Easter Egg from the Line Worker Building Our Truck?

[rgashton]

I was installing a front and rear dash cam (A129 Duo) into my dad's 2019 Ram and noticed an interesting little detail welded into the frame.

It appears to be a metal disc or coin that has been welded onto the frame behind both corner/side dash panels. The discs or coins have the Christian Ichthys (fish) symbol stamped into it along with 8.8 underneath it. I'm not sure if the 8.8 is supposed to be part of the symbol like it's supposed to refer to a bible verse or if it's just a metal strength indicator (grade 8 or tensile strength?)

I know Dodge likes their Easter eggs and even made religious commercials in the past,

"God Made a Farmer". So I'm wondering if this little detail is placed on all trucks or if maybe just this one line worker who built this part of the truck added it by themselves (personally?)

Either way, I think it's pretty cool and a nice touch, even though the majority of people who buy these trucks may never even see it.

What do you guys think? Has anyone else found this on their trucks?

 

[TruckDriver]

I'm refreshing this thread just to read the replies - @rgashton you've got me reading deep into religious symbolism today, what an interesting rabbit hole hah.

I'd hope the 8.8 stands for the grade of metal as there's a another side to '88' as symbolism goes and I'd rather not tread that conversation.

I'll be peeking into the dash today to see if something similar exists! it does look almost DIY compared to other welds found on interior brackets but then again, it could just be the way the supplier of the steel stamped their product as well (that's where my bet is)

 

[cotonymopar]

I have the same thing

 

[TruckDriver]

I have the same thing

I'm thinking it has to be the way the supplier stamped their steel

 

[cotonymopar]

I'm thinking it has to be the way the supplier stamped their steel

interesting that is it a circle piece tack welded to it...

 

[ramhead]

I'm thinking it has to be the way the supplier stamped their steel

Exactly.....how would it work with an unauthorized "Easter Egg" type deal anyway?.....a worker would have to take time out of his assigned purpose on the line to weld in an unapproved symbol/disc onto 2 sides of the truck. Also, where would he keep these metal discs...in his pockets? He'd also be risking someone else or a supervisor noticing him doing it and could get in trouble for adding in an unapproved item/performing an unauthorized action. Or are you saying it's an official FCA thing? - Highly doubt that...they'd have to outsource a supplier for the discs at a cost and then have to have a worker waste valuable time/resources on a hidden message.....not gonna happen - EVERYTHING today on an assembly line is thought out and calculated to it's speed and each individual worker's specific task.

 

[rgashton]

Exactly.....how would it work with an unauthorized "Easter Egg" type deal anyway?.....a worker would have to take time out of his assigned purpose on the line to weld in an unapproved symbol/disc onto 2 sides of the truck. Also, where would he keep these metal discs...in his pockets? He'd also be risking someone else or a supervisor noticing him doing it and could get in trouble for adding in an unapproved item/performing an unauthorized action. Or are you saying it's an official FCA thing? - Highly doubt that...they'd have to outsource a supplier for the discs at a cost and then have to have a worker waste valuable time/resources on a hidden message.....not gonna happen - EVERYTHING today on an assembly line is thought out and calculated to it's speed and each individual worker's specific task.

That's cool that @cotonymopar has the same thing. Maybe all Rams have these? I guess it makes sense that one person would not be secretly welding these discs onto the trucks they build. I imagine it would take a lot of extra time to do this on both sides, relatively speaking.

@ramhead, so you're thinking it was placed there by the manufacturer of that particular stamped out/welded together frame piece(s)? I would have thought that FCA purchases the blank steel and then stamps out their own pieces, from flats. Does FCA buy these frame pieces and shells already made from other suppliers/companies?

Even if it's from a different company, and not from FCA, I think it's a cool little Easter egg. They could have simply used their company name, but decided to use just the fish symbol.

I wonder if @RamCares will chime in with an official response

 

[mike_ct]

I think that ‘disc’ is actually the head of a 1” alignment pin, that fits into a hole in the body, and helps support and align the dash before the 3 bolts go in. At least that’s how it was on a 4th gen.

 

[RodRow]

TBH, it matters not to me why it’s there...I dig It!

 

[deanfx]

If my truck has this, I'm a Ram fan for life. That's awesome. Any personalization is awesome.

 

[Ram92131]

This thread reminds me of people who see the Virgin Mary in a grease stained paper plate and call it an omen.

This is either a weld bolt/ stud or a pin for alignment of another part as a poster mentioned above. The 8.8 indicates a metric grade bolt, roughly equivalent to a SAE grade 5. The fish symbol is the registered symbol that identifies what manufacturer made it.

Read all about it here: https://wilsongarner.com/bolt-screw-head-markings-and-what-they-mean/

And also here: https://www.hemmings.com/blog/2013/11/22/tech-101-identifying-and-replacing-automotive-hardware/

 

[ac1dd]

. The fish symbol is the registered symbol that identifies what manufacturer made it.

Even if that is the symbol that the vendor chose to use, the symbol IS commonly associated with Christ.
Since this is not visible to the typical customer I see no issues with it at all.

 

[Loves2Run]

Refresh of this thread.

I noticed this on my 2023 Ram Rebel, it's the same exact disc. I'm totally cool with it

 

[OldMarine]

it's a brake-moan module...

 

[MannyN]

it's a brake-moan module...

Na, it's just a plug to stop the water leak.