Well I hadn't really been driving the dak at all during the summer due to gas prices, and my motorcycle is way more fun. I decided to switch insurance companies for the truck and fixed an exhaust leak that I had. I got it back Insured on the friday, drove around a bit, to the store and such, all seemed ok. It had been giving me trouble shifting from 2-3 sometimes but this unfortunately seemed fairly normal for most daks. I still planned on getting it looked at tho.

So saturday morning I get up for work, back outta the driveway, put the dak in gear and as i start rolling I hear a clunking sound. As I head down the road it shifts and the noise goes away. Hmmm, I'll have to look into that. Pull off the hiway and the noise is back, but only in first gear. Get to work and forget about it.... Until lunchtime. I decide to go grab a sub down the road. pull outta my parking spot and onto the road, stop for the light. Light turns green, I try to go and the truck just revs. AH SH*T!! I manage to pull into the side street and try to turn around to pull back into my work parking lot.

When I put the truck in reverse, it still acts like it is going forwards, and I have no neutral. So I call a tow truck and have it towed to a tranny shop. The guy has taken the tranny outta the truck; lots of metal in the pan, and is going to take it apart and let me know what happened tonight. It was making a nice grinding noise while trying to engage a gear. He figures that the clutches are seized together, and possibly broke the planetary. Prolly end up costing around 2-3 grand!! I'm pretty bumbed out, but whatever. I'll let you guys know what he finds.

FYI 2001 dak, 3.9L, 4x4, SLT, 42RE trans with 246,000 Km's

 

that sucks just another good old dodge auto tranny for you at least it will be fixed now and it didn't leave you stuck somewhere worse.

 

another one bites the dust

 

I have a feeling my 46re is on its last stand... 120k miles on stock tranny, i have a feeling its coming soon.. cant wait

 

NEVER USE gasket sealer on a transmission pan! Only use a rubber gasket. Put a plug in your tranny pan and drain and refill every time you change the oil. Tranny fluid has viscosity just like oil and it breaks down. You'll never have another tranny problem...unless you are a young racer!

 

the automatics that came in our trucks besides the 45/545 RFEs, have a tendency to develop the 2-3 shift issue, normally gear hunting. from personal experience, mine was caused by lack of lubrication, and if i caught it in time, i may have saved the transmission. most likely lost fluid flow due to the one way check valve to prevent drain back into the transmission, another money making design for dodge, to bring in more work. also, these transmissions seem to like to get nice and hot. dodge torque converters are a major weak spot as well. do yourself a favor bud, and get an auxiliary cooler installed in series with the factory cooler. had mine rebuilt about 40K miles ago, serviced once at 25K on it (flush, fluid and filter change). fluid is still crystal clear with no hint of being burnt at all.

 

My fliud did look pretty good actually. I did a tranny flush (and filter) about 15-20,000 km's ago because thats when it had started to act up a little. I did notice a bit of improvement, but knew in the back of my mind that the day would come.

Still waiting to hear the cause of all this mess. the mechanic has the tranny out and dissassembling it now. He's also gonna look at the transfer case just to be safe while he's down there. I told him to do what he's gotta do, I don't want any more surprises!
It sure is a good thing the bank gives out student lines of credit!!

 

so I went to the tranny shop on friday, turns out that I pretty much grenaded my planetary gearset! The middle gear was prettywell rounded off and I blew up 2 of the 3 smaller gears! not nice at all! lookin at getting it back friday! just waiting for parts.

 

mm mmm, nice and expensive

 

Honestly you should have gotten a rebuilt tranny. I would be bascically brand new. I had the auto in my 3.9 and it went at 130k. I got a rebuilt one and installed for $1400.