Rear Ended 3 Months old.

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SRT Racing

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RAM Tail Gate.jpg RAM Rear End.jpg Purchased my 2019 Ram 1500 Laramie in December of 2018. We're snowbirds and drove it down (1300 miles) to our winter home in Saint Petersburg Florida. One month later while sitting to make a right hand turn a pinhead, in another 2016 RAM slams into the rear end of my truck. Needless to say my wife had to restrain me from getting out until I had calmed down. He claimed his foot slipped off of the brake pedal as his foot was wet from the car wash he was just at. I'm sure if I had looked up into the rear mirror I would have seen a cell phone in his hand. The good thing he had State Farm insurance and they took full responsibility. When we got back to Connecticut I took it to a very reputable repair shop who did a great job on it. The damage was mostly the rear bumper, Hitch, black valance and underside brackets. The tail gate had a small wide scratch on it, so the tail gate was repainted. Now the issue we are trying to resolve and my question to other 2019 RAM OWNERS: When I looked at the rear end I noticed there was a difference when you compared the right side to the left side gap between the bottom edge of the tail gate and the black valance. There are no adjustments for any of the underside attachments, i.e. bumper, hitch or valance. Everything is straight through bolts into the frame. You can see the difference in the picture when you look under the Laramie wording compared to the gap under the 4X4 lettering.

The other issue I noted was in the tailgate straps. You can see in the picture the one on the right side is tight with no slack in it, the one on the left has slack in it. I don't know if that is common in all the 2019's, but I doubt it. My question is, is it?

The shop and I have gone over everything tooth and nail and can't anything as of yet that would cause this. I went to a local dealer to check the gap between the bottom end of the tail gate and the valance and they are square right across, no gap difference.

The shop and I agreed, per my request to have the frame end sections squared and triangulated with their laser equipment.

I'm also wondering if this is a factory anomaly as I seen a back end pic on the net of a 2019 1500 Laramie back end advertising shot and seen the same condition.
 
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crazykid1994

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My 2017 the tailgate sits ever so slightly canted. Can’t tell unless you know or have eagle eyes. Also my tailgate cables one of them fits loose but the other is tight. No accidents ever. I’ve seen a few trucks tailgates that seem to be ever so slightly canted. Not just rams.
 

RAMVT

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My 5th gen has one tight tailgate strap and one with slack. I asked the dealer about it a month after I bought it. Walked the lot and every RAM they had, had the same thing. To me that seems like such an oversight but oh well.
 

Jus Cruisin

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My 5th gen has one tight tailgate strap and one with slack. I asked the dealer about it a month after I bought it. Walked the lot and every RAM they had, had the same thing. To me that seems like such an oversight but oh well.
That's not a Ram issue. Ford, Chevy, GMC are all the same.
 
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SRT Racing

SRT Racing

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That's not a Ram issue. Ford, Chevy, GMC are all the same.
That's strange, I went down to my local dealer and they brought up an exact model and color as mine and parked it next to mine and there is a difference. I would expect mine to look just like this. Any other 2019 RAM owners out here? Would like to hear from them. Tail Gate.jpg Tail Gate 2.jpg
 

JohnnyMac

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For future note to self....A big ass tow hitch on the back of the truck slows a lot of things down before they do too much damage. I got rear-ended twice in one week with my 2000 Ram and both times the little sedans that hit me got their front end waxed and I only lost a little paint off my hitch and a scratch on the bumper. Granted the 16 Ram was probably taller, but never know.
 

chrisbh17

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For future note to self....A big ass tow hitch on the back of the truck slows a lot of things down before they do too much damage. I got rear-ended twice in one week with my 2000 Ram and both times the little sedans that hit me got their front end waxed and I only lost a little paint off my hitch and a scratch on the bumper. Granted the 16 Ram was probably taller, but never know.

I thought that, too, but someone I know that works at a body shop says the hitch will bend downwards, bending other things with it.

My truck was rear-ended at the end of March, $3K worth of damage and 2 weeks to fix. The most expensive thing were the bumper, exhaust pipe (with resonator), exhaust tip and a replacement hitch.
 

madtrucker2016

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View attachment 166383 View attachment 166384 Purchased my 2019 Ram 1500 Laramie in December of 2018. We're snowbirds and drove it down (1300 miles) to our winter home in Saint Petersburg Florida. One month later while sitting to make a right hand turn a pinhead, in another 2016 RAM slams into the rear end of my truck. Needless to say my wife had to restrain me from getting out until I had calmed down. He claimed his foot slipped off of the brake pedal as his foot was wet from the car wash he was just at. I'm sure if I had looked up into the rear mirror I would have seen a cell phone in his hand. The good thing he had State Farm insurance and they took full responsibility. When we got back to Connecticut I took it to a very reputable repair shop who did a great job on it. The damage was mostly the rear bumper, Hitch, black valance and underside brackets. The tail gate had a small wide scratch on it, so the tail gate was repainted. Now the issue we are trying to resolve and my question to other 2019 RAM OWNERS: When I looked at the rear end I noticed there was a difference when you compared the right side to the left side gap between the bottom edge of the tail gate and the black valance. There are no adjustments for any of the underside attachments, i.e. bumper, hitch or valance. Everything is straight through bolts into the frame. You can see the difference in the picture when you look under the Laramie wording compared to the gap under the 4X4 lettering.

The other issue I noted was in the tailgate straps. You can see in the picture the one on the right side is tight with no slack in it, the one on the left has slack in it. I don't know if that is common in all the 2019's, but I doubt it. My question is, is it?

The shop and I have gone over everything tooth and nail and can't anything as of yet that would cause this. I went to a local dealer to check the gap between the bottom end of the tail gate and the valance and they are square right across, no gap difference.

The shop and I agreed, per my request to have the frame end sections squared and triangulated with their laser equipment.

I'm also wondering if this is a factory anomaly as I seen a back end pic on the net of a 2019 1500 Laramie back end advertising shot and seen the same condition.


looks like the right side is down from the bottom of the tailgate to the top of the bumper, Maybe the rails are bent on the right side up that's what holds the bumper to the vehicle
 

chrisbh17

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FYI, wouldnt you know literally 30 minutes after my post yesterday (talking about how I was rear ended and the bumper, etc was the most expensive part), I backed into a fairly hidden piece of trim on a super cramped parking lot. Denting my one month old rear bumper.

Ugh.
 

madtrucker2016

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FYI, wouldnt you know literally 30 minutes after my post yesterday (talking about how I was rear ended and the bumper, etc was the most expensive part), I backed into a fairly hidden piece of trim on a super cramped parking lot. Denting my one month old rear bumper.

Ugh.


dame that hurts
 

JohnnyMac

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Well, you got the new off it now. It won't feel as bad when you fly down a muddy trail with tree branches bouncing off the side of the truck...... :bawl:
 

17CrewCab1500

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For future note to self....A big ass tow hitch on the back of the truck slows a lot of things down before they do too much damage. I got rear-ended twice in one week with my 2000 Ram and both times the little sedans that hit me got their front end waxed and I only lost a little paint off my hitch and a scratch on the bumper. Granted the 16 Ram was probably taller, but never know.

I worked at a body shop for years. This is not the case. It actually creates a center impact zone and acts as a leverage and bends the frames. See it ALL the time.
I got rearened not too long ago, I had been towing a trailer around. I pulled it out that morning. I got hit at 35mph - no brakes from him. My truck needed a new bumper and exhaust tips. Wouldn't have been that way with a hitch.
 

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