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Questioning related to aftermarket lift effecting power train warranty

deshon366

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I’m hearing conflicting info in reference to lift not installed by authorized ram/Dodge dealership or aftermarket ( non mopar lift) voiding out factory or extended Mopar warranties . Can anyone confirm factual info in reference to this?
 

deshon366

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Thank u sir, that’s a real honest and realistic answer
 

StuartV

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The bottom line is, they can make up any old reason to void your warranty and your only real recourse is to take them to court. You might win. You might not. Court is always a gamble, where only the lawyers are guaranteed to win.

They could say "your lift changed the driveshaft angle to the transmission, creating extra stress. You powertrain warranty is void." It could be complete BS. But, the only way to fight it, really, is to go to court. And when the testimony comes down to whether the lift really did create extra stress, who is the judge going to believe? You? Or the manufacturer's engineers that come and testify? The only real chance of winning would be if the manufacturer of the lift jumped in and testified on your behalf. Which I reckon is very unlikely in the first place. And even if they do, I don't see the judge believing them over the manufacturer.

Personally, I paid for a Mopar extended warranty. No way I'd give them any reason to void my warranty.

That said, any Mopar accessory, installed by a Dodge/Ram/Mopar dealer is automatically covered by the factory warranty. With my warranty, if I decided I wanted a lift, I would only consider getting a Mopar one and having a dealer install it.
 

beachbunny

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AEV told me about the "magnesson law" , something along those lines which would back an owner up. I never looked into it.
 

jabara572

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I think it would be hard to deny an engine or transmission warrenty, but transfer case, driveshafts, axles, control arms, steering, pretty much the entire rest of the suspension pretty much goes out the window and you better be prepared to fix them yourself.
 

jabara572

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Or.... do a simple spacer level and keep your stock parts so you can change it back if anything goes wrong is probably the best answer...
 

rah6887

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I wonder if a 2" ReadyLift leveling kit with UCA's void the warranty
 

StuartV

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AEV told me about the "magnesson law" , something along those lines which would back an owner up. I never looked into it.

The Magnuson-Moss Act is what offers us protection. It is what says that, for example, I can use an aftermarket oil filter and, as long as it meets the manufacturer's specs for oil filters, the manufacturer cannot void my warranty because I didn't use an OEM oil filter.

The key is that you have to be using parts that meet the manufacturer's specifications. That is pretty simple to do for things like oil and air filters, wheels, brake pads, brake fluid, coolant, etc..

What some people seem to want to stick their head in the sand about is if you replace something in your suspension with a part that makes the vehicle sit higher (just for example) you have now replaced parts with new parts that DO NOT meet the manufacturer's specs. At that point, you no longer have any real protection from the Magnuson-Moss Act.

Further, the MMA sounds good on paper. But, in reality, the manufacturer absolutely CAN say "you put on a shock absorber that has a different damping rate than the factory dampers. Your warranty for suspension is void." At that point, what MMA does for you is it affords you the ability to get a lawyer and file a lawsuit, on your own dime, where IF you can prove that the shock absorber you used does meet the manufacturer's specs, THEN you can get the court to compel the manufacturer to honor your warranty. I do not know if you can also sue to get attorney's and court fees reimbursed as part of that. Probably, but not sure. I am not a lawyer.

Now, if it was an oil filter and that happened, most likely the aftermarket filter manufacturer would step up and represent you. They don't want it to become known in the marketplace that using their filter can get your warranty voided. But, for something like a suspension lift? Please show me a lift kit maker that will commit to representing you in court, in a MMA case, after the vehicle manufacturer voids your warranty.

I think it would be hard to deny an engine or transmission warrenty, but transfer case, driveshafts, axles, control arms, steering, pretty much the entire rest of the suspension pretty much goes out the window and you better be prepared to fix them yourself.

As described above. It is trivially easy for them to deny ANY warranty claim. They just click on "Denied" in their computer. After that, it is on you to take them to court and make them change their mind. Obviously, they are not going to deny claims that are completely and obviously ridiculous. But, if they can make any plausible argument for how your modification had some effect on the engine or transmission, I would not count on them honoring the warranty. Maybe they will. I suspect it has a lot to do with the dealer you are working with and the regional technical rep that the dealer is working with.

True story: I put Bilstein adjustable shocks on the front of my '09 1500, Bilstein non-adjustable shocks on the rear, and 1.5" spacers on the rear, to raise my truck 1.5" and level it out. The front shocks were adjustable between 5 height settings. Initially, I had them at their highest. The lowest 2 height settings were the same as stock regular '09 and (slightly higher) stock '09 TRX.

My truck had the front end shimmy that you may or may not be familiar with. I.e. put it in 4WD and accelerate hard on flat, straight, smooth pavement and you could easily feel and see a shake in the steering wheel.

I lowered the front back down to stock and took the spacers out. It still had the shimmy. I took it to my local Dodge dealer and said "it has this shimmy, blah blah blah." At first, they were going to do something about it under warranty. Then they came back and said "sorry. You have aftermarket shocks. We can't do anything under warranty for you. Those shocks are adjustable, so they do not meet manufacturer's specs." So, even though my truck was the stock height, the fact that the shocks COULD be set up taller was their basis for denying a warranty claim. Maybe I could have taken them to court and won, but obviously I didn't bother.
 
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