Recall R59 - Rear Axle Shaft

johnj · Nov 23, 2015

Hey, everyone. I was on the Ram Owner's site yesterday and found a recall on my Rebel.

The R59 recall is for the rear axles, 1500s born between June and Sep of 2015. Apparently a supplier didn't heat treat some of them and they're prone to failure. It can cause excess wear on the axle, and damage to both the axle and the housing. Or worse.

I called the local dealership this morning and made an appointment for tomorrow. They said it would take about half an hour to inspect the axle shaft to determine if it needs replacement. Replacement could take another half hour. If the damage is bad enough, they might have to replace the entire axle, which is an hour or more. They have the replacement axle shaft in stock, but not the entire axle assembly.

Better to find out now and get it fixed sooner than wait for paper info to arrive. Earlier fix means reduced chance for larger repair and delays.

All of you should check the site to see if your truck is affected. You can also call your dealer and give them the last 8 digits of your VIN, and they can tell you if your truck's affected by the recall.

Chrysler Recall #
R59

NHTSA Recall #
15V-661

Safety Defect/Non Compliance Description and Safety Risk
THE LEFT AXLE SHAFT MAY NOT HAVE BEEN HEAT TREATED PROPERLY AT THE AXLE SHAFT BEARING JOURNAL. AN IMPROPERLY HEAT TREATED AXLE SHAFT MAY CAUSE THE BEARING TO CREATE A GRINDING NOISE DURING OPERATION, ILLUMINATE THE ANTI LOCK BRAKE SYSTEM (ABS) WARNING LAMP AND EVENTUALLY AN AXLE SHAFT FRACTURE. IF THE AXLE SHAFT FRACTURES, WHEEL SEPARATION FROM THE VEHICLE MAY OCCUR. THIS COULD CAUSE A CRASH WITHOUT WARNING, INJURE PEDESTRIANS AND/OR DAMAGE PROPERTY.

Repair Description
THE LEFT REAR AXLE SHAFT MUST BE INSPECTED ON ALL INVOLVED VEHICLES. VEHICLES FOUND WITH A SUSPECT AXLE SHAFT, BUT NOT A FAILED AXLE SHAFT, WILL HAVE THE AXLE SHAFT REPLACED.IF THE REAR AXLE INSPECTION DETERMINES THAT THE AXLE SHAFT HAS FAILED, THE REAR AXLE ASSEMBLY MUST BE REPLACED.

https://www.chrysler.com/universal/webselfservice/pdf/R59.pdf

lmeavtitn · Nov 24, 2015

Well that's awesome. This will be the 4th time my truck has been in for recall work since I've owned it.

seeareeff · Nov 24, 2015

lmeavtitn said:
Well that's awesome. This will be the 4th time my truck has been in for recall work since I've owned it.

What recalls have you had done? I've only heard of the navigation one until now.

Jrod250 · Nov 24, 2015

My truck goes in tomorrow morning. I went back and forth buying another Chrysler product exactly because of all the recalls. My wife's 13 grand Cherokee had 100,000,000,000 recalls. Maybe more. It gets annoying

johnj · Nov 24, 2015

Update: Called by the dealer this morning. Service says that they don't have all the parts on hand and that they'll reschedule. Guy said that the recall requires that some small parts be replaced, too, and they're back ordered on some of them.

I'm not worried about recalls. Almost every vehicle I've owned in the past 2 decades has been subject to a few recalls. And they weren't all Dodge/Ram. I'm more worried about not having a recall on parts that they know could fail and are a safety hazard.

Jrod250 · Nov 24, 2015

johnj said:
Update: Called by the dealer this morning. Service says that they don't have all the parts on hand and that they'll reschedule. Guy said that the recall requires that some small parts be replaced, too, and they're back ordered on some of them.

I'm not worried about recalls. Almost every vehicle I've owned in the past 2 decades has been subject to a few recalls. And they weren't all Dodge/Ram. I'm more worried about not having a recall on parts that they know could fail and are a safety hazard.

A recall or 2 is one thing, but my last Chrysler products were in need of s recall every month. Plus you get a letter saying there's a recall but the parts won't be avail for months and months

Arkhams Finest · Nov 24, 2015

I called the dealership and they told me that they had to get the parts in as well, might take a week or so. No biggie, it is what it is, what can you do. I'm glad that they know about it and are going to take care of it instead of not letting us know about it.

lmeavtitn · Nov 24, 2015

seeareeff said:
What recalls have you had done? I've only heard of the navigation one until now.

I guess only 2 recalls but my truck has been in for a lot of warranty work...

Update to the uconnect so it can't be "hacked" and the air bag recall. My new truck also had to be repainted because there was metal exposed on the door jams, paint runs, and the paint line wasn't clean on the bottom of my truck (my truck is bi-tone). My truck was also leaking through the 3rd brake light and the headliner was getting wet.

It was a total of 3 weeks that it was in the shop and I've only had it for 4 months.

Oh...and they also had to replace the center console because the lid on my original one was hard to open.

johnj · Nov 24, 2015

Glad, too. I can understand them sometimes having trouble getting parts when a recall impacts some 66,000 trucks. They produced ~225,000 trucks in 2013 and ~270,000 in 2014. 66,000 is 1/4 of a year's production. So their supplier for the parts has to come up with an additional 25% of a year's production of each needed part, all while continuing to supply enough for the truck production lines. It would be a bad business decision to wait until you have all the parts for that many vehicles on hand before you announce the recall.

And my dealer's service guy thought he had all the parts on hand. He said that some small parts are required even for the inspection. They replace those if they open it up for inspection, even if they don't have to replace the axle shaft. Guessing that a seal is the most likely part he could be talking about, but I didn't ask for more details.

TheGreatRam · Nov 24, 2015

Knew recalls were going to happen but not a laundry list of issues like yours.

johnj · Nov 24, 2015

I didn't realize there was already a thread on this recall. I searched for threads on the recall number before starting a new thread.

http://www.ramrebelforum.com/forum/...cussion/3249-ram-recall-2015-2016-models.html

RAMageddon · Nov 24, 2015

Would be great if the admin or someone can make a list of all the recalls that has happened along with updating it with current recalls as they happen.

Jrod250 · Nov 25, 2015

Just got mine back from the dealer

johnj · Nov 25, 2015

Hmm. No seal replaced, but they did use sealant. And lots of small pieces. Thanks for sharing.

Jrod250 · Nov 25, 2015

johnj said:
Hmm. No seal replaced, but they did use sealant. And lots of small pieces. Thanks for sharing.

They used red RTV.

sambo32 · Nov 26, 2015

So the shaft axle was replaced, how long did it take them to complete the recall.

Jrod250 · Nov 26, 2015

sambo32 said:
So the shaft axle was replaced, how long did it take them to complete the recall.

I can't say for sure. I'm friends with the owner so he gave me a truck to take while it was being done. My appointment was for 7:30am and they called me at noon and said it was done. I don't know when they actually took it in. In the morning I'll check my receipt and see if it shows the hours

CoastieRebel · Nov 28, 2015

My axle recall notice said the work would take between 1.5 and 4.5 hours depending on what has to be replaced. Does the dealer give you a loaner? Has anyone had this done yet?

Jrod250 · Nov 28, 2015

CoastieRebel said:
My axle recall notice said the work would take between 1.5 and 4.5 hours depending on what has to be replaced. Does the dealer give you a loaner? Has anyone had this done yet?

Scroll up the page.

CoastieRebel · Nov 28, 2015

Yeah, was responding to the wrong page.

Recall R59 - Rear Axle Shaft

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