Dodge truck reliability ramblings

I've noticed that throughout my 19 years with this truck I've heard a lot of people complain about Dodge pickups placing them last among the American manufacturers. My retired mechanic friend who used to work for AT&T in the 80's when they had a fleet of Dodge trucks tells surprisingly bad design and reliability stories. When he talks about servicing these trucks I'm reminded about the GM 5.7 diesel based on a gasoline design and how long-lasting such mistakes can be to the reputation of a company or product. But more recently the same sentiments have come from assorted independent mechanics whose breadth of experience compels me to think it true.

At first I think I felt defended by these comments in part because my '04 CTD has been so reliable. This reliability has come in part because of a good design and build of truck. But even more important I think are the individual systems like engine, transmission and the era of truck which although not mechanical is more mechanical than these days. Lastly and perhaps most important is maintenance. A well maintained inferior product ( as long as not faulty ) seems to last longer than a poorly maintained superior product to my aging eye.

But I don't need to be convinced that Dodge or any particular brand is the best. Such fealty seems misguided in an age when most companies seem more beholding to shareholders than stakeholders. Further evidence of their lack of commitment to quality comes in how they treat their assembly workers with the average hourly being somewhere around $15 for Ford who seems to pay the most.

Is there still a discernible difference in quality and who gets the nod ? Are modern trucks more or less reliable ? Other ramblings ?

 

Quality improved dramatically when Daimler took the lead of Chrysler.
The whole lineup of cars and trucks went much better within just a couple years.

That's why it was such a huge step forward from the 2nd Gen to the 3rd Gen.

 

X2 on what @Ozymandias has said! I had gotten the first Gen Dodge Caliber that came out after Daimler was in the lead. It was a great car with no major issues. You could see the Daimler influence they had on the design. Wish we still had the car, sadly at 225K, someone pulled out in front of my son at 50 MPH! He and his buddy were coming back from airport at school and both walk away with just some airbag trauma. Very lucky considering!!

 

My gripe about my 04. Bigger tires means front end work on a regular basis. I run Toyo 35s. Other gripe is at highway speeds the doors open slightly and I get wind noise.
The heat/ ac door controls are junk.
3 years ago I dropped a valve seat and had to do a 15k rebuild. But that's partially my fault. Running 600hp 1200 tq.

 

My only real compliant is where the end users sit and operate.

The interiors are appalling and the electronics are also a weak point. My dash looks like the recent aftermath of trench warfare, all my blend doors have been dead since I got my 03 in 2019 with 207K on it (252K Currently), Radio only shows the clock, over head computer stuck on temperature, Driver seat is on springs, etc. I could go on.

But my only criteria for this truck when I bought it was the HO 305/555 and a 4x4 NV5600, everything else was a minor concern. If I could swap the body with my 91' Accord SE I would, you wouldn't believe its nearly twice as old with a better holding interior, sun roof works, windows work, rear defrost, radio with power antenna, cruise control, no rips or tears in the leather, seats not sagging, no wind noise, etc.

I'm still waiting to scoop up a deal on a 4th gen leather interior to swap out at some point; if 3D printing gets any better and someone makes a manual bracket kit to swap a Ford King Ranch interior I'd jump on it no question.

 

My dash has held up well. I put an aftermarket radio in 15 years ago. Power door locks are failing. I do t think the interior is all that bad. I like the storage between the seats.

 

That seems awful low wage for a UAW plant worker. I know when I was at Cat the average wage for a factory worker was over $18.00 an hour plus benefits such as health ins, vacation time off plus y time (personal time off) and retirement pay. This was in the early 2,000 time period.

The current wage average is $23.00 an hour plus benefits, plus a $6,000 signing bonus when the new contract is signed this year with a 27% wage increase over 6 years of the contract, first year is 7% and then 4% each year after that. The highest salary for a skilled trade worker is $47 an hour currently.

I would thing the big three auto manufacturers would have similar contract wages and benefits.

 

I thought so as well. Looking at it again a distinction needs to be made "in-progression" & temporary and the rest of wage classes. But for "in-progression" & temporary they start at $17 as of the last Ford publication I could find which is 2019

https://media.ford.com/content/dam/...2019/07/uawford/uaw-ford-media-fact-guide.pdf

My truck was assembled in Saltillo Mexico and I don't know about the wages there although I do know the reason companies moved to Mexico was to save money so I have to imagine the hourly is less.

 

Well and the build quality is better in Mx the in the US. Sorry to say that.

 

I have friends and family with GM, Ford and Ram. All seem to have their quirks and areas where quality could have been done better.
I have the last of the 3rd Gen 2009 truck. Of course the truck has had some issues which have been corrected along the way. I work hard at keeping things well maintained.
Quality issues:
- ball joints and track bar - replaced with top grade after market parts along with a proper Thuren alignment spec - I actually like driving the truck now.
- transmission - no real troubles yet but constant need for it to upshift and non-refinement makes me think it could have been engineered better. I have Jeep vehicles with the 545 RFE and 65 RFE transmissions and the driveability of these transmissions are so much better. I have ridden in my nephews GM truck with Allison transmission - it shifts so much better.
AAM axles - I have another pinion seal starting to seep. I think I have had 2 replaced already. The truck has 120k miles.
Seats - the seat frames were never painted from the factory. I took the seats out and painted the frames as the carpet was starting to get stained. I also replaced the seat foam. I caught this in time before the seat material wore out.
- emissions - not ready for prime time. The truck went through turbo's every 40k miles. I went through two and finally made some changes. It was probably the actuator that went bad but back then you had to buy a new turbo to fix the problem.

My brother had a 2012 Ram which was recently traded on a 2020 Ram. Quality was better on the 2012 in every way except it had emissions problems and electrical connector problems with the headlights. So far the 2020 Ram sets the bar much higher.

In summary of my opinion I think that Dodge Ram has a deservedly bad rap due to their lack of refinement in the transmission department. A truck in stock form shouldn't need a specialty shop to make a 47, 48 or 68 a respectable transmission - a tale of mediocrity. I think the rest of the truck is pretty good.