RAM is Down!

[Sherman Bird]

I worked the parts counter at a Freightliner dealership in the early 80's. We employed some older mechanics that were nothing short of genius. We also had at least one that was the dumbest person to walk on foot, and another not much better.

I work the shop parts counter a lot. He would come to me asking for some of the stupidest things for the job he was doing. As far as I can remember, he never successfully completed a correct repain the whole time I was there.

I had owned my own OTR truck, and did most of my own work, up to and including rebuilding my engine, so I knew something about what he needed to be doing, as opposed to what he was doing.

He ran up an almost 7k bill on a smaller motor home on what should have been less that half that, and the problem still wasn't corrected.

There are people in every field of business that haven't a clue as to what is going on.

Yes, and the scariest are quack doctors! I had one come disturbingly close to letting me die when I was 20. These days, I self diagnose and self medicate. As a former heart patient with congestive heart failure, I blew the socks off of my endocrinologist by reversing both fatty liver and the CHF. She said, after all my labs were back to normal after nearly 2 years of dedicated work that she had never seen nor heard of anyone reversing CHF. WOW!

I'm not nutty about it though, I did use a surgeon the fix my mangled right shoulder after a bad fall back in 2019. Although HE did a wonderful job, the physical therapist was a dolt as was the nurse anesthetist.

 

[turkeybird56]

Why do YOU think "good" techs are going away? What culture or cultures exist and always have existed which created these negative realities?

I'll give you a pass and review from my perspective developed over 48 years as a professional automotive tech.

How many professionals do you know of work a majority of their waking days in the whims of mother nature's climate? Freeze your butt off in the winter and endure temperatures here in Houston, in the bays, of typically 120+ degrees with humidity north of 80%?

Add to that the cost of technician's tools and boxes. Over a career, a tech can lay out over 3/4 of a million dollars.

Then, there is the physicality of the hard work and the toll that many decades on one's feet on concrete extoll from the chap's body.

Add to that the mental stresses of comebacks and back flags and generally being under paid for just these demands on the mechanic, not to mention getting filthy.

And what has society done historically to the image of automotive techs? That's right folks! Tonight's GRAND FINALE is that society thinks of mechanics as stupid, uneducated dolts! Just look at "Gomer Pyle, and Goober!
On national TV primetime for the world to have that idiotic slant placed on hardworking men. I mean Goober wearing a beanie? Really?

My first house was in an upscale neighborhood over 40 years ago. I had snob neighbors whose hubris drove them to actually ask me why I didn't live in a trailer park!

I've worked in my own climate controlled shop for17 years now. This came about after I suffered a heat stroke.
Some places have actually decided that we "meekaniks" were and are deserving of better treatment than zoo animals regarding work environment and have put climate controls in their shops. A few have begun to mitigate the heavy financial burden to mechanics by providing more tools, but not all of them.

My skin has thickened and I do not fathom working for anyone else. I'M still impassioned about fixing cars, and I've never allowed the negatives control me. Most of my education and training came from my own motivation and expense, although I did attend GM's Training facility on Richmond Avenue near the Galleria at first and then when they moved to the San Jacinto Community College in Deerpark/ Pasadena Texas. I also attended Ford's training facility while working for them.

The one thing no amount of money can purchase from competent, accurate techs is "Give-a-damn".

Nicely said/worded and sooooooo true.

 

[Yardbird]

Yes, and the scariest are quack doctors! I had one come disturbingly close to letting me die when I was 20. These days, I self diagnose and self medicate. As a former heart patient with congestive heart failure, I blew the socks off of my endocrinologist by reversing both fatty liver and the CHF. She said, after all my labs were back to normal after nearly 2 years of dedicated work that she had never seen nor heard of anyone reversing CHF. WOW!

I'm not nutty about it though, I did use a surgeon the fix my mangled right shoulder after a bad fall back in 2019. Although HE did a wonderful job, the physical therapist was a dolt as was the nurse anesthetist.

Great news on the heart !!!

After my heart attack and triple bypass, the doctors sent me home with 17 different meds. I couldn't hold my head up, much less stand or walk.

I was rolled to my sofa, and stayed there for over a month, not getting any better. At my follow up exam I asked the doctor to trim back the meds as they were killing me. I had gone from 194 lbs to 150, and still unable to eat. He ignored me.

After my wife rolled me back to the car, I told her that when we got home we were going to look up every med and their side effects and what they did. We eliminated over half right away.

Within two days I was feeling better. I kept eliminating meds and got a new doctor. He's not real keen on me taking what I want, and not everything he wants, but says it's my call.

As of now, I can do more than I could do years ago. I came home with 25% EF on my left chamber. 5 months later it was still 25%. Don't know where it is now, been 4 months since the last test, but I certainly feel much better, and really only taking BP meds and what I was taking before I had the attack.

Every time I finally agree to try a new med I feel worse and weaker. I will just keep on doing what I'm doing. I'm the one that has to live with my decisions. I told them that at my age, feeling good now is more important than 15 years down the road, if I lived that long.

The survival rate for someone with 25% EF for 10 years is 11%. So if that's the case, I want to feel good and be able to do things those 8 to 10 years, and their drugs certainly weren't doing that for me.

 

[Sherman Bird]

Great news on the heart !!!

After my heart attack and triple bypass, the doctors sent me home with 17 different meds. I couldn't hold my head up, much less stand or walk.

I was rolled to my sofa, and stayed there for over a month, not getting any better. At my follow up exam I asked the doctor to trim back the meds as they were killing me. I had gone from 194 lbs to 150, and still unable to eat. He ignored me.

After my wife rolled me back to the car, I told her that when we got home we were going to look up every med and their side effects and what they did. We eliminated over half right away.

Within two days I was feeling better. I kept eliminating meds and got a new doctor. He's not real keen on me taking what I want, and not everything he wants, but says it's my call.

As of now, I can do more than I could do years ago. I came home with 25% EF on my left chamber. 5 months later it was still 25%. Don't know where it is now, been 4 months since the last test, but I certainly feel much better, and really only taking BP meds and what I was taking before I had the attack.

Every time I finally agree to try a new med I feel worse and weaker. I will just keep on doing what I'm doing. I'm the one that has to live with my decisions. I told them that at my age, feeling good now is more important than 15 years down the road, if I lived that long.

The survival rate for someone with 25% EF for 10 years is 11%. So if that's the case, I want to feel good and be able to do things those 8 to 10 years, and their drugs certainly weren't doing that for me.

I was morbidly obese and the doctors had me on Hydrochlorothiazide, 3 inhalers, a rescue inhaler, and an epi-pen for good measure.... uh huh!
I looked like I was about to drop triplets, and couldn't do much. just like you were. I don't remember what my EF ratio was, and don't really care. i was so miserable, I was waiting to die.

Then I went with my wife to her doctor and was telling her about my woes.
She (the doctor) referred me to a Chinese herbalist. She, the herbalist, took me off the meds and put me on one.... Fu Fang Dan Shen Wan.

13 dollars a month, no script, blood pressure regularly is 110/60, I lost 80+ pounds, and was able to be more active. Ain't it ironic that the Chinese have been practicing medicine about 2,000 years longer than this country?

 

[Sherman Bird]

Nicely said/worded and sooooooo true.

Interestingly, My parents gave me a box of tools and a 1972 Chilton's auto repair manual, which covered 1965-1972 cars. They knew. And as I moved into this profession after 3 years in a comparably cushy job as a machinist, I took a 40% paycut to do what I was and am impassioned about. Frankly, I have always and still do have fun.

The support from my family made the transition into this industry better, considering social stigma. I also helped that my Paternal Grandfather had been a mechanic and owned his own garage back in the Depression era.

 

[turkeybird56]

Interestingly, My parents gave me a box of tools and a 1972 Chilton's auto repair manual, which covered 1965-1972 cars. They knew. And as I moved into this profession after 3 years in a comparably cushy job as a machinist, I took a 40% paycut to do what I was and am impassioned about. Frankly, I have always and still do have fun.

The support from my family made the transition into this industry better, considering social stigma. I also helped that my Paternal Grandfather had been a mechanic and owned his own garage back in the Depression era.

I still got a lot of older Husky sockets and even a 3/8" driver. Those tools be at least 70 years old, belonged to my father.

 

[Sherman Bird]

I still got a lot of older Husky sockets and even a 3/8" driver. Those tools be at least 70 years old, belonged to my father.

My family chipped in and bought me the sets from Allenite made in Japan. I STILL have them and use them daily. This was 52 years ago, and I daily work with those among more recent tools. Funny thing.... those Allenite tools have held up as well as Stahwille and Snap-On.

 

[turkeybird56]

My family chipped in and bought me the sets from Allenite made in Japan. I STILL have them and use them daily. This was 52 years ago, and I daily work with those among more recent tools. Funny thing.... those Allenite tools have held up as well as Stahwille and Snap-On.

Still got these hanging around too!!!

 

[Sherman Bird]

I also have the Craftsman box they gave me!

 

[Sherman Bird]

Still got these hanging around too!!!


View attachment 540626View attachment 540627View attachment 540628

Mine were/ are Cal-Van! I STILL use the Cal-Van vacuum gauge!

 

[jejb]

Still got these hanging around too!!!


View attachment 540626View attachment 540627View attachment 540628

I still have those on a high shelf as well. Keep thinking I need to toss them.

I used my tax return when I was 16 to buy a big tool set from Craftsman. This was mid-70's. Went to work for a while building trucks, and we had to have our own tools, so those came in handy. I still have most of them, but I did not make a living off of them besides that brief job. I still enjoy doing all my own work on our vehicles, but programming is where I made my living.

Sorry for adding to the derail, OP. To get back on subject, I am just shocked at the level of incompetence Ram and your dealer have given you so far. I'd be fit to be tied.

 

[turkeybird56]

My family chipped in and bought me the sets from Allenite made in Japan. I STILL have them and use them daily. This was 52 years ago, and I daily work with those among more recent tools. Funny thing.... those Allenite tools have held up as well as Stahwille and Snap-On.

I also have the Craftsman box they gave me!

I have Double stacked set Craftsman Tool Boxes in garage. Momma bought for my Birthday like 20 years ago and I have all the common tools in there. Got a few odds/ends, but not a lot of specialty cause unlike U, I's just a knick/knack BOIRD, not mechanic.

 

[Dinky]

UPDATE! AFTER 14 WEEKS!

Ram care will be reimbursing me for all of my out of pocket expense.

Tonkin Hillsboro CJDR emailed me saying my truck was good to go. Upon picking it up they held my truck hostage untill I paid $225 for an oil change, this took place to diagnose if there was fuel in oil..... Had some very pleasant words with the manager paid and left.

See pictures for what was performed on my truck.

Before leaving the lot I check my oil level........it's over full mark again.... After 53 miles of towing today, mixed freeway and surface roads Filter already climbing. I will continue to monitor everything as I have before.

This whole process has been a big joke, Ram has dropped the ball big time on this and no customer care is left in the car industry. I would not recommend Tonkin dealerships in Oregon all they care about is making a quick buck.

 

[Dinky]

@RamCares
you should take some notes on what your customer base are going through. You are going to lose a lot of diehard Ram owners.

 

[Dodge 1500 4X4]

The survival rate for someone with 25% EF for 10 years is 11%. So if that's the case, I want to feel good and be able to do things those 8 to 10 years, and their drugs certainly weren't doing that for me.

I have a brother-in-law that has a 25% ejection fraction for about 20yrs now, It bounces up to 35 at times but he's doing fine with no other problems.

 

[Yardbird]

I have a brother-in-law that has a 25% ejection fraction for about 20yrs now, It bounces up to 35 at times but he's doing fine with no other problems.

20 years would thrill me if I stayed in good health, and not house or bed bound. Not too likely to make it 20 years though, as I'm closing in on 70 now...lol

Great to hear your BIL has made it this far with 25%. That gives me hope.

That gives me hope!!!

 

[Dinky]

120miles later and motor knock is back.

Cummins motor has a knock?

youtu.be

 

[KKBB]

Sorry you have to deal with this crap!!! I'm kinda shocked they didn't try to blame it on the aftermarket shocks and springs!! Haha

 

[Dinky]

Sorry you have to deal with this crap!!! I'm kinda shocked they didn't try to blame it on the aftermarket shocks and springs!! Haha

Rides to smooth for the motor to operate as normal?

 

[Dinky]

Well boys I triggered a regen after 116 miles after leaving the dealership Friday. When I come to a complete stop the cab fills full of smoke.

I happen to be on my way home work when it triggered and I happen to live 2 miles from the dealership. I pulled right into the service center and asked the manager to take a ride. He is baffled I was in regen after 116 miles and when the smoke filled the cab I could hear his guts sink. We were able to have an actual nice conversation with out name calling. I explained they need to start making phone call. I email Ram care again to put my truck in for a buy back.