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Front Wheel Fell OFF!

T

Tom@seal beach

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Very sad, my daughter bought a 2020 Crew Cab Long Horn on my urging. She was driving last night, and the front suspension failed and the front wheel literally came off. It looks like the nut wasn't installed at the factory, failed or came off the upper ball joint. Then while driving into a driveway at a shopping center, the right front suspension separated from the top and bottom A-Arms and then sheard the bottom ball joint. Nothing holding the hub carriers on but the steering arm and the brake line. Now she's very worried about driving the truck and wants to turn it back in to the dealer. Anyone else have this issue? I'm also looking at buying a 5th Gen 1500.
1500 suspension failure.JPG1500 suspension failure 2.JPG
 
Last edited:
Bighorned said:
no issues here. looks like the nut came off the upper ball joint. This is NOT a common issue.
Click to expand...
Thank you! That's what I'm hoping to hear. My daughter needs some confidence now. Its a gorgeous truck and a great vehicle for her and her daughter but this freaked her out. I have a 2018 F-150 that I'm turning in shortly and I've been waiting for the new Eco-Diesel to be sorted. I'm glad to hear this isn't common.
 
I would hope that leading up to that failure there was a decent time with a heavy vibration.
 
After seeing myself what spec those ball joint nuts are torqued to at the factory, it's a miracle that this doesn't happen more often.

When I put my leveling kit in, I put my suspension hardware back together tighter. The factory settings are scary. Even on solid axle Jeeps they only use something like 25-30 ft/lbs on the castle nuts. Crazy. On my 2020 Ram, I could have removed the ball joint nut with a 1/8" drive ratchet and my left hand. I couldn't believe it.
 
Tom@seal beach said:
Very sad, my daughter bought a 2020 Crew Cab Long Horn on my urging. She was driving last night, and the front suspension failed and the front wheel literally came off. It looks like the nut failed or came off the upper ball joint, then while driving into a driveway at a shopping center the right front suspension separated from the top and bottom A-Arms and then sheard the bottom ball joint. Nothing holding the hub carriers on but the steering arm and the brake line. Now shes very worried about driving the truck and wants to turn it back in to the dealer. Anyone else have this issue? I'm also looking at buying a 5th Gen 1500.
Click to expand...

I am incredibly sorry to hear that this happened, @Tom@seal beach. This is not at all what we expect for our customers.

If you are addressing this with your Ram dealership, please be sure to follow up with us via private message. I would like to ensure that this is documented, as well as escalate your daughter's situation to a Case Manager which will provide the dealership and yourself with an individual who will review your concern, then assist you and the dealership in exhausting all available resources to have the concern addressed and resolved.

Mark
RamCares
 
ddharris said:
I would hope that leading up to that failure there was a decent time with a heavy vibration.
Click to expand...
Nothing...I asked the question was there any noise, clunking, anything. She said no. The just drove it back from Lake Havasu at 70-80 the whole way!
 
Interesting on a 98 durango, those nuts are like 65fl/lbs.
 
WXman said:
After seeing myself what spec those ball joint nuts are torqued to at the factory, it's a miracle that this doesn't happen more often.

When I put my leveling kit in, I put my suspension hardware back together tighter. The factory settings are scary. Even on solid axle Jeeps they only use something like 25-30 ft/lbs on the castle nuts. Crazy. On my 2020 Ram, I could have removed the ball joint nut with a 1/8" drive ratchet and my left hand. I couldn't believe it.
Click to expand...

Any pics you can provide on where we can check these ourselves?


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk Pro
 
So stupid to give a torque spec with + xxx degrees. Just give me the number and I’ll hit it. Good chart to have though, thanks Neurobit.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
 
Wow, thats crazy!!! I haven't looked at mine yet, don't they use cotter pins anymore?
 
I seriously doubt that the torque spec is the problem in this case. It's more likely that the cotter pin was either forgotten or wasn't fastened correctly. No way that nut is backing off if it's installed correctly. Castle nuts are a proven safety fastener for this application. Unless of course they aren't using castle nuts anymore. I guess I should take a look.
 
A lot of ball joints in newer vehicles don't use cotter pins anymore. They use prevailing torque nuts.
 
Bighorned said:
A lot of ball joints in newer vehicles don't use cotter pins anymore. They use prevailing torque nuts.
Click to expand...
You are correct. It seems to be the case here:
 

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