WTF????
Ok, I did read the rest finally. Holy shit how strange Jimmy!!!
Strange indeed, but it could've been a lot worse.
Yes, it would've been easier had my 3500 not been blocked in by my new and not operational tow vehicle, and had the trailer with the winch not had about five yards of gravel in front of it. Had no choice but to take her 3500, which has nothing in the way of tools, extinguisher, etc. in it, and the little 18' trailer.
A really good thing was that had it happened another couple of hundred feet down the road, there's no cell service for about eight miles. Then she couldn't even have called AAA, had the rollback damage the splitter and whatever they'd tie the car down with, dump it at the dealer some 110 miles away - where they would've diagnosed and fixed the issue for only several hundred dollars. Took me five minutes, and the cost of a new filter.
By the way, before I had unearthed the problem I had my girlfriend halfway talked into ordering a Durango Hellcat.