New 2500 Tradesman with clunk/rattle

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colby81888

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Turned out being the adapter in my hitch. Easy fix since this thread did all of my trouble shooting.

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Tim G 2019

Tim G 2019

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Turned out being the adapter in my hitch. Easy fix since this thread did all of my trouble shooting.

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That's great - glad it's"fixed". Lots of great folks in here.
 

ETX Ram

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Tim - late in posting this due to being behind in my reading, but great news to hear that FCA engineers and the dealership came through in getting the rattle noise in your new truck resolved. Regret you had to become their guinea pig for trial and error, but you hung tough like a champ. Congrats on the "new" quiet ride. Good thing you held off on the exhaust system upgrade or the electronic ears may not have been nearly as effective. LOL Is the new exhaust continuing to mellow out?

Lee
 
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Tim G 2019

Tim G 2019

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Lee - the exhaust is great. I really enjoy driving it and ot sounds really mean. Loving it. I did hold off on putting the louder muffler on cause i didn't want any crap about that being involved in my noise problem. I went and shook hands with the service manger and revised my review of the service dept since they decided to stick with it until fixed. Just answered another post on here where another owner got his problem corrected based on info on this thread. That's fantastic and it's the strength of forums like this. Really great people on here!
 
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Tim G 2019

Tim G 2019

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I'm thinking all of us who have brought it to their attention may result in the engineers making some changes for later years models. Hope so.
 

olyelr

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I foresee a big recall on this in the near future.

Glad they got it figured out for you! Great job sticking with it and not loosing your cool.
 

JD Mark

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I foresee a big recall on this in the near future.

Glad they got it figured out for you! Great job sticking with it and not loosing your cool.

Nah, it'll be an unannounced TSB. If someone comes in with the problem, they will (might) fix it. Otherwise they'll just hope people live with it.
 
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Tim G 2019

Tim G 2019

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It would be easier to just live with it. It's a battle.
 

tpk0999

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I get a weird clunk but it almost sounds like something is rolling around but that's the issue. There isnt anything rolling around

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Tim G 2019

Tim G 2019

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I get a weird clunk but it almost sounds like something is rolling around but that's the issue. There isnt anything rolling around

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There was one poster on here that nailed it for me. He said it sounds like that noise you hear when moving a refrigerator or freezer and the compressor clunks, then rattles. That was mine. After six weeks of fighting and shop time, it was good when I picked it up. Now there is a slight rattle similar to the original. Not as frequent ot bad as the first time. I'll get them to check it at my next oil change.

I think they need a recall and replacement of the badly designed, liquid filled cab mounts. It was a great idea, but an epic fail in practice. Instead of reducing noise it creates annoying noise.
 

JoeSee

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Thank you Tim G and other members for all the hard effort put into discovering this defect. This is my first post to the forum and Good Day to all.

I just came out of a two year long drama with my 2017 2500. Long story but FCA just took it back after Lemon/Lawyers and finally over. Of course now truckless I took the settlement check just purchased a new 2019 Bighorn 2500 Crew Cab with 6.7L. shown in Avatar. (only two weeks ownership and 800 miles on the OD)

It wasn't until I drove it around some in my home area on our bad streets that I noticed this clunk noise. I crawled under the truck and of course told myself, "what am I doing under here again"? I didn't see anything obvious. While driving I did notice the seat belts banged some and also the rear seatbelts could bang inside the upper housing on each side, so I stuffed foam in there. The clunking was still there and appeared under and back of the rear seats. I put the seats in the upright position and drove around and noticed the sound was louder. On smooth streets real quiet cab. On extremely rough bumps no real loud clunks. You hear it when you drive on roads where the conditions are semi wash board and you back off from the pedal some and let the truck be in a rolling cruise where it's allowed to have subtle bounces. In other words, the cab mounts are allowed to float some so they aren't at any extreme extents. The clunks can be heard at all four positions of the mounts, but the rears are the loudest.

Anyway, here I go again. My wife hates me now, my lawyer is laughing at me and my service rep hasn't heard from me just yet, soon, but I'm sure I'll have to bring her some cookies.

I truly don't expect, at least with this defect, that it'll be a big deal. I am concerned from what Mr. Tim G has written that parts may be a concern. Taking a truck from the show room directly to the shop, well I guess that's what FCA Ram's known for. This is my 3rd Ram truck, starting with an 05.

If what Tim G writes about the mounts being liquid filled or damped, may I remind Ram Engineering to look into the history of Ford using liquid damped mounts for the engines of the Ford Taurus in the 90's. Ripped open and leaked constantly even new. Real disaster for them.

Stay tuned if anyone's ears are still on,
 

2ndA732

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my trades is an 18 and though i didnt have the clunk, i did have a mind numbing squeak from the 4x4 floor shifter. I had to load it up with lithium grease carefully, took me some time to figure where it was coming from. now all good.
 

RoadRamblerNJ

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Is your spare tire cronked up good & tight so it can't move.
Ask me how I know that, lol.
Found it myself.
Mine is a 2017 Tradesman, 6.4, 4x4, CCLB so the noise was waaay in the back.
 

JoeSee

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Yes RoadRamblerNJ, spare tight. I realize this thread and OP's are for Tradesman but I believe the mounts are the same on my BigHorn. I spoke with my dealer service advisor, nice lady and good friend now after spending a year back and forth on my last returned truck, and she is going to go through the dealer net and look into this. Half of the battle is always trying to recreate the condition when you're driving around with the tech in the vehicle. Again, bummer taking a truck from the show room to the shop like this, but it could be worse.

One thing while I was under the truck that I noticed, at least on this trim, that there was a inch round wire bundle laying on top of the sharp edged sheet metal shield partly around the spare tire. This bundle is on the passenger side where the shield attaches to the chassis frame. The shield on my 2017 SLT went further around the tire than this one does but still, for those folks out there look for this. I put a temporary rubber piece around the wire bundle and when I get time I'll pull the tire down and bend over the shield a tiny bit so the bundle has a flat surface to lay on.

Really FCA RAM, want to borrow my knife?
 
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Tim G 2019

Tim G 2019

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Since the day I started this thread, they "fixed" the problem and it did go away for a couple months. The clunk is now back, although not as bad. My truck has only 4000 miles. I will be taking it back in. Clunk not as bad when it is cold or wet. Don't know why that is.

Rather than trying to replicate the problem for a tech, try insisting that they put those "electronic ears" listening sensors on the truck. They measure the frequencies and identify the source (location) of the noise. Then it measures the differences as they try different adjustments. That way, a tech doesn't have to hear it when your trying to show them and it doesn't make the noise. It also stops the service manger from giving you any run around like the old faithful "can't replicate the problem" BS. I don't know what the answer is, but I'm tired of chasing this. I can see where a lot of folks just decide to live with it rather than keep taking it back all the time.
 

Cummins3

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Same problem here and I don't think it's cab mounts buy very well could be
 
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Tim G 2019

Tim G 2019

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Same problem here and I don't think it's cab mounts buy very well could be

One of the problems for me was they couldn't figure it out. FCA Star engineers were even involved. I'm not happy that th3r noise is back. Gotta start the whole process over again
 

RamCares

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Since the day I started this thread, they "fixed" the problem and it did go away for a couple months. The clunk is now back, although not as bad. My truck has only 4000 miles. I will be taking it back in. Clunk not as bad when it is cold or wet. Don't know why that is.

Rather than trying to replicate the problem for a tech, try insisting that they put those "electronic ears" listening sensors on the truck. They measure the frequencies and identify the source (location) of the noise. Then it measures the differences as they try different adjustments. That way, a tech doesn't have to hear it when your trying to show them and it doesn't make the noise. It also stops the service manger from giving you any run around like the old faithful "can't replicate the problem" BS. I don't know what the answer is, but I'm tired of chasing this. I can see where a lot of folks just decide to live with it rather than keep taking it back all the time.

Same problem here and I don't think it's cab mounts buy very well could be

Hi @Tim G 2019 & @Cummins3,

Please know that we are just a private message away and we are more than happy to provide you with an additional layer of support in addressing this with your dealers if you choose to proceed in that manner.

Mark
RamCares
 
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