Well, it’s broken:(

[KWKSLVR]

I bet even @Pi Esq. woule recommend that you lawyer up.

 

[TNRamGuy]

Ram 1800 number suggested I go to another dealer, however all the ones I called here either said “that dealer is married to that truck, it’s two months old” or said they are booked 4-6 months out.

When I was in the service, my ship's lawyer loved helping with stuff like this, he said it broke up the monotony of dealing with E3's drunk in public charges and O1's claims of insubordination. You may want to check your commands options, good luck brother

 

[22Rebel_USCG]

When I was in the service, my ship's lawyer loved helping with stuff like this, he said it broke up the monotony of dealing with E3's drunk in public charges and O1's claims of insubordination. You may want to check your commands options, good luck brother

Yeah, I’m sending legal an email tomorrow morning. The big office is here in Boston for the North East so hopefully that speeds things along.

 

[bigdodge]

Ram 1800 number suggested I go to another dealer, however all the ones I called here either said “that dealer is married to that truck, it’s two months old” or said they are booked 4-6 months out.

has @RamCares said anything?


I'm not reading back 10 pages

 

[22Rebel_USCG]

has @RamCares said anything?


I'm not reading back 10 pages

Nothing yet, I sent them a PM a few days ago.

 

[Whiskeymike]

Story time everyone,
So I’m in New England, just south of Boston. Yesterday about midday, I decided that I’m going to the gym before the snow gets to bad and I actually have to shovel my truck out. (There’s about a foot in front of my driveway from the plows). So I start the ol’Rebel up for about 10 mins, slam some Pre Workout and it’s time. I put the truck into 4Low, lock the locker (because why not), then proceeded to inch forward; I feel resistance… give a little gas, she starts to crawl…. Then !!!POP**CLUNk**!!! I stop. Put it in reverse, the clunk gets worse! So I back her up back into my drive way. Proceed to shovel everything around the truck so I can crawl under… the Transfer case snap off the bolts and the front drive shaft is laying on the sway bar

Now the feeling of (my damn new truck is broken [1100 miles]) + a two scooper of Pre Workout is sitting in my dome piece… please sweet baby Jesus I hope the dealership doesn’t say I was doing dumb **** and broke it!!

You didn’t do anything wrong. I suspect that there was a hairline crack in the casting or bolts were over torqued causing crack and this was the first time it was under load. Consider yourself lucky you weren’t in the sticks when you tried it. Fortunately it should be a quick swap not accounting for supply chain problems.

Good luck with repairs. I suggest all new owners try it on on some wet grass/snow to be sires is okay before you need it. I’ve seen multiple posts about driveshaft/u joints. Transfer case connection failures posted here. Hopefully it’s not a common flaw.

 

[Ram_Roamer]

dont need to hire a lawyer. go here: https://www.mass.gov/how-to/file-a-consumer-complaint
Fill out the paperwork. Go to the Service Manager. And tell them to give you a written report why they are not covering the warranty work otherwise you file to the attorney general.

Continue to work with RAM care and contact their warranty to investigate the warranty claim from the dealer on their end. It's sad that dealers cant be trusted because warranty work is discounted for them and they dont want to do hard/costly repairs.

 

[TNRamGuy]

Yeah, I’m sending legal an email tomorrow morning. The big office is here in Boston for the North East so hopefully that speeds things along.

Have you tried "Planet" cdjr in Franklin, MA. I have had nothing but positive experiences with them.

 

[Seadoorxpguy]

Guide to New Car Lemon Law

www.mass.gov

You do not need to pay a lawyer for anything in Massachusetts. I've used this program before. Click the links on do what the guide says to do

 

[Ram_Roamer]

Guide to New Car Lemon Law

www.mass.gov

You do not need to pay a lawyer for anything in Massachusetts. I've used this program before. Click the links on do what the guide says to do

Lemon laws are for the issues after multiple attempts to repair. OP said dealer may not cover this under warranty. This doesn't mean the truck is a lemon. Looks more like an issue due to poor supplier quality which should definitely be covered under OEM warranty.

 

[1ramrunner]

Could something have happened before you purchased the truck? Like falling off the ramp when loading or unloading?
Seems like something precipitated this and maybe the cold weather made it fragile enough to actually fall apart.

 

[Seadoorxpguy]

They differ state by state. Ma lemon law and Connecticut are similar where if the vehicle is broken on the dealers lot for a certain number of days its considered a lemon
" If your car is out of service during repair attempts for 15 or more business days, that also meets the requirement, even if there aren’t 3 separate repair attempts"

 

[bigdodge]

from the lemon law link

"Please note: If your car is out of service during repair attempts for 15 or more business days, that also meets the requirement, even if there aren’t 3 separate repair attempts. Under this law, a business day is any day the service department of an authorized dealer is open for business."

got to be getting close to this date

a little over one more week to go

@22Rebel_USCG

 

[Shots]

I’m having a really hard time getting an actual reason why it’s not covered.

You need them to give you a statement, in writing, explaining why they will not fix it under warranty

This seems like the issue that is frustrating everyone the most. I know it would for me. The common response seems to be, "If you're not going to cover it, tell me why."
I'm sure they don't want to give you a specific reason because they don't want to give you something you can dispute, but they can't just say "no we don't want to" or "we don't think we should have to." They want you to file with your insurance instead of warranty, but there's no doubt the insurance company would want to know why you're filing with them instead of a warranty claim too.

As for insurance covering it without a crash. They actually cover claims all the time that aren't resulting from a crash. If it catches fire in the parking lot, the insurance would cover it. If the you're driving down the road and the wheel comes off destroying the fender they'll cover it (although this may be considered a crash even though you didn't run into anything). If it's parked in the driveway and a tree falls on it, they'll cover it. That last one I know from first hand experience.
There are probably a ton of other examples, but you don't necessarily have to crash for the insurance to repair/replace your vehicle. That said, if it's a manufacturer/material defect the insurance shouldn't have to cover it.

..... I suspect that there was a hairline crack in the casting or bolts were over torqued causing crack and this was the first time it was under load. ...

The way the fracture follows the threads up those two bolts certainly supports that hypothesis. Either over torqued or a casting/machining flaw amplified by the cold making the material more brittle. Put it under load and boom.

 

[Pi Esq.]

I bet even @Pi Esq. woule recommend that you lawyer up.

I see I've been summoned.

@22Rebel_USCG, here is my advice (this also goes to all others who end up having a similar issue). Let me first state, though, that while I am an exceptional lawyer, I'm not your lawyer, so this is not meant to be legal advice to anyone, just my personal opinion.

First things first, when something like this happens, it's best to keep your descriptions on a public forum to an absolute minimum. As some mentioned in the first few pages with regard to what you should say to a dealer, the same applies to any public forum. While your particular case, @22Rebel_USCG, is unlikely to get to the discovery stage of a lawsuit, posts in a public forum like this are absolutely discoverable, so anything anyone says could be used against you. This is especially true in a case like this where RamChat was summoned to this thread. The simple rule to remember here is: don't give details. I understand the desire to share details on the forum, but they need to be watered down. "Welp, guys, I was getting ready to go to the gym this morning and as I put the truck in drive to leave my driveway, I heard an awful clunk. I put the truck in park, jumped out, and noticed the front drive shaft lying on the ground." That's about as descriptive as you want to be, even if you did nothing wrong (which, IMHO, appears to be the case).

Second, to all the ASE Master Techs in this thread, you aren't doing the OP any good speculating as to what happened. Again, I get that this is a public forum and one of its main purposes is for lively discussion and debate, but when something this bad happens, without a physical inspection and metallurgical testing, there's no way anyone here can reasonably conclude what happened, at least not in any way that can help OP. Again, I know this will fall on deaf ears, as everyone here has an opinion they want to share, but I'd suggest keeping the posts and comments specific to what the outcome of this situation is (i.e., what has the dealer done, did a Lemon Law complaint get filed, etc.) and not what OP did or didn't do wrong.

Third, @22Rebel_USCG, if I were in your shoes, I'd check with base legal first (it looks like you may have already done this). While I never had occasion to deal with Coasties while I was in the Corps, I do know that the CG tends to attract the best lawyers because they offer a better training program, better rank (Coastie lawyers commission as 03's as opposed to 02's in the other services), and better career progression, so you should be in good hands. If base legal is unable to help, then read on.

Fourth, if base legal is unable to help, your best bet is to seek outside counsel. I did some digging around and called a lemon law attorney who was highly recommended to me after I asked around for a recommendation. I spoke with him and, unfortunately, he advised that your situation would not be covered under the Massachusetts Lemon Law because a prerequisite to liability under the law is that the dealer admit the issue is covered under warranty. So, to the extent you have to take legal action, you'd likely need to hire a products liability attorney to fight this issue. Unfortunately, given the low value of the claim, I don't see it being economically feasible to hire someone to fight over a $2,000 repair.

I recently hired a friend of mine from another firm to work for my firm. Before he came over to my firm, he represented FCA/Stellantis in numerous warranty/products liability cases. I pitched your situation to him and he had some ideas of avenues you can take to get this on track to resolution. Feel free to shoot me a PM and I'll be happy to walk you through what he recommends.

 

[KWKSLVR]

The great @Pi Esq. has spoken! And I have now learned more than I knew when I woke up this morning.

 

[RamCares]

Nothing yet, I sent them a PM a few days ago.

Hi,
We responded to your message, please take some time to review it and get back with us at your earliest convenience.

Rob
Ram Cares

 

[RamCares]

has @RamCares said anything?


I'm not reading back 10 pages

Thank you for the tag!

Rob
Ram Cares

 

[blazenlo]

This is honestly ridiculous you are going through so much trouble for warranty work! Not a good look for the brand.
Hopefully you are able to get your truck up and running soon. Also, Thank you for your service.

 

[BowDown]

from the lemon law link

"Please note: If your car is out of service during repair attempts for 15 or more business days, that also meets the requirement, even if there aren’t 3 separate repair attempts. Under this law, a business day is any day the service department of an authorized dealer is open for business."

got to be getting close to this date

a little over one more week to go

@22Rebel_USCG

But it's not out (of service) for a service attempt, they are refusing to warranty presumably claiming negligence.

I don't know think this qualifies as a lemon law case despite what many are saying