Hello guys, i bought a 98 Dodge ram from a friend who was upgrading to a bigger ram, and it has only 120k miles on it. Looks extremely clean and the engine runs perfectly. I took it for a test drive and it shifted through all the gears fine and i even had a mechanic drive it from the dodge dealership and he said the transmission was fine.

One thing i have noticed tho after a week of driving is when it shift from 2nd to 3rd gear the truck has a slight jerk or hard shift whatever you want to call it. Basicly its enough of a jerk to make your head move a little bit. It feals like the truck is jumping foward and then back almost. Its not BOOM jerk, but more a soft kinda jerk. I dunno how else to describe it.

I brought it to a mechanic and told him what i was fealing and he said the clutchs are probably worn and I am looking a new transmission in 1-2 years. He goes on telling me about some $3,000 Jasper transmission because it has a 3 year/100k mile warranty. He never looked or drove the truck he just went by what i said.

I refuse to belive i need to spend $3,000 in 12-24 months. I had pan dropped and changed the fluid and filter. I didnt flush it i just chanaged 6-7 quarts of the ATF+4. It didnt help at all.

I've tried searching on this problem and found a few things talking about the TV cable. How do you adjust this cable correctly ? I marked with a black marker where the cable was before i messed with it, and according to the guide i found it says to park the truck turn it off, and remove the black clip that is on the **** on the throttle lever. Then to unclip the white clip on the TV cable housing.

Then gently pull the black clip until it get the slack of the cable on the end (i didnt pull the actuall cable just the slack from the cable inside the black clip) and then i aligned the centerline which i assume is the line on the black clip end, and pushed the tv cable in the back foward until the black clip centerline was in the center of the throttle lever ****. Then i took the white clip and put it back on and put the black clip back on the throttle ****.

Is this how you do it ? Because i noticed doing it like this that black mark i made is now inside that rubber triangle thingy basicly the cable has moved well over 1/8 of an inch foward. If i did this right it seems the cable was way out of alignment and pulled to far back. Basicly it seems like TV cable on idle was open partially. Now it seems like the cable has a smudge of slack on idle and moves perfectly when the throttle lever is moved.

I drove the truck and it shifts alot fast now, basicly it shifts from 1st to 2nd at 10mph, then 2nd to 3rd at around 15-20mph. 1st to 2nd and 2nd to 3rd shift almost simultaniusly now. Then 3rd to overdrive is around 25-30mph, and the torque converter locks at 40mph. The jerking seems a little less now but its still there, everytime on light to medium throttle. On a higher throttle tho it seems to have disapeared for the most part.

Before i did this the truck would shift from 1st to 2nd at 15mph, then 2nd to 3rd at like 25mph, then 3rd to od at 30-35mph and torque converter locked at 40mph.


Im not sure if i did this correctly but the info i got adjusting the TV cable was from some guy saying he was a Crysler mechanic online. Could someone help me please ?

 

I'm confused trying to follow your procedures.. but the idea is to have the cable in a direct line from the clip on the back of the TB bracket to the pin (front of the TB bracket and part of the throttle lever).. Also to have the TV move at the same time the throttle lever and cable start to move..

Unregistered User, Zman, DV, and HeyYou, to mention just a few, will be able to guide you better than I..

I would be tickled to have a tranny shift firmly like you mentioned.. it sounds like a shift kit- and this is a good thing.. It is designed to lessen time between gears which gives you better performance, but it also makes life much easier on the clutch surfaces, which equates to longer tranny life..

I've never been to a tranny shop that didn't tell me I needed a rebuild.. I've yet to find a tranny shop local that truly knows what they are talking about- save one, and that guy apparently lives on the wrong side of the law which makes me nervous about getting mid build and him getting arrested.. I toss most tranny shops in the same barrel as most used car dealers.. It's an unavoidable fact of life.

Your TV is out of adjustment now for sure.. Go grab a Haynes manual.. It spells it out and makes it easy.. I'm sure someone else will chime in better educated than me soon.

 

You're close to right on the procedure, but missed the all-important step of ensuring that the transmission end of the cable is set before adjusting the throttle body end. You need to get down there and manually pull the throttle valve fully closed after removing the throttle body end of the cable. A small bungee cord is handy for this.

There should be no slack at all in the cable when you're done.

 

Where on the transmission do i look for this valve to make sure its closed.

I'll try to make what i said earlier simpler.

Basicly unclip the white clip that holds the cable in. Then unclicp the black clip end that is on the throttle lever ****. Once that is done gently pull the black clip until there is no slack but dont pull it so much where it starts to pull the cable itself. Then reach in the back and push the sleeved cable foward until the center line on the black clip is lined up with the center of the throttle lever ****. Then put the white clip back on to hold the cable in place. Then check to make sure the black clip is still in center with the **** if it is then put the black clip back on the **** and it should be adjusted properly.

This is what i did, and in doing this the cable was basicly 4-5mm (almost 1/4 of a inch. Between 1/8 and 1/4) further foward then it was before i messed with it. I put the cable like it was before with my black mark i made and it seems to cable was pullled in 5mm too much basicly leaving the transmission open slightly with the engine on idle. Does this make any sense ?


(this centerline i assume is the line that goes up and down and is in the middle of the circle on the black clip end)


Edit: Also, I have no idea if this shift kit your talking about is installed or not. Basicly the only gears that shift "hard" is 2nd to 3rd it doesnt jerk downshifting just upshift from 2nd to 3rd. The rest of the gears and the torque convertor locking are smooth. mmm How else do i describe this... Ok here..

If you had a glass of water that was almost full sitting on the dashboard, when you start off the water because of the Gforce will go back toward the rear of the truck correct.. Now when it shifts from 1st to 2nd the water doesnt move because the shift was smooth. Now when it shifts from 2nd to 3rd the water will move foward and then back again really quick causing it to splash out the cup. Thats how it is shifting. Now if i have a passenger in the truck and i watch him on the corner of my eye when it shifts from 2nd to 3rd his head will move foward and back slightly when it goes from 2nd to 3rd.

 

Grab the FSM from the FAQ section -- it's got a drawing of the transmission end of the cable, along with the procedure.

 

it sounds like your reverse/low band may need adjusting.. you'll have to drop your pan to get to that one.. the one outside the tranny adjust the 2nd-3rd band thingy, where the one inside adjusts your R, 1st-2nd, and 3rd-4th.. If I'm not crazy that is..

you can search this board for 'band adjustments' and find some good info.

 

Im confused, my problem is 2nd and 3rd not 3rd and 4th (od), I think you have that backwords ? I drove the Tuck to the store just now, seems adjusting my TV cable when i press medium to high throttle (like you dont care about gas mileage kinda driving) it doesnt jerk anymore, but it does on low throttle still (low like your trying to save gas granny driving)

 

maybe I am.. I guess it comes down to what you want and whats best for the life of your tranny..

snappy shifts are better for the tranny as it spends less time in limbo, which not only builds heat but wears on clutch surfaces...

Your 1-2nd shift sounds lazy.. and the same band adjustment that handles 1-2nd also handles 3-4th.. (again, if I'm not crazy).. I would be adjusting that band to match the 2-3rd band if I could.. But that's just me.. If you want the lazier shifts you can loosen the exterior band adjuster some- but the wear on your tranny (due to heat, and due to the clutch surface getting more wear) will cause you to be needing that overhaul your avoiding much sooner..

edited to add: what you are feeling/seeing with that shift could simply be where somebody in the trucks recent past adjusted the 2-3rd band and not the 1-2nd, 3-4th band.. which makes sense because it is outside the tranny where the other one is covered by the pan.. Just a thought anyway..

I'm going to back out of this conversation now, because I just expounded on everything I know about a transmission.. there are folks here who know a LOT about them.. they'll be along shortly.. (and I hope they are easy on me when they get here)

 

what do you mean by lazy ? My 1st-2nd shifts fast, within 10mph. 2nd -3rd now shifts fast also on light throttle 15-17ish mph at least and medium throttle around 20, and it stays in 3rd for awhile until i reach 30mph then itll shift into 4th and the torque converter locks at 40.

Maybe you are right and maybe the previous owner installed a shift kit, he did alot of other mods to the truck like a bigger transmission cooling radiator, and a brake controller, and a few others things. I've done some digging online asking how do you tell if you have a shift kit, and one guy said his car with a shift kit would shift smoth from 1st to 2nd, but 2nd to 3rd would (break) his kneck because it shifted so firm. Well thats what mine is doing so i guess i possibly could have this on my truck i dunno.

 

Look this over https://dodgeforum.com/forum/2nd-gen...agnostics.html and this (post #8) https://dodgeforum.com/forum/2nd-gen...-in-trans.html