2004 Dodge RAM 1500: whining or grinding noise

Filed Feb 17, 2020 · Transmission · 190,000 miles · NY

Was driving on the expressway, exited to a side road 30 MPH and heard an unusual whining coming from the rear end. Then bang! Wheels locked up, no power steering. Drive shaft disconnected at the rear of the truck. Had it towed to my house. Was very lucky this didn't happen two minutes earlier on the expressway or lives may have been lost.

Filed Jun 3, 2017 · Transmission · 200,000 miles · CA

I was approaching a stop. There was a slight whine as I decelerated. Then a clunk and a loud bang. The rear wheels locked up and I stopped immediately in the middle of the road. The driveshaft had fallen out from the differential and was on the ground. I was only going 25-30 MPH at the time. Luckily I had just gotten off the highway. I had it towed to the dealer and they said the pinion nut had come loose. My wife was looking on the internet and found this problem had been a recall but the dealer said it was VIN specific and mine wasn't included in the recall. They need to expand the recall!!! If it had happened just a few minutes earlier I could have been involved in a deadly crash.

Filed Jul 17, 2016 · Transmission · 2 miles · VA

At approximately 155k miles, differential started howling when traveling from florida to virginia. Took vehicle for service. Limited slip differential clips had fallen out and broken up in the gears damaging the bearings. Had the differential rebuilt with all new bearings and clips. At 160k miles, same issue occurred damaging the pinion bearing. The vehicle is now on jack stands in my yard as I save to purchase a rebuilt unit at over $2k.

Filed Jan 29, 2016 · Transmission · 177,000 miles · CA

The rear axle started making a whining noise that gradually got louder and then the rear axle locked up making the truck unable to be driven. I think it's the pinion nut like many other dodge trucks but according to the information in the p77 recall my year truck is not included even though the rear axle has the exact issue described in the recall

Filed Jul 7, 2015 · Fuel system · 177,523 miles · GA

A whining sound started coming from somewhere on the vehicle approx 30 min before the rear end exploded locking the vehicle up and causing the drive shaft to fly across two lanes of heavy holiday traffic. Thank the lord no one was injured or accident was caused due to this failure of a loose pinion nut on the drive shaft. I had it towed to the closest dealership who said it will cost over 4500 dollars not including car rental to get it repaired, the dealer said they contacted the mfg. And they said it was not under the recall. This is a serious and dangerous problem. This vehicle has been dealer maintained since new and should not have experienced this issue without a recall or warning.

Filed May 18, 2015 · Transmission · 185,000 miles · FL · crash

Tl* the contact owns a 2004 dodge ram 1500. While driving at approximately 50 MPH, there was a whining noise followed by a loud banging noise coming from the rear of the vehicle. The contact indicated stated that the rear axle suddenly seized and the drive shaft detached from the vehicle, causing the driver to lose control and crash into a ditch. The vehicle was towed to an independent mechanic who diagnosed that the failure was caused when the rear axle pinion nut became loose. No further information was available. The manufacturer was notified of the failure and the contact was informed that the VIN was not included in the federal safety agency campaign number: 14v796000 (power train). The VIN was not available. The failure mileage was 185,000.

Filed Sep 3, 2014 · Transmission · 63,000 miles · WA

I was driving and was hearing a whining noise from the rear differential. I took it in for a service. During the service the shop found a chipped tooth so because the truck was under warranty the shop was nice and only charged me the time to pull the cover. I took it to a loyal dealer and it took a week to fix because I was needing my vehicle to go on a planned vacation the next week. Then at 73000 and a year later the trucks diff started to make a whining noise again and I called the local dealer again and they told me that I was out of warranty and it was going to cost me $2600.00. So I called around and 4 wheel drive parts gave me a better price so I had them change the gear ratio (4.56) and put an after market lsd (auburn locker) and now I am schedule to take the truck in again because it is making noise again at 95777 miles.just sick of the problem and not looking forward to the possibility of the diff seizing and putting my family in danger or possible death. $ wheel drive parts told me that the chyrsler 9.25 diff is a very bad diff and they recommended me to switch it out to a dana 60 because that is the diff the 3/4 ton have and never have a problem. Just cost to make the switch is very expensive. I like the truck just not this weak spot in the vehicle.

Filed Dec 10, 2013 · Transmission · 218,000 miles · NJ

I was driving to work when my 2004 dodge ram 1500 started making a whining noise so I drove directly to my mechanic approx 15 mile drive. The noise got progressively worse turning to a grinding noise about two miles from the mech. When I was slowing to make my turn into the mechanic's driveway the rear axle assembly locked up and dropped the drive shaft. Had I been driving at a faster rate of speed this would of been serious, possibly causing driver injury.

Filed Mar 10, 2013 · Electrical, Suspension · 75,500 miles · CA

I was driving at freeway speed, around 70 MPH. Suddenly, I heard a noise from the rear of the truck and I noticed my speedometer went to zero. I was still moving at the same speed. The fault code identified a failure in the speed sensor in the rear differential. I was out of warranty, so I pulled the differential cover off and found what was left of the speed sensor in the bottom of the housing. I also found pieces of what was later identified as c clips from my lsd clutch assembly. The inductive portion of the speed sensor protrudes into the differential housing and was hit by the flying pieces of c clips. The carrier bearing also had a grove cut into it by these clips as they worked their way out. I am told that if I had not caught this, it would have resulted in carrier bearing failure and lock up of my rear axle. I removed all of the metal c clip pieces and removed the remaining c clips that had not yet fallen out. I don't know if there is any connection, but my left rear leaf spring cracked in half on the lower main leaf. I had to replace the spring assembly at my cost. I now have a permanent whine at low speeds and currently have 125,000 miles on my truck. I am certainly glad that I found these metal pieces when I did! There appears to be many complaints regarding this failure in my truck model, ranging from model years 2003 through 2006 ram 1500 equipped with the 5.7 hemi. At this time, chrysler has not acknowledged the patterned failures in these rear differentials.

Filed Nov 13, 2010 · Wheels · TX · crash

I heard whine noise coming from my front wheel hubs on my 04 ram 1500 2wd with 73,724 miles in january of 2010. Took to chrysler dealer and they confirmed hubs were loose and replace them both with aftermarket hubs part number 515072. 10 months later and approx 4000 miles on november 10, 2010 at 7 pm I was making a left hand turn in an empty lot going to an atm and felt and heard a pop then my right front end was on the asphalt. Got out and found my wheel laying next to my truck with all lug nuts still in place. I inspected the damage and the wheel hub broke completely apart luckily I was going slow in a parking lot. My front right fender is damaged, the brake caliper snapped off the spindle and hub is in several pieces with roller bearings spread out over area that is just what I saw the may be more damage. Called the dealer they sent a wrecker to get my truck and still waiting to see what is going to happen. They act like they don't now anything.

Filed Aug 11, 2008 · Engine · 83,000 miles · MS

2004 dodge ram. Stalled 3 separate times before dealer could find diagnostic reading to repair in 2005. The last time my truck died on an on ramp in traffic and the dealer had to tow it. Dealer replaced computer. August 2008 6:50am left to take children to school in extremely bad rainy weather. We were several miles up the road from our home and as I slowed to make a right hand turn I heard a loud whining noise and my truck turned off. I could not turn the steering wheel, had no lights , windshield wipers,brakes, nothing. The gear shift would not move to put back in park to try to restart. We had to sit in the road for several minutes before I could put it in park and it started. It was like the key was not in the ignition. The power steering wasn't out, the steering wheel was locked as were the brakes. I called the local dodge dealer at 7:30am and was told to bring the truck in. I took my truck in at 8:30 am and as of 5:11 pm they can not find a code on the trucks computer as before in 2005. This is the 4th time on this same truck that it has shut down while driving and the second time they have had to fix it. I am not sure what they are going to do at this time because they said they can't find a code on the computer and are suggesting I pick it back up and continue to drive it until it does it again. This is a very dangerous situation that should be addressed before someone is injured or killed.