleting :rolleyes: :hehe:

Between a few items ordered from my local dealer, and a visit by the ol Brown Truck, I am all set for my installer Saturday morning....

The Radio Flyer is getting two new SKF front wheel unit bearings. While I am at it, it would be nuts to not replace both front axle U-joints. The unit bearings had a combined shipping weight of about 46 lbs....so they weigh in around 23 lbs each.

I also have a set of OEM front brake pads as well as a set of rear brake pads. On a side note....these are NOT the Value Line. If I / we deem them worn enough, they will be replaced at the same time.

Other items include two new air filters and a sump filter for the AISIN AS69RC transmission.
Auto part Brake Vehicle brake Disc brake
 
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#32 · (Edited)
As of today, I have two new front unit bearings and two new front axle U-joints installed in The Radio Flyer. :grin2:

As always, I include as many part numbers as I can.

Wheel Bearings
SKF # BR930553
I paid $196.59 each....see previous link from eBay.

OEM Front Axle U-Joints
68065428AC
List is $142.00 each and I paid $107.58 each.

Mileage was 268,791 with 474 idle hours and 4,978 drive hours.

I have also included a few pics of the installation.

Everything went flawlessly and there were no issues. One minor encounter we had involved the caliper slides on both front calipers. The upper ones were nice and greasy, but both lower ones were beginning to get some rusting. This was remedied by cleaning the caliper pins and greasing them.
Automotive tire Tire Auto part Wheel Vehicle brake
Auto part Gas
Tire Automotive tire Motor vehicle Auto part Wheel
Tire Automotive tire Auto part Motor vehicle Vehicle brake
 
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#33 ·
I also purchased new front brake pads as well as rear brake pads.

At this time----I opted to install neither as my installer and I both agreed there was still some decent life left in both of them......as evidenced by the picture of the front brake pads below.

Again....these, too, are OEM with 268,791 miles of use.
 

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#34 ·
In the past, I had worked retail in an automotive tire retail sales environment with about 17 years of experience between about 3 locations.

Ball joints were somewhat problematic in the 2nd GEN trucks with the DANA axles, and as part of the R&R process, it was always a crapshoot if the unit bearings would come out. Generally....there was a high probability that they would be seized / rusted in the axle housing.

The design of the hub unit bearings (at least in the 2013 & up trucks) make removal of them much less difficult.

Granted my bearings were removed for front axle seals at about 229k miles, but even at that mileage, they came out easy.

As you can see by the pictures, the hub unit bearings only make contact at four points inside the axle housing.

Also pictured is the ABS sensor location. As posted by another member, some remove the sensor and inject grease into the unit, greatly extending the life of the unit bearings.

The R/F hub unit bearing was replaced first. It did not feel that bad.

The L/F hub unit bearing was toast. Even turning by hand, one could easily feel the wear in the bearing. There was enough notchiness within the bearing that it almost would lock up when turning in a few certain positions.

On a side note.....all of the front axle U-joints were still in great shape. None of them were dry or rusty.

The Radio Flyer is all nice & quite once again.....and ready to start earning more money on Monday morning.:grin2:
 

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#35 ·
In the past, I had worked retail in an automotive tire retail sales environment with about 17 years of experience between about 3 locations.

Ball joints were somewhat problematic in the 2nd GEN trucks with the DANA axles, and as part of the R&R process, it was always a crapshoot if the unit bearings would come out. Generally....there was a high probability that they would be seized / rusted in the axle housing.

The design of the hub unit bearings (at least in the 2013 & up trucks) make removal of them much less difficult.

Granted my bearings were removed for front axle seals at about 229k miles, but even at that mileage, they came out easy.

As you can see by the pictures, the hub unit bearings only make contact at four points inside the axle housing.

Also pictured is the ABS sensor location. As posted by another member, some remove the sensor and inject grease into the unit, greatly extending the life of the unit bearings.

The R/F hub unit bearing was replaced first. It did not feel that bad.

The L/F hub unit bearing was toast. Even turning by hand, one could easily feel the wear in the bearing. There was enough notchiness within the bearing that it almost would lock up when turning in a few certain positions.

On a side note.....all of the front axle U-joints were still in great shape. None of them were dry or rusty.

The Radio Flyer is all nice & quite once again.....and ready to start earning more money on Monday morning.:grin2:
You're not kidding. I replaced both unit bearings in my 1997, and it was awful, particularly the passenger side. I had to use a sledge to get it apart. I used copper antiseize when I put it back together, in case I ever did the job again.
 
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#36 ·
Thanks @gsbrockman I was going to wait until my squeaky brakes wore down to change to a different compound.....sounds like I will be waiting a while smh


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
 
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#37 ·
Did you add grease through the abs port? Would you recommend those still under warranty to do so? I hear about this often but have not decided one way or the other.
 
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