Hi!

Been a while as my retirement in Florida has kept me off the highway. Towed 5K to Pa. and back and back on a hunting trip the last two weeks. Slamming in the rear differential tells the tale.

Local garage here tells me the "newer" models are tearing up rear ends due to flex in the whole rear axle housing. Never heard of that.

Mine is an '04 2500 with 81,000 miles on it. Out of warranty and I'm not complaining. Just putting out the information that I have a sore rear.
This will be my first repair.

A guy I ride snowmobiles with is haveing trouble with his dually also. I think that Dodge has replaced his rear diff. twice now. From what I hear the Gear Vendors (I think, but not sure) rears are not as durable as what the Dana's were.

The Dodges are using the same rear diffs as the GM Duramaxs now, aren't they.

My Dana 70 went out about a month or so ago. Just got it back together about 2wks ago, but it had 186k miles of hauling on it. It earned its keep. They arent cheap to replace though.

Eric

The Dodges are using the same rear diffs as the GM Duramaxs now, aren't they.

Same company, same ring gear size.....However, there are a few subtile differences....
Axle tubes don't taper down going into the carrier.
Completely different limited-slip unit.

Everything you guys wrote is correct as I have found out today. Everything was apart this afternoon and the gear set is fine. It turned out to be a front universal. That one rarely gives trouble and was not noticable until the shaft was removed. I had both universals replaced with ones that have grease fittings.

Big relief.