Power Wagon Registry

Thinking about the three rear and one forward driveshaft that got trashed last year at PWiM.

Haven’t seen one yet that works but I’ll be working on something now that I’ve got mounting more figured out. The 19+ trucks need it desperately...

My front driveshaft that broke last year at PWIM was due to a manufacturing defect. When I called the aftermarket manufacturer they stated that they had a bad batch of parts come in and had since changed distributers but still had some of the defective units out there. I ended up with one.

DamageWagon wrote: ↑

Mon Feb 03, 2020 12:46 am

Haven’t seen one yet that works but I’ll be working on something now that I’ve got mounting more figured out. The 19+ trucks need it desperately...

Whats the difference with the new ones?

olyelr wrote:

DamageWagon wrote: ↑

Mon Feb 03, 2020 12:46 am

Haven’t seen one yet that works but I’ll be working on something now that I’ve got mounting more figured out. The 19+ trucks need it desperately...

Whats the difference with the new ones?

The axle castings are different, the driveshafts now have a balanced on both ends, and the rear one at the pinion is extremely exposed

I don’t know who is having all the problems with the drive line that warranted them to make a change... It must be some cost savings went awry, and now they need to fix a problem they generated. Much like the frame related changes that now require ATM modules

I think that is a cheap view of the new trucks. They’re making nice improvements, particularly in steering reliability, payload and NVH. They enlarged the rear axle tubes, made new axle castings front and rear, added a forged steel trackbar mount, changed transfer cases, etc.

It’s not that there’s a problem. Things can be done better, and it earns them business.

All these "nice improvements" are driving the price of these trucks up to rediculous levels. Everyone on here will agree that the price of the latest loaded Power Wagon is crazy and out of reach for many people.

Aside from the rear trackbar setup, most of the new model improvements don't align with the deficiencies that most people address shortly after buying their trucks... Wider wheels and larger tires, approach angle improvements, airbags for significant payload capacity, and better protection all over the place under the trucks.
Anybody build a driveline protection solution that works?

I think most people aren’t doing these things. Many people change tires. Beyond that, we are a rare and small group of people who change things like wheels, armor, bumpers, etc.

The price continues to go up, and sales support it. It’s done in unison between manufacturer and consumer.

DamageWagon wrote: ↑

Sun Feb 09, 2020 6:10 pm

I think that is a cheap view of the new trucks. They’re making nice improvements, particularly in steering reliability, payload and NVH. They enlarged the rear axle tubes, made new axle castings front and rear, added a forged steel trackbar mount, changed transfer cases, etc.

It’s not that there’s a problem. Things can be done better, and it earns them business.

are you thinking of the standard 2500? it has a new rear axle. the front appears to be the same however. pw axles appear to be unchanged, atleast from the exterior. although there is some kind of damper thing on the rear yoke. front drive shaft is new with larger diam and some kind of cv type of joint at the tcase side. tcase itself didnt seem different, other than how the front output connects to the driveshaft cv joint looking piece. ive read that some of the diesel versions got a new tcase . 44-48 or something like that. probly more heavy duty for the high output deisel

All 2500/3500 trucks have the changes underneath. Power wagons aren’t special variants.

New front axle casting, new rear axle casting, larger rear axle tubes, different diff cover patterns (existing diff guards won’t fit the new trucks), new transfer case, new Rzeppa front driveshaft, new rear driveshaft with dual dampers, new rear LSD system on the non-PW’s (I haven’t been able to confirm with any new PW owners of that system has changed as well). New radius arms on non-PW’s. I believe the standard 2500 now has new rear dual-rate coil springs.

hmm i was just at the dealer. nothing at all looks different about the 19+ pw axles that i could tell. ill have to go back and have a closer look i guess. subtle changes i suppose. i did easily notice the non pw models have a entirely new rear axle but the front didnt look any different , perhaps i over looked some subtle changes

If you look at the bottom of the front axle casting you can see the change. I.e. if you wanted to weld a truss on, I think it will not working with previous models. I haven’t spent much time examining those details on the front, I don’t know what else has changed there. Most of the front looks the same.

i seen the 4500 and 5500 got new 10.5 aam with cad in the front. ill head back to the dealer and have a look at the pw axles again.

cb1987 wrote:i seen the 4500 and 5500 got new 10.5 aam with cad in the front. ill head back to the dealer and have a look at the pw axles again.

Really?? That’s cool. The Magna axles they were using before were completely unlike any other Chrysler axles. Good luck if you wanted to upgrade them or even easily find repair parts. I haven’t seen the 10.5 AAM but I have to assume it’s at least a companion design to their other axles, and more accessible.

DamageWagon wrote: ↑

Sun Feb 16, 2020 6:28 pm

cb1987 wrote:i seen the 4500 and 5500 got new 10.5 aam with cad in the front. ill head back to the dealer and have a look at the pw axles again.

Really?? That’s cool. The Magna axles they were using before were completely unlike any other Chrysler axles. Good luck if you wanted to upgrade them or even easily find repair parts. I haven’t seen the 10.5 AAM but I have to assume it’s at least a companion design to their other axles, and more accessible.

The 3G 10.5 uses the axle shafts from the 11.5.

RustyPW wrote:

DamageWagon wrote: ↑

Sun Feb 16, 2020 6:28 pm

cb1987 wrote:i seen the 4500 and 5500 got new 10.5 aam with cad in the front. ill head back to the dealer and have a look at the pw axles again.

Really?? That’s cool. The Magna axles they were using before were completely unlike any other Chrysler axles. Good luck if you wanted to upgrade them or even easily find repair parts. I haven’t seen the 10.5 AAM but I have to assume it’s at least a companion design to their other axles, and more accessible.

The 3G 10.5 uses the axle shafts from the 11.5.

Discussing the new front axle

unfortunatly the new 10.5 front is the old 4link design. probly wide track also. be great if it could fit in the pw

I mean if you cut off the control arm brackets, pull, machine and re-press the tubes....

if a guy could find a new wrecked one in a junk yard and had fabrication skills. its one hell of a front axle thats for sure

DamageWagon wrote: ↑

Sun Feb 16, 2020 7:25 pm

RustyPW wrote:

DamageWagon wrote: ↑

Sun Feb 16, 2020 6:28 pm

cb1987 wrote:i seen the 4500 and 5500 got new 10.5 aam with cad in the front. ill head back to the dealer and have a look at the pw axles again.

Really?? That’s cool. The Magna axles they were using before were completely unlike any other Chrysler axles. Good luck if you wanted to upgrade them or even easily find repair parts. I haven’t seen the 10.5 AAM but I have to assume it’s at least a companion design to their other axles, and more accessible.

The 3G 10.5 uses the axle shafts from the 11.5.

Discussing the new front axle

I know. I should have added more to that post.

If the new front 10.5 has the same parts inside As the 3G rear. Carrier, bearing, gears, etc. Wonder if you could use the locker and the LSD in the front front 10.5.

Now, hopefully someone will make 5.13 gears for the 10.5.

the gears will be different as the fronts are likely reverse rotation and rears standard

DamageWagon wrote: ↑

Sun Feb 16, 2020 3:06 pm

All 2500/3500 trucks have the changes underneath. Power wagons aren’t special variants.

New front axle casting, new rear axle casting, larger rear axle tubes, different diff cover patterns (existing diff guards won’t fit the new trucks), new transfer case, new Rzeppa front driveshaft, new rear driveshaft with dual dampers, new rear LSD system on the non-PW’s (I haven’t been able to confirm with any new PW owners of that system has changed as well). New radius arms on non-PW’s. I believe the standard 2500 now has new rear dual-rate coil springs.

I don't think that the diff cover pattern changed. I have diff guards on my 2019...

Nater wrote:

DamageWagon wrote: ↑

Sun Feb 16, 2020 3:06 pm

All 2500/3500 trucks have the changes underneath. Power wagons aren’t special variants.

New front axle casting, new rear axle casting, larger rear axle tubes, different diff cover patterns (existing diff guards won’t fit the new trucks), new transfer case, new Rzeppa front driveshaft, new rear driveshaft with dual dampers, new rear LSD system on the non-PW’s (I haven’t been able to confirm with any new PW owners of that system has changed as well). New radius arms on non-PW’s. I believe the standard 2500 now has new rear dual-rate coil springs.

I don't think that the diff cover pattern changed. I have diff guards on my 2019...

After looking again I believe the front axle is entirely the same or has only a small change to CAD.

The rear axle is definitely different.

DamageWagon wrote: ↑

Sat Feb 29, 2020 8:11 pm

Nater wrote:

DamageWagon wrote: ↑

Sun Feb 16, 2020 3:06 pm

All 2500/3500 trucks have the changes underneath. Power wagons aren’t special variants.

New front axle casting, new rear axle casting, larger rear axle tubes, different diff cover patterns (existing diff guards won’t fit the new trucks), new transfer case, new Rzeppa front driveshaft, new rear driveshaft with dual dampers, new rear LSD system on the non-PW’s (I haven’t been able to confirm with any new PW owners of that system has changed as well). New radius arms on non-PW’s. I believe the standard 2500 now has new rear dual-rate coil springs.

I don't think that the diff cover pattern changed. I have diff guards on my 2019...

After looking again I believe the front axle is entirely the same or has only a small change to CAD.

The rear axle is definitely different.

Do you know what else changed on the Power Wagon rear axle? I have read about the possibility of a 34 spline pinion. I want swap out my gears to 4.56 when I get 37s. Trying to figure out if this is even possible. I changed the fluid in my 2019 rear diff and it used the same gasket part number as the previous AAM 11.5" axles.