Front Diff Blow Up

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Re: Front Diff Blow Up

Post by NickTF » Thu Dec 20, 2018 1:44 pm

If GM offered a PW capable 3/4 ton i'd be driving one by now just for the simple fact that I have a friend who's a world class gm tech who's very good at getting things addressed through warranty. I think the Ram is the best looking of the group by far but stupidity/failure associated with parts as vital as the valve train in 3/4 gas HD platforms between 10-70k miles in bone stock motors is unbelievably disappointing to me.

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Re: Front Diff Blow Up

Post by Low_Sky » Thu Dec 20, 2018 3:13 pm

cb1987 wrote:
Thu Dec 20, 2018 11:11 am
why is the driveshaft rubbing the skid plate ?
That's the cross member that the front of the gas tank skid and the back of the skid bars bolts to. The regular 2500s don't have it. If you let the rear axle droop more than OE (with aftermarket shocks and springs, for example), the drive shaft can hit. That cross member is also prone to bending up if you put the weight of the truck on it. It's relieved for the drive shaft and for the exhaust, and both of those reliefs weaken it substantially.

Our drive shafts are also danger close to the gas tank skid plate itself, and can hit it under the right conditions.
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Re: Front Diff Blow Up

Post by olyelr » Thu Dec 20, 2018 6:08 pm

NickTF wrote:
Thu Dec 20, 2018 1:44 pm
If GM offered a PW capable 3/4 ton i'd be driving one by now just for the simple fact that I have a friend who's a world class gm tech who's very good at getting things addressed through warranty. I think the Ram is the best looking of the group by far but stupidity/failure associated with parts as vital as the valve train in 3/4 gas HD platforms between 10-70k miles in bone stock motors is unbelievably disappointing to me.
Have you ever looked at the frame on a brand new gm? They are not painted. They have some stupid rubber coating on them, thats it. You can simply scrape it off with your fingernail, right down to bare metal. The frame on wifes ‘16 Yukon Denali looks like it has been subject to 20 years of road salt already. Fawk that.
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Re: Front Diff Blow Up

Post by FordyceCreekTrail » Thu Dec 20, 2018 10:50 pm

The Raptor guys are so pissed, they come new with so much rust its scary.
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Re: Front Diff Blow Up

Post by coder » Wed Jan 02, 2019 2:11 pm

chrisjameswagner wrote:
Wed Dec 12, 2018 11:17 am
Supposedly the Carli arms "move the front axle 2" forward".

Seems that would change some of the geometry in the diff as the attaching driveline distance is now changed - yes/no?
Carli arms a 1/2" longer than stock and will not negatively affect the steering geometry. I've had mine on for over 10 years with no problems.
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Re: Front Diff Blow Up

Post by RustyPW » Wed Jan 02, 2019 4:26 pm

coder wrote:
Wed Jan 02, 2019 2:11 pm
chrisjameswagner wrote:
Wed Dec 12, 2018 11:17 am
Supposedly the Carli arms "move the front axle 2" forward".

Seems that would change some of the geometry in the diff as the attaching driveline distance is now changed - yes/no?
Carli arms a 1/2" longer than stock and will not negatively affect the steering geometry. I've had mine on for over 10 years with no problems.
2X. Thuren arms moves the axle the same amount.
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Re: Front Diff Blow Up

Post by cb1987 » Wed Jan 09, 2019 11:06 pm

NickTF wrote:
Thu Dec 20, 2018 1:44 pm
If GM offered a PW capable 3/4 ton i'd be driving one by now just for the simple fact that I have a friend who's a world class gm tech who's very good at getting things addressed through warranty. I think the Ram is the best looking of the group by far but stupidity/failure associated with parts as vital as the valve train in 3/4 gas HD platforms between 10-70k miles in bone stock motors is unbelievably disappointing to me.
a gm powerwagon :rofl: now thats funny. the cheby seems cheap and plasticy to me based on the ones we have at work. torsion bar ifs, meh you can have it. ill stick with beam axles. maybe im out of the loop but i dont recall hearing about all these valvetrain failures you speak of ? one guy around here lost some lifters and maybe a cam and who knows what else but i havent seen much chatter about this type of stuff on other forums.

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Re: Front Diff Blow Up

Post by FordyceCreekTrail » Thu Jan 10, 2019 6:26 pm

Front end of a Chevy 4x4 is considered throw away and replace before going off road, as well as engagement system. Power Wagon is in its own class here as well. Hopefully the idiotic front end issues have been corrected in 17, time will tell. Everyone is having some MDS problems with valves unfortunately. Hopefully that has gotten better as well. Now, just to make the lockers smoother to engage....
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Re: Front Diff Blow Up

Post by cb1987 » Sat Jan 12, 2019 1:27 am

do you even know what the hell your talking about ? mds is the lifters not valves. reading into it, it sounds like some failures are on nonmds cylinders. that suggests it isnt entirely the mds fault. theres no denying theres been some failures but i occasionally visit all three major ram forums and cant recall seeing many lifter threads. according to you everyone is having problems

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Re: Front Diff Blow Up

Post by NickTF » Mon Jan 14, 2019 12:38 pm

In 10 seconds of googling I found the following.

https://www.allpar.com/forums/threads/a ... er.168177/

The problem is bad enough that lifters were on a large backorder at one point if I recall correctly. It certainly doesn't happen to 50% or more but it is more than a few in a million. It's a shame, but engineering and longevity don't necessarily go hand in hand today and the fact remains that FCA is the only 3/4+ ton platform which uses MDS (or whatever variable displacement collapsing lifter terminology) i'm aware of at the moment. I love everything about my 2015 PW compared to a GM truck aside from the inherent stupidity in the MDS system and having to deal with technicians which aren't a 16th as skilled as my buddy who works for gm.

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Re: Front Diff Blow Up

Post by cb1987 » Sat Jan 19, 2019 4:11 pm

parts can be back ordered for 100 reasons so i dont base anything on that. people rarely look at the big picture when stuff like this crops up. maybe its cheaply made lifters from third world country like china. could be bad lifter design. im sure cylinder deactivation could be a nice feature on some vehicles if its implemented correctly. but in 1.5yrs ive never seen mine turn on so frankly i would rather not have it, even if it were 100% reliable. i heard the dash light may be turned off from the factory and thats why i havent noticed it

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Re: Front Diff Blow Up

Post by 1pieceatatime » Sat Jan 19, 2019 4:31 pm

Pretty sure you’d notice when it gets into blatty MDS mode, light or no light.

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Re: Front Diff Blow Up

Post by KevinABQ » Sat Jan 19, 2019 9:54 pm

cb1987 wrote:
Sat Jan 19, 2019 4:11 pm
i heard the dash light may be turned off from the factory and thats why i havent noticed it
It was off on mine until I turned it on via the control panel. It pretty much only goes on when I’m coasting.
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Re: Front Diff Blow Up

Post by Bill2014 » Sun Jan 20, 2019 4:06 pm

On the interstate, when I’m not towing, MDS is on about half of the time - the major contributor to getting 17mpg. It’s a big benefit when you’re at an elevation less than 1000 feet and produce more power...
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Re: Front Diff Blow Up

Post by FordyceCreekTrail » Sun Jan 20, 2019 7:32 pm

Less then 1K? Death Valley is about the closest place to find that around here.
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Re: Front Diff Blow Up

Post by JPatch88 » Wed Jan 23, 2019 11:29 am

Haha yeah I don't have much hope at 4800ft in Montana either. I was surprised at how much it came on when I visited my family at sea level over Christmas

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Re: Front Diff Blow Up

Post by KevinABQ » Wed Jan 23, 2019 12:37 pm

I live at ~6000 feet, middle of Albuquerque is like 5500. When I turn on a dive computer set for compressed air in my living room it issues low partial pressure 02 alarm.
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Re: Front Diff Blow Up

Post by FordyceCreekTrail » Wed Jan 23, 2019 4:07 pm

I am at 7000' off Tramway, damn your low in elevation Kevin :wink:
2018 Flame Red, Moon Roof, Dual Alternators, Ram Boxes sadly Ram ran out of, Luxo Package with 8.4 UConnect, Enter and Go with remote start, Auto Wipers and Lights. Added missing skids and White Knuckle sliders. 35" BFG KM3s. Procal and Warn wireless remote for winch.

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Re: Front Diff Blow Up

Post by RustyPW » Wed Jan 23, 2019 5:45 pm

FordyceCreekTrail wrote:
Wed Jan 23, 2019 4:07 pm
I am at 7000' off Tramway, damn your low in elevation Kevin :wink:
God damn thin air breathers. :lol: I'm between 750 to 2,700. My house is at 1100. :lol:
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Re: Front Diff Blow Up

Post by dimrod » Thu Jan 24, 2019 3:01 am

I’m at 60 feet near the western Alaska coast.

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Re: Front Diff Blow Up

Post by FordyceCreekTrail » Thu Jan 24, 2019 12:56 pm

dimrod wrote:
Thu Jan 24, 2019 3:01 am
I’m at 60 feet near the western Alaska coast.
Global warming is not your friend :lol:
2018 Flame Red, Moon Roof, Dual Alternators, Ram Boxes sadly Ram ran out of, Luxo Package with 8.4 UConnect, Enter and Go with remote start, Auto Wipers and Lights. Added missing skids and White Knuckle sliders. 35" BFG KM3s. Procal and Warn wireless remote for winch.

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Re: Front Diff Blow Up

Post by RustyPW » Thu Jan 24, 2019 4:10 pm

FordyceCreekTrail wrote:
Thu Jan 24, 2019 12:56 pm
dimrod wrote:
Thu Jan 24, 2019 3:01 am
I’m at 60 feet near the western Alaska coast.
Global warming is not your friend :lol:
Earthquakes either. :shock:
PWOC #53
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My build thread. http://forum.powerwagonregistry.org/vie ... =13&t=2826 :cash: :cash:

Moab '09, '10, '12, '14.
Rausch Creek - Summer '10, Spring-Fall '11, Spring '12, Summer '13, Summer '14, Summer '15, Summer '16, Summer '17, Summer '18, Summer '20, Summer '22,
AOAA Summer '19.

Russ
NRA - Benefactor, Golden Eagle. :lockedandloaded:

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