Thanks to Jackelop

[nw_bowhunter]

Hi everyone, just wanted to give a shout out to one of members "Jackelope", he saved me time and money on recent repairs to my Dodge Ram truck. Long story short, I took my truck to Les Schwab for a tire rotation and was told I had bad ball joints, wheel bearings and needed tires. Was looking at $3,000 plus in repairs. After contacting Josh he was able to get my truck repaired under warranty and I didn't need all the repairs that Les Schwab said was required. Thankful to the site for the resources and Josh's willingness to help me out. If you need help with your Dodge he is at Dodge of Kirkland. In my personal exp I have not found to many shops that would step up like this.

[Woodchuck]

I work at an "indie" shop and he has helped me out on several occasions with Chrysler related stuff. Good guy for an "internet cop" 

[MtnMuley]

 

[Huntboy]

Way to go, Josh.

[jackelope]

Thanks for the good words, Stuart and everyone else.... Happy to help out when I can.

 

[Caseyd]

Moved from Bellevue huh 

[jackelope]

Moved from Bellevue huh 

Yup.

[hawksfan75]

So, how do I convince Lithia that the 6" lift, new shocks and associated components really are OEM and should be covered under my warranty? heh...

Glad to see customer service alive and well. Good on ya.

[jackelope]

So, how do I convince Lithia that the 6" lift, new shocks and associated components really are OEM and should be covered under my warranty? heh...

Glad to see customer service alive and well. Good on ya.

They have to be able to prove that whatever failed was due to the modifications you made. Your warranty is not automatically affected just because you lifted it.

[Caseyd]

So, how do I convince Lithia that the 6" lift, new shocks and associated components really are OEM and should be covered under my warranty? heh...

Glad to see customer service alive and well. Good on ya.

They have to be able to prove that whatever failed was due to the modifications you made. Your warranty is not automatically affected just because you lifted it.

Seems like it would be pretty easy for them to "prove" that the aftermarket additions caused the problem 

Any idea on percentages of claims they turn down?

[jackelope]

So, how do I convince Lithia that the 6" lift, new shocks and associated components really are OEM and should be covered under my warranty? heh...

Glad to see customer service alive and well. Good on ya.

They have to be able to prove that whatever failed was due to the modifications you made. Your warranty is not automatically affected just because you lifted it.

Seems like it would be pretty easy for them to "prove" that the aftermarket additions caused the problem 

Any idea on percentages of claims they turn down?

"They" don't turn down any claims. The dealer does the turning down. I've done it maybe 3-5 times in the last 10 years or so. It goes something like this usually....and my most recent run in with this sort of thing.... "Sir I can't cover your cat convertor that is rattling under warranty because of the giant dent in the side of it from running over a rock in the trail you were wheeling on"... We have to turn in the parts when we make a warranty repair. When you turn in a cat convertor that was rattling and the side of it is caved in, the manufacturer will  charge that back to the dealership as a non-warrantable repair. Dealers have no responsibility to pay for the damage you cause to your vehicle so we don't cover that kind of thing under warranty. This does not happen very often. There's a ton of lifted Dodge trucks and Jeep Wranglers running around...if we were to void everyone's warranty because of a lift kit, we'd be pissing everyone off.

[Skyvalhunter]

  to Jackelope

[hawksfan75]

Sorry guys, I was being a smartass with my comments, heh. I was just having a bit of fun...

[MuleySniper]

Yup great guy! Saved me plenty of  a time or two.
MS

[kstrohn7]

I just put Wheels and Tires on my dodge. I also wanted Les Schwab to do an alignment so I took the truck back in for it. Within 6 minutes of dropping it off they called and told me that the front end was bad. Tie rods and traction bars where completelty shot. I can't believe this. It is and 05 diesel with 100k on it but all highway miles. It does have a leveling kit on it also. I can't feel it shake or anything when driving it. It drives the same as it did the day I drove it off the lot. Sounds like I should make a trip to Kirkland.

[jackelope]

I just put Wheels and Tires on my dodge. I also wanted Les Schwab to do an alignment so I took the truck back in for it. Within 6 minutes of dropping it off they called and told me that the front end was bad. Tie rods and traction bars where completelty shot. I can't believe this. It is and 05 diesel with 100k on it but all highway miles. It does have a leveling kit on it also. I can't feel it shake or anything when driving it. It drives the same as it did the day I drove it off the lot. Sounds like I should make a trip to Kirkland.

Just take it in to your local dealer and have them give you a second opinion or maybe get a hold of Woodchuck and see if he can look at it and give you an opinion. He's a lot closer to you than Kirkland. Schwabs likes to sell front end stuff. Tie rods and traction bars shot would be a new one for me. Usually it's ball joints. A lot of axle universal joints go bad on them too. Stuart's truck had 2 bad hubs. Levelling kit will have little effect on stuff if you ask me. You're in the right mileage zone for that stuff, regardless of how the truck was used. A big heavy duty truck with 100k miles on it will have some stuff that needs to be replaced now and then.

[Cap.Silver]

Great shout out ,I'm glad that someone is still honest and willing to go the extra mile  to help out . I do put many of free hours into my work for clients and never try to sell anyone anything they don't need . Way to go Jackelope 

[kstrohn7]

Thanks Jackalope. I had planned on getting a second opinion from the local dealer here.

[Rick]

 A lot of axle universal joints go bad on them too.

Been there. Took my Ram to Josh last year and he got them replaced under warranty even though my warranty was up.

The ball joints were in spec at the time,but weren't long for the world. U-joints and a short time later ball joints. All at just over 36,000 miles.

Dodge really needs to up their game for front end parts.