Broken shock mount

[olyelr]

After looking at my shock mount i can clearly see what happened. The welds did not let loose at all. The entire top part of the mount is not welded, which is the part still attached to the shock. The only section that is welded is the section that it is still welded on your axle. The weld held and the actual mount sheered/split right in half.

I still say your shock competely bottomed out, sheering the mount in half.

If you put shock extensions on but didnt put bumpstop drops on that has to be your issue. Looks to me like it was caused from the leveling kit, not an issue with the weld.

[adeluca73]

Maybe, but he said he wasn't wheeling,& it let loose on the highway, so how did he bottom it out? Big pot hole maybe? Jnallison has the 1.5" Truxx level with 35's and has been through Moab, Uharrawi (I think?) & a bunch of places in NM & AZ without incident...so that gives me pause if it really was the level or was it the welds. Plus several others here have a level kit between 1"-2" , with no other incident of bump stop contact ripping off the mount. Stockman has the mopar level I think, so does Juday...I measured my bumps to the axle, 3.5" front/4" back, I think the OEM Bilsteins have more travel than that.

[Retired BLM Rig]

Adeluca, after looking at the picture of your shock mount, it looks like the weld travels up much higher on your bracket than it did on Digger's.
I agree with Rusty, it doesn't look like the bracket was welded completely to the axle housing and leverage took it's toll.

[Will]

Import bullshit pot metal is what it is...

[adeluca73]

Import bullshit pot metal is what it is...

Yeah maybe. Not sure what level kit Digger is running , but I know the Truxx kit is made in GA, with American steel, I spoke to the owner before ordering mine.

[08TwinStickPW]

Looks like the PW were not plagued with the failing tracbar welds, instead the shock mounts were not welded fully leaving them weak and in this case allowing added stress to sheer the mount.

http://www.usatoday.com/story/money/car ... /71997266/

[adeluca73]

Looks like the PW were not plagued with the failing tracbar welds, instead the shock mounts were not welded fully leaving them weak and in this case allowing added stress to sheer the mount.

http://www.usatoday.com/story/money/car ... /71997266/

Regardless of what their PR says, QC in Mexican plants is difficult & inconsistent. My family is from Detroit, they've lived through the auto boom of the 40's-50's and the bust of the 70-80's & suffered through the exodus to Mexico & India. My sister has been to Mexico at least 15x as a PM for Diamler/Chrysler & she's seen some shit practices 1st hand...the stories she has are eye opening.

[olyelr]

...I measured my bumps to the axle, 3.5" front/4" back, I think the OEM Bilsteins have more travel than that.

Its not just the full travel... it is just the uptravel from ride height.

Well personally, I would be measuring the collapsed length of the stock shocks just to make absolute sure I wasnt using them as a bumpstop.

I dont care how hard and fast you pull up or push down on a shock... if it isnt bottoming/topping out, I dont see how it could physically sheer a metal shock mount in half... regardless if the weld was halfassed or if the metal was junk. Just looking at my shock mount, which isnt fully welded either, I am pretty sure I could swing a heavy sledge hammer at it many times before it would even bend let alone sheer.

[08TwinStickPW]

...I measured my bumps to the axle, 3.5" front/4" back, I think the OEM Bilsteins have more travel than that.

Its not just the full travel... it is just the uptravel from ride height.

Well personally, I would be measuring the collapsed length of the stock shocks just to make absolute sure I wasnt using them as a bumpstop.

I dont care how hard and fast you pull up or push down on a shock... if it isnt bottoming/topping out, I dont see how it could physically sheer a metal shock mount in half... regardless if the weld was halfassed or if the metal was junk. Just looking at my shock mount, which isnt fully welded either, I am pretty sure I could swing a heavy sledge hammer at it many times before it would even bend let alone sheer.

While I agree that bottoming out the shock would be easiest to explain.

However there are other things that can come into play, if there was weakness in the metal or if the forming process left a sharp edge or feature it could cause that to sheer over time starting at that point. From the pics and orientation there appears to be some decent torsional load on that mount to not be welded up the sides more, there is a lot of force starting where the weld stopped.

The big thing that's odd to me is lack of rust at the break leans towards it happened in one shot and not over time. And the fact that he was going down the highway when it happened is just plain odd.

[Reloaderguy]

Adeluca, after looking at the picture of your shock mount, it looks like the weld travels up much higher on your bracket than it did on Digger's.
I agree with Rusty, it doesn't look like the bracket was welded completely to the axle housing and leverage took it's toll.

That was the first thing I noticed. I went out and looked at my truck and mine looks like ADeluca's welds.

[Digger]

I assure you that it was NOT bottomed out and there is more up travel on the shock than there is between the axle and the bump stop ... If you don't I teal they 1" shock saver you marginally decrease your articulation ... That being said yes there is rust /oxidation in the top 3/8 " of the furthest left weld but both sides of the weld on this bracket lack fusion not necessarily penetration but I don't believe the weld is going up far enough on either side with all the weld being on the bottom and only 1/2" of "meat" holding I think just the action of the shock doing its job even on the highway is much like bending a nail slightly but repeatedly caused the shear failure


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[Digger]

It is a ready lift 1.75 I have used these on all three of my pw and never had an issue have 4 local buddy's using the same spacers with virtually the same set ups one is using the Carlie long arm drop brackets with his with no noticeable benefit whatsoever


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[Digger]

Chrysler said it was a weld failure and I will be without my power wagon for a while .... I wonder if I can but the old housing back? With only 3000 miles it would be a perfect one to truss I not worried about fixing the bracket I'm a welder by trade but I didn't want to touch it I case it was going to be a snow ball of failures


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[Will]

Chrysler said it was a weld failure and I will be without my power wagon for a while .... I wonder if I can but the old housing back? With only 3000 miles it would be a perfect one to truss I not worried about fixing the bracket I'm a welder by trade but I didn't want to touch it I case it was going to be a snow ball of failures


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I was down for two weeks waiting on a new housing, once the housing arrived, it took 3 days to swap everything over. The local shop gave me all of the old parts. I bent mine though, the dealer might want to keep yours to send back but I would definitely "tell" them I will be taking the old housing. Many times if you go ahead and say put the old one in the back of the truck and I'll haul it off, it'll fall in your favor instead of "can I keep the old one?". The "I will haul it off" makes them think, good, I dont have to worry about it. When you ask if you can have it, then they think it's worth something and start thinking stupid stuff.

[RustyPW]

If it's warranty work. Most times the old parts go back to Ram. I tried to get my old parts back, and they wouldn't let me have them. But it's worth the try.

[Will]

If it's warranty work. Most times the old parts go back to Ram. I tried to get my old parts back, and they wouldn't let me have them. But it's worth the try.

Did you ask or tell? Haha

[RustyPW]

If it's warranty work. Most times the old parts go back to Ram. I tried to get my old parts back, and they wouldn't let me have them. But it's worth the try.

Did you ask or tell? Haha

I asked for my old parts. They told me that the parts are going back to Ram for analysis.

[adeluca73]

Standard engineering analysis conducted by all auto & aircraft companies. It's how they conduct a FEMCA analysis & build reliability & maintainability fault trees, establish MTBF, MTBCF, MRT, MDT, Availability (A_o), R_m, etc. they need to study failure modes at the component level to build up a total system reliability number which drives warranty guarantees to the customer.

[olyelr]

Standard engineering analysis conducted by all auto & aircraft companies. It's how they conduct a FEMCA analysis & build reliability & maintainability fault trees, establish MTBF, MTBCF, MRT, MDT, Availability (A_o), R_m, etc. they need to study failure modes at the component level to build up a total system reliability number which drives warranty guarantees to the customer.

There are times i can not even begin to understand wtf you are talking about

But i think you basically said they want the parts back to see why they failed and what they have to do to prevent it?

[adeluca73]

Standard engineering analysis conducted by all auto & aircraft companies. It's how they conduct a FEMCA analysis & build reliability & maintainability fault trees, establish MTBF, MTBCF, MRT, MDT, Availability (A_o), R_m, etc. they need to study failure modes at the component level to build up a total system reliability number which drives warranty guarantees to the customer.

There are times i can not even begin to understand wtf you are talking about

But i think you basically said they want the parts back to see why they failed and what they have to do to prevent it?

Yeah. But there's an entire science, really an industrial discipline, called Reliability Engineering & FEMCA (failure effect maintenance criticality analysis), which is a critical part of industries that produce complex machines--aircraft & autos. So studying failures not only helps the mechanical & industrial engineers figure out why parts fail & how to prevent future failures, but it's the RMA part that's more important. Companies aren't going to put engineering hrs toward fixing the shock mount if Digger's is the only failure in 20,000 axles. So collecting failure data & modes of failure is he kind of data folks in the statistical analysis department require to help the bosses make sound financial planning decisions.

[TwinStick]

............Or, get rid of any evidence of failure on their part to stave off a possible multi-million dollar lawsuit, or multi-million dollar recalls. What better way then to say "we need failed part for analysis. " Just sayin'. Could be a fancy way of them pretending to have your best interest at heart, when it is really their best interest. Can you tell I worked with bad people all my life ? LOL

Don't really need to analyze most failures. They fail cause they were cheap ass parts & not designed properly to work in the environment they were subjected to. That pretty much covers most failures.

Lets be real here, the list is endless really. Everyone can add theirs to it. This is mine.

Cheap ass steering gearbox
cheap ass control arms & bushings
cheap ass upper & lower ball joints
cheap ass steering shaft
cheap ass u-joints everywhere on truck
cheap ass locker connectors & solinoids
cheap ass track bar bushings
cheap ass wheel bearings
cheap ass front swaybar electrical connector
cheap ass stock tires (3rd Gens)

All of these cheap ass parts have done a few things.
Saved the Mfg LOTS of money in production.
Made the Mfg LOTS of money in repeated service, trying to fix the issues that were built into it, to do just that.
Made people go broke owning & trying to fix these trucks
Made people very bitter, who have had these issues & the dealer did nothing to fix it while under warranty, yet after the 3yr-36k warranty was up, said they would be more than happy to "look at it", at $85.00 an hour.

If i missed something, I apologize. Not rocket science here. Just plain old cheap ass parts.

[RustyPW]

............Or, get rid of any evidence of failure on their part to stave off a possible multi-million dollar lawsuit, or multi-million dollar recalls. What better way then to say "we need failed part for analysis. " Just sayin'. Could be a fancy way of them pretending to have your best interest at heart, when it is really their best interest. Can you tell I worked with bad people all my life ? LOL

Don't really need to analyze most failures. They fail cause they were cheap ass parts & not designed properly to work in the environment they were subjected to. That pretty much covers most failures.

Lets be real here, the list is endless really. Everyone can add theirs to it. This is mine.

Cheap ass steering gearbox
cheap ass control arms & bushings
cheap ass upper & lower ball joints
cheap ass steering shaft
cheap ass u-joints everywhere on truck
cheap ass locker connectors & solinoids
cheap ass track bar bushings
cheap ass wheel bearings
cheap ass front swaybar electrical connector
cheap ass stock tires (3rd Gens)

All of these cheap ass parts have done a few things.
Saved the Mfg LOTS of money in production.
Made the Mfg LOTS of money in repeated service, trying to fix the issues that were built into it, to do just that.
Made people go broke owning & trying to fix these trucks
Made people very bitter, who have had these issues & the dealer did nothing to fix it while under warranty, yet after the 3yr-36k warranty was up, said they would be more than happy to "look at it", at $85.00 an hour.

If i missed something, I apologize. Not rocket science here. Just plain old cheap ass parts.

2sticky, tell us how you really feel. The problem is, all manufacturers do this crap.

[TwinStick]

If it's warranty work. Most times the old parts go back to Ram. I tried to get my old parts back, and they wouldn't let me have them. But it's worth the try.

Did you ask or tell? Haha

I asked for my old parts. They told me that the parts are going back to Ram for analysis.

They told me the same thing. I told them, it's my truck, i paid for it & I want my parts back. They said Dodge will not authorize them to repair it then. Mexican standoff. What do you do ? You need your truck. You need to go to work, get groceries, etc. Your time is worth money too. So, unless you can fix it yourself, your screwed & they know it.

So, lets play this forward, humor me please. Go to google, type in " dodge axle failures ". I got 5,210,000 hits in 0.51 seconds. If they sent all the failed parts back to have them analyzed, one would think they would have figured out what failed & why & remedied it right ? Well, that is simply NOT the case. Before i bought my first Dodge truck (2000 Dodge Dakota Quad cab w/360 & 3.92's), i researched their axle failures. Every single person that I corresponded with, who bought their truck brand new, was prepped by the dealer before delivery, was still under warranty, only had the truck serviced by the selling dealer, had no axle oil leaks yet was at the proper level when delivered to customer, & had axle failures, well the "Official Verdict " was the same...."Pinion bearing failure due to lack of lubrication." How is this possible ? With all the " analyzing " they are supposedly doing ?

So, do we conclude that their analyzers, designers & engineers are so colossally incompetent, that they simply can't figure this out ?
Do we conclude that the axle oil level specs are too low on purpose, to generate LOTS of future revenue ?
Do we conclude that the analyzers, designers & engineers are TOLD to design them this way & they do because they need a job like everyone else ?
Do we conclude that people do not change things because they are better, but maybe to say...see, look what I did ?

Regardless, the end consumer pays the price.

How long does it take to get something right ? 10, 20, 50, 100 years ?

Not too long ago, station wagons were pulling large campers. https://www.google.com/search?q=images+ ... CNgQsAQIGw

Now we need 3/4 & 1 ton trucks to do it. Sad

And I know it is not just the big 3. I recently saw a Toyota car & a Tundra truck, with destroyed (internally) engines. Newer than my vehicles too. Last time I was there, they had almost a dozen brand new truck frames behind the shop. Just sad.

[olyelr]

.. And I know it is not just the big 3. I recently saw a Toyota car & a Tundra truck, with destroyed (internally) engines. Newer than my vehicles too. Last time I was there, they had almost a dozen brand new truck frames behind the shop. Just sad.

Sad? At least they are addressing the issue....

[TwinStick]

Yeah, they were but both engines were sitting in pieces---on the dirty floor----side by side !!! Recipe for disaster IMHO. There were pieces everywhere, right next to each other, on the dirty floor. Looked like kids sitting on the floor playing with their toys. That would blow my mind if it was my vehicle & I saw that. That just does NOT install confidence in that dealer, in any shape, way, or form.