Ok I have some issues with my 97 Dakota 4x4 5 speed. Heres the deal sometimes I cant get it in or out of gear while the truck is running. If its off I can shift throught the gears just fine. Then again sometimes if it gets hard to shift if I put it in neutral and pump the clutch or just shut it off and restart it it will shift just fine again. But now its sitting in my parking lot and the only way it will go into 1st 2nd or reverse is while the truck is not running, will go into 3rd 4th and 5th with a little effort. If you try 1st or 2nd while its running it just wont go and if you try reverse it just grinds. Ive had several people look at it including my local dodge dealer and everyone says they dont know they havent seen that before. Now you guys on here have probably heard every problem a dodge has ever had, so I really am hping that someone can help me cause at this point my baby may have to go as its supposed to be my daily driver...well when it chooses tobe anyway.

 

sure sounds like your clutch is gone,
or you're low on hydro fluid...
hopefully its the fluid

 

This sounds to me like the clutch is not disengaged.Check the slave cylinder,linkage,and clutch assy.

 

I'm going to guess either the hydraulic system needs replacing (it can't be serviced... no bleed valve), or the syncros are on their way out. Is your truck a v6 or v8? I ask cause you either have the AX-15 or the NV3500. If its the NV3500 and the syncros are going out, start looking for a transmission cause most shops won't touch them.

 

Also sounds like it could be a bit of a syncroniser prob inside he trans. Either way, a busted trans or clutch is no reason to let it go though. both are relatively fixes

 

actually theres also the nv1500

if im not mistaken the ax15 is only behind the 4cylinder
i can service my hyro system

and if you cant get a trans shop to repair a trans with syncros, you're not looking hard enough thats why there are trans specific shops and thats why they're so expensive

 

well the master slave assembly is brand new. so what do ya'll suggest i do next

 

ive already done a rearend, master/slave assembly, throw out bearing-thats when i was told the clutch isnt bad, so far in the past 5 months ive dropped about 2000 in her and its not getting better.

 

id say its the hydro fluid, do you have a reservoir on hte firewall next to the brake booster?

 

I didn't know the nv1500 was available in '97. The only two I knew of were the ax-15 behind the 4 and 6 cyl, and the nv3500 behind the v8. Did they change it after the first gens ended in '96?

And I can service my hydo assembly also, but it isn't designed to... just takes a little innovation that I don't want to get into. Unless they changed them for gen 2 also, they aren't designed to be bled, cause they have no bleed valve.