Truck Down -- What do we do next?
 

Okay, so since we've been coming to the northeast (NE) for many years now, we've been experiencing everything that comes with the NE -- including rotting tailpipes. So, recently, I was traveling on one of the mountain roads in the area when I began to hear a clanking (metallic) sound coming from the rear of our 2012 Cummins Mega Longhorn (presently under 48,000 miles). Upon a visual inspection, I saw that the truck's tailpipe was dangling from a dampened exhaust hanger, so, long story short, I ended up laying under the track with a cordless grinder (and a few blades) to cut the damned thing off.

As I've been thinking about deleting the fuel-robbing emissions garbage on this particular truck, I didn't run out right away and replace the tailpipe. Fast forward to yesterday...I'm heading south on one of our interstates, at night, when, all of the sudden, I begin losing power on an uphill section. Shortly after that, I begin hearing something that doesn't sound good (a slight knocking)...then I get a check engine light followed by the following dash message: Exhaust Service Required -- See Dealer Now. Needless to say, I pulled off of the road to give the truck a visual. After seeing that the [full synthetic] oil looked its normal black color -- with no visible signs of contamination -- I pulled out a cordless 18V lamp and began inspecting the underside of the truck. As there were no visible signs of trouble, I decided to start the truck the truck and give the engine bay a good listen. As I couldn't hear anything unusual going on, I decided to see if I could move the truck...but, once I pushed on the fuel pedal, it was immediately apparent that the truck wasn't going to build up much power. So, three hours later (at about 28-degrees F), I finally got a flat bed wrecker to take me to my nearest relative's house (my MIL's house), which is where the truck presently sits.

Although I can't feature how the missing tailpipe has anything to do with the Exhaust Service Required message -- that doesn't mean that the Service Manager at our local Ram dealer will feel the same way. We purchased a Mopar Added Care Plus (7 years - 70K miles) warranty when we purchased the truck ... So now that you've [hopefully] made it this far, I'm asking the board for advice. Should I order the tailpipe now, replace it and have the truck moved to the stealer, afterword? Should I simply move the truck to the Ram dealership and give it to them straight?

Thanks very much for your time.