My rear-end is slipping bad. The ring and pinion are shot. like, I might have the engine revving up to 2000 just to cruise at like 10 mph, it's getting bad, about how lond do you think I can drive it before I absolutely need to change it? It's a 98, so how difficult of a fix is that? Is it a do-it-yourself or a leave-it-to-the-profeesionals sort of thing?

 

DD:
The problem you are describing sounds more like a transmission issue. The rear end is composed of hard mechanical parts and really could not "slip" as you are describing, especially without a hurrendous noise from it.

One of the first and easiest things to check is the fluid level. It needs to be fully warmed up though to get an accurate reading. A quick clue though even when cold would be if you pull the dipstick and see nothing, it is probably low.

Is your D a 4x4 or 4x2. It sounds like the tranny is either not shifting up as it should, or is slipping.
If you have not already, take it for a short drive and count the shifts as they occur and note at what speed and RPM. I would think you would have a check engine light along with these symptoms.

Provide more info, and the folks here can surely point you in the right directon. I any case, a repair is probably warranted in some fashion.

Don

 

Well, I can definitely hear a whining noise in the back, and I can feel the slipping, like, I can feel the drive shaft spinning more than it should be, if that makes sense. There is a check engine light, though it comes and goes. At one point, I had them run the code and they said it was a bad spark pulg on cylinder 7, which was bs cuz I put platinum plugs in last time I changed it. I figured it was just dirty, so I put some injector cleaner in and the light went away. It just came back on last night. I hope it kinda is a tranny problem ;-), if the gears were bad, I'd just put stock ones back in, b/c I don't wanna mess with beefing up the gears in the front end as well. I got the 3.92s anway, I think, which are pretty good, they told me it was the biggest they made (I use it to tow a trailer, and a camper, so...) but if it's a tranny problem, I've been wanting to drop a 4-speed stick in some for time, this givesme a good excuse, but idk if it is the tranny, but I will count the shifts next time out. Thanks, T Hitt

 

I would check your tranny fluid. it could be low and causing it to slip and not shift. or you need to tighten your bands.

I doubt it is the rearend slipping. you will hear ALOT of grinding and when you put it in gear it will make a clunk sound. I blew one in the 99 and it woud clunk and grind when goin down the road. but no slipping.

I would never put platnum plugs in a magnum motor. they seem not to work very good with these engines. I have NGK v-power in mine and very happy with them, alot of people like champions too.

 

Aight, thanks yall, if i tis the tranny, it's all good, but last time it felt this way and sounded this way I took it in to Dodge (it was under warranty at the time, but I had towed a 5000 lb trailer behind it for a couple times, right at the top of the towing range) and they told me I had shredded the rear end, it was under warranty, so I was like, yeah, w/e just fix it, now I got a F-350 to tow with, so I haven't towed with it since then, so it hasn't had any undue stress put on it, I don't know, I may take it in and have them look at it, see what they tell me. Tomorrow on my way to work I'll count the shifts and note the RPMs when they shift, thanks again yall

-T Hitt

 

Get rid of those plat's they blow in the magnum engineas johnny said. Just do a search on them. As far as dropping a manual tranny in if you end up doing that let me know how it goes as I am plan on doing that myself if my tranny goes again. I would have to go with a tranny for a Ram though because there wasn't a manual offered for the 5.9 in a Dak. Anyway share those experiences and here I was thinking I would be the only one to go for a manualin the D.

 

I've been wanting to drop a lil geared down 4 speed in the D for a while, get one with a low first gear, just for offroading, I mean so low that like for regular driving you'd drive it like a 3 speed, ya know? Ease for everyday driving, and yet an extremely good low ratio gear for dedicated off roading. And I watched the shifts today, so far as I can tell it shifted 4 times, all around 2000, the shift into 3rd occured at about 2100 though, this was in two different sets (0-35 and 35-50). On my way home today, I'm gonna count them again and see if that's right. Thanks yall

-T Hitt

 

The shift points sound about right to me.

 

If you need a rear end for a Durango, and you're within decent driving distance of this guy, I found this on eBay.
http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/98-99...spagenameZWDVW