Well, some of you might remember that I just bought an 83' d150 2wd. I knew the water pump was leaking, and a couple of other small issues when I bought the truck. I changed the pump with no problems, when I went to drive for the first time, I went around the block slowly just to warm things up (truck has been sitting for who knows how long) so when I go to make my second trip around the block, I want to see what the ol' 5.2l can handle so I stomp down on the gas. The truck just starts struggling, like its not getting gas, and then stalls out. I do this a couple of times, thinking maybe its just gunked up from sitting. I am still thinking at this point that I have a fuel/ignition problem. Thinking this, I proceed to change the plugs, plug wires, fuel filter, fuel pump, and air filter. After all of this the motor sounds great, AT IDLE!!!! So I go back out for a drive, as soon as I stomp the gas, its doing the same thing. For some reason I decided I would drop the gear selector down to 2. When I did this, the truck picked right up and ran great. I drove around neighborhood for about 30 min. driving in D, 2, and 1. driving in 2 and 1 the truck does fine, but when I have it in D it just cant seem to change gears and stalls out. So does anyone think that this just may need a fluid and filter change, or do I need to start shopping for a tranny. Thanks for any input.

 

I also want to add that when I shift into reverse. There is a heck of a metal clunking sound, and the truck jerks backwards. I assume that this is not right. Once again, any help greatly appreciated!

 

Try a bottle of SeaFoam trans additive. Cheap, easy, and might work. I think you've got a piston sticking, and it's trying to be in 2 gears at the same time. Also look over the kickdown linkage, be sure it's connected.

 

The reverse clunking is not uncommon for dodge,check your idle rpm's.
check your throttle linkage(kickdown)adjustment and operation.
A tranny service is also a good idea.

 

I checked the throttle linkage, I was able to adjust itas far as it would go, this helped quite a bit. Now when everyone says the " kickdown adjustment", isnt that an adjustment that you make when the pan is removed? I bought a new filter, fluid, and a can of trany seafoam. I will service today. I will be sure the 2 kickdown adjustments within the transmission are correct. I will add that if you drive the truck under normal conditions, you probably wouldnt ever notice a problem, its only when I put the pedal to the floor from either a dead stop, or a very slow roll that it acts up.

 

If it doesn't creep foward in nuetral, chances are the clutch packs are OK. Sounds like the kick down band is burnt or loose maybe. Pull the pan and look for excess metal, band or clutch mat'l or anything obviously broken. Look at the bands [2] and drums and see if they're discolored from heat or deeply worn. The front band is the kickdown band,the rear is low/reverse. On the passenger side there's an 1/8" pipe plug for testing each of the band apply pistons.
Put a little air pressure on the piston and see if the piston seals are blown or leaking excessively.

There's a spec for adjusting the bands but I can't remember what it is. Do this while you have the pan off. On the outside of the trans on driver's side you'll see a bolt with a jam nut right above the shift lever. Back the jam nut off, tighten the band until it's snug,[spec says so many inch pounds] then back the bolt out about 1 or 1 1/4 turns. Same basic proceedure on the l/r band, the adjustment's inside on it. Back it off about 2 turns and apply some air.

What your looking for on the adjustment is tight enough to be sure the piston doesn't run out of travel when applying, yet loose enough not to make the band drag.

Other than that the trans will likely have to come out.

 

72 inch pounds, lugnuts.

 

does that year have that little spring linked to the throttle cable that sets the kickdown linkage for passing gear? the spring on mine went dead and i had similar problems. so i changed the spring and it went away for a while, although now ive got a whole new (but similar) set of problems with my shifting.

 

Well yesterday was a very long day. I drained the fluid, and changed the filter. The pan had some metal shavings in it, and they looked pretty new. I had just run seafoam trans flush throught it, so I dont know if thats what brought it into the pan. It wasnt a lot of shavings, I've seen as much in my dirtbike oil filter before. The pan also had a pretty good coating of sludge on it. I went to adjust the reverse band (what a pain), and the confusion starts. I had no idea what transmmission I had. I called autozone and they said it was a 904, so I made my turns based on that information. Same with the kickdown band. When making the turn outs, if the manual says 4 turns, does this mean turn the screw a full 360 degrees 4 times? I have never really gotten a clear answer on this. well after doing this and filling trans back up, I discover that there could possibly be another trans that was used for the year of my truck, so I might have made the wrong adjustments. How can I tell for sure what transmission I have, the numbers on the side of the trans case were not helpful in the haynes manual. Well I started the truck after putting everything back together, ran through the gears while parked, checked fluid and then went out for a test ride. Put it in reverse, and it sounded like the motor was running on very low idle and rpms, and the motor just stalled out. I poped the hood to take a look, and I dont know if I just never noticed before, but it really seemed like it was idling way to low. I raised the idle up a bit and did a quick timing check, and for the first time when I hit reverse it actually spun the wheels in the gravel, drove around the neighborhood for a bit, it still has a little bit of the same problem, but not as bad since I raised the idle, it was just as bad after the fluid change and band adjustment, untill I raised the idle speed. Is there any way to know what rpms im at without having to get a tach? It looks like I will end up having to get this thing rebuilt unless I still dont have the reverse/kickback bands set correctly

 

Can't tell you the turns for either one,never used a book when I rebuilt one lol. 727 3spd/518od have a bulge in the pan in the dipstick area. 904 3spd/500 od doesn't. Without driving the truck we're all kinda shootin' in the dark as to what's wrong. Take it by a trans shop and see what they think.
The only other thing trans wise I can think of would be the lock up torque converter. Only time it locks is in 3rd gear [ 3/4 on od] It's possible it has the motor pulled way down at low speeds in 3rd. Or it may not be the trans at all,but an engine performance problem. Hard to say from here.