Cablefed
Full Access Member
I took my baby in today for the first time to get a few items looked at. I had a drooping visor, loose parking brake, check engine light, paint coming off around the wing, and inquired about the brake pads squeak. I have 2950 miles on my truck.
I told the service rep I was nervious because this truck is my baby and it was my first visit to their service department. I left the truck with them for the day and got a call back saying it was ready to pick up and all the parts had to be ordered to fix the issues I had. I arrived at the service department around 5 pm and spoke to my service rep and he said the brake pads were fine and they would not replace them. I did'nt argue, but instead went straight to the parts counter and wanted to see if the part number for the upgraded brake pads exist. The parts guy looked around on the computer and we found that the old pads were replaced with a new pad and the old ones were no longer available. I shot the shit with him on how I heard the pads were better than what came on the truck. A voice behind me says, nope the pads will not work any better than the stock ones.
I asked they guy who he was and he introduced himself as Jason the Viper Tech. Jason told me the pads were not any better in any direction than what was on the truck already. Jason was aware of the issue and said the only way I would get rid of the squeak and dust is to upgrade to a ceramic pad.
Jason also told me that dodge released a TSB not to long ago stating that Dodge will no longer replace brakepads because of squeaking or dusting on any dodge vechicle. I did'nt really want to stretch the issue out. I was more interested on what this guy knew. Come to find out he is a local VCOA member and has been working on vipers for 12 years and has some local hookups on tuning the viper engine. Jason told me that out of the box no RAM SRT-10 produces more than 380 RWHP as the engine is really detuned because of emissions. He gave me a contact locally that can dyno tune my truck for around $600 bones and produce 460 RWHP with a new tune and some dyno testing. Jason then told me that it became a warranty issue but he has know way of knowing about it and if I wanted to really be safe all I had to do was go back to the shop and have them reload my stock settings before any service is performed. I got Jasons number and e-mail and he was very knowledgeable with helping me out and answering all my questions and he invited me to come out to a few SCCA events coming up locally with the VCOA. I didn't want to take up to much of his time so I shoke his hand and jumped in my truck. My first visit was good thanks to Jason and I feel comfortable that he will be the only one working on my truck going forward.
Jason did note he liked my shifter, thanks Boomer, but didn't like the drive line noise it produced. I think Jason spends more time with the Vipers rather than the Ram's and didn't really know about the weak link in the shifter on these trucks. I told him the drive line noise is out weighed by the performance of the shifter and the 3rd gear issue is gone.
Anyhow, I just wanted to share my experience. I still have to go back as parts had to ordered so I'm curious to see how well these guys do with actually working on my truck. The dealer did have 4 RC's 05 models that were selling for $29,500 out the door, man what a steal. Cheers.
I told the service rep I was nervious because this truck is my baby and it was my first visit to their service department. I left the truck with them for the day and got a call back saying it was ready to pick up and all the parts had to be ordered to fix the issues I had. I arrived at the service department around 5 pm and spoke to my service rep and he said the brake pads were fine and they would not replace them. I did'nt argue, but instead went straight to the parts counter and wanted to see if the part number for the upgraded brake pads exist. The parts guy looked around on the computer and we found that the old pads were replaced with a new pad and the old ones were no longer available. I shot the shit with him on how I heard the pads were better than what came on the truck. A voice behind me says, nope the pads will not work any better than the stock ones.
I asked they guy who he was and he introduced himself as Jason the Viper Tech. Jason told me the pads were not any better in any direction than what was on the truck already. Jason was aware of the issue and said the only way I would get rid of the squeak and dust is to upgrade to a ceramic pad.
Jason also told me that dodge released a TSB not to long ago stating that Dodge will no longer replace brakepads because of squeaking or dusting on any dodge vechicle. I did'nt really want to stretch the issue out. I was more interested on what this guy knew. Come to find out he is a local VCOA member and has been working on vipers for 12 years and has some local hookups on tuning the viper engine. Jason told me that out of the box no RAM SRT-10 produces more than 380 RWHP as the engine is really detuned because of emissions. He gave me a contact locally that can dyno tune my truck for around $600 bones and produce 460 RWHP with a new tune and some dyno testing. Jason then told me that it became a warranty issue but he has know way of knowing about it and if I wanted to really be safe all I had to do was go back to the shop and have them reload my stock settings before any service is performed. I got Jasons number and e-mail and he was very knowledgeable with helping me out and answering all my questions and he invited me to come out to a few SCCA events coming up locally with the VCOA. I didn't want to take up to much of his time so I shoke his hand and jumped in my truck. My first visit was good thanks to Jason and I feel comfortable that he will be the only one working on my truck going forward.
Jason did note he liked my shifter, thanks Boomer, but didn't like the drive line noise it produced. I think Jason spends more time with the Vipers rather than the Ram's and didn't really know about the weak link in the shifter on these trucks. I told him the drive line noise is out weighed by the performance of the shifter and the 3rd gear issue is gone.
Anyhow, I just wanted to share my experience. I still have to go back as parts had to ordered so I'm curious to see how well these guys do with actually working on my truck. The dealer did have 4 RC's 05 models that were selling for $29,500 out the door, man what a steal. Cheers.
