My most EPIC Adventure!

[guinnessbrewer]

Weeeeeell, It all started with good intentions....(you know thats a bad way to start a story) I finally flew up to Denver last Saturday to take delivery of my truck, the 2000 2500 4x4 I had been asking many of you about. Dealer picked me up and took me to meet my new ride. Mind you this is probably the 2nd dodge diesel truck I had ever driven and the first was a spin around the block. I take it for a drive and everything seems ok. The dealer has put alot of time and $ getting it ready to sell so I basically assume (yes that is a loaded word) everythings going to be good and ready to make a 12 hour run back home. As I am running it back to the dealer I kinda notice a little gear noise coming from the back, no big deal I have heard that before and the drive line seems tight. I get to the dealer take a peek underneath and notice the reaer diff speed sensor is puking a little oil, so with out any fuss they swap it. Then I notice the serpentine belt is checked and the service writer says thats "normal". I protest and tell them I am not going to take the vehicle unless they swap it after further noticing a chunk missing from the belt which just happend to line up by the alternantor in plain sight. They then change the belt. By this time it is getting time for everyone to get going home and I am in a hurry to get home and feel resonably happy with myself for squeezing another $150 in parts and labor out of them in addition to the full tank of gas I managed to get after I agreed on the price. $9600 changes hands, keys are mine and I am off. I get on I 25 to head north to goto the inlaws and then visit a friend and start loading the bed of this beast with some newly acquired audio gear and toys for the children, all neatly hidden under the tonneau. Again I notice a faint gear noise but it is hard to destinguish from the 4 inch exhaust and all the traffic and plus its new to me so I don't think much of it. Sunday morning I head south to NM, in the early afternoon. By the time I get to south denver (approx 20 miles) the noise is noticably more pronounced. I take it easy and try to engage the cruise for the first time, no dice! The pedal pushes my foot back....Hmmm ( I bet they have it hooked up backwards) so I cancel the cruise and keep going. I get to the next town which is castle rock and pull over to check things out. put my hands on all the driveline components to check for slop and excessive heat... all good keep on heading south. Onto colorado springs. Pull over again same checks, same results, only the noise is much louder and goes away when not under load or I depress the clutch. I call a friend and tell him wahts going on, and I suggest it sounds like the rear end is going out and he seems to think the same thing so by then it is 5:30 in the afternoon and starting to get dark. I deside to scrap the trip home call work for coverage and limp back to the dealer. I pull over twice more on my way back and finally give it up just outside of castle rock and call for a tow. Driver comes and takes me to the inlaws. Unload the truck and he takes it back to the dealer. Monday morning at the dealer, my salesman asks, What Happend? " I am not in New Mexico, and its broke" to which they start checking the truck out after I tell them my tale and let them know that I think it is the rear end. 2 hours later they come back with a rag full of powdered metal... BINGO! another 2 hours passes which I use to locate potential replacement vehicles and find out the consumer advocate peoples names on the local news channels just in case they deside to not play nice. They come back and tell me "the vehicle was sold as is and the repair is going to be at least $2500 what do I you think would be fair way to split up the cost". to which I reply " I am not paying another penny, and you are going to make it right" sooooo Another 2 hours passes while they try to see what they can do. I finally go up to the sales manager, who up to this point has not looked at me and asked him if he realized that I have been in his dealership longer than I have driven this truck. He tells me they are tring to figure out what to do and I let him know that all the issues need to be fixed or I am done with this. I am told to call him later that afternoon, so I leave and and take care of other business for the rest of the afternoon. I then check on another truck for a back up which is really well taken care of and I make a deal if I can't get my truck back in working order the next day that I will buy this one.... Finally I talk to the sales manager at around 6pm and see what the status is . They plan to swap rear ends with another truck to get me on the road. Ok thats fine. I ask about the speedo and cruise and a refund for my towing to all fo which he is non committal. I let him know that I want out unless they make this all right. Tuesday morning, I Cant get a hold of the manager, talk with svc manager, he tells me it will be done in the afternoon. i ask about the cruise and speedo to which he knows nothing about. Finally that evening around 5pm I arrive at the dealer to which I am told everything is ready to go and I will get my towing money back. COOL! I go out to check it out and make sure it is all bolted together and they missed an end link on the rear sway bar....By this time as you can imagine they are getting sick of me and this truck. I take it for a drive and FINALLY IT APPEARS TO BE SOLID! Yeah!!!! I make sure I check everything over really well and amazingly enough everything works. The drive home Holy crap!!! that is a whole other story, lets just say northern new mexico and snow and express busses are a very bad combination. But I MADE IT!!!! AND I got about 21 MPG also. It was a rough introduction, but I really like this truck!! Cheers. PS, when I got home I discovered a local dealer has a 1994 single cab silver 2500 5 speed 4x4 with 52000 miles for $7900 and it is really nice... thats ok I am glad I have mine.

[gassernomore]

WOW! If it were me my blood pressure would have been thru the roof! Glad you stuck to your guns! They probably figured that with you flying in to pick it up that you would just accept the "little" problems and call it good!Sounds like your happy with it now.