My rear end is getting louder all the time ( I have 20K ) on my 03 one-ton dually 3:73, bad ring and pinion set, my dealer told me that he is seeing a lot of this and ordered an entire NEW rear end today, he said it would be cheaper for him to do that than to rebuild mine, he said it would cost just over $1700 to do the rebuild or $1800 for a new one, he said it would save him the time to rebuild since a new install wouild only take 1/2 day, go figure, I think there is more of a problem than they are willing to admit.

 

Mine goes in on Friday 01/15 for new"gear" and "shaft" dealer said he saw 76 of the "gears" on B/O. Are the 03's Am Axle too?

 

Yes they have been having some problems (not alot just some) I wonder if they have a machining quality problem or an assembly problem? Mine failed at 500 miles (bearing) They replace the entire assy (less axles) and it has been A1 for 30k.

 

hello,

question how does a bad ring and pinion sound? I've been getting a howling noise for about 1000 miles now and the dealership told me there is nothing they can do about it, till dodge has a tsb on it. The noise sounds like it coming from the rear end to me. First time I took it in , they said I was the first person to have a problem like this. They replaced the yoke and i'm still getting the sound, then i took it back in now they are telling me the sound is very common on the new trucks and dodge is working on a fix.

 

What do you have 4x4 4x2 auto stick? The driveshaft will transfer the sound. Sometimes you can get noise on accel and not on coast, or on coast but not accel, or all the time. Different diag depending on how you get the noise. Could be setup, backlash, or bearing noise.

 

My truck delevloped the same howl at 200 miles. Dealer said he realligned the rear end (whatever that means) and all is good. Time till tell if it lasts.

 

I have the 48re with american axels, 3:73, mine only makes the sound on partial throttle, diminishing slightly under load, then goes away when lifting, it howls worst at about 65-70 mph, not real loud but enough to give you a headache after 20 minutes or so. I hope its just a bad set of bearings that they have fixed by now. I would like to know if they have issued a service bulletin about this.

 

Don't just assume it is the rear end. Transfer cases, and trannys can make quite a racket also. Hard to duplicate on the hoist.
FWIW Crown Vics early 90's some had a wicked howl outa the back end. Turned out alot of times to be a tranny bearing. Was also some bad crowns (they were warped.)

 

You guys got ripped, Dodge went with AAM to save money not because they were better. I talked to a few gear venders this week, and they have been hearing alot of complains from the 11.50 rear end.

 

It seems that all of the suspect rear ends are 3.73s. Anyone hear of a 4.10 set going bad yet?

 

I do have a 2004 3500 4x4 3.73 auto, when you talk about the rear end making a noise, does it do it all the time or does it go away. The noise I'm getting is there for the first 5 or 10 mins then it go's away. Maybe a bearing or something. I know the first thing i had the dealership check was the rear end fluid level and it was almost 3/4 quarts low. And i think he told me it takes like 2.7 quarts.

 

My truck makes a slight howl when you are de-accelerating below 45 mph. The truck has 1100. miles on it and it gets more noticable as I drive it more miles....I could faintly hear it when it was <500 miles and now notice it more.

James

 

On another post, there's talk about the trucks coming from the factory and the rear and frt ends not being properly filled. If not filled correctly, no wonder DC is starting to see alot of noise complaints...

COme to think of it, mine makes rear end noise on acceleration....

 

Good Luck!! I am on my 3ed in 2500 miles 1st was the factory, 2nd was a new Ring and pinion, 3ed was a whole new axle assembly from rotor to rotor and it still whines. From what I understand now Dodge has some new part numbers for the problem but I haven't tried them. I decided to park the truck for the time being. From what I understand it is only the 3.73's on the 4X2 140" W/B don't know that for sure though will need input form you at DTR