Hi, I'm kinda new to the forum. Have been keeping up with the 1st gen Ram and 2nd gen Dakota forums for a couple of years now but this is my first post.

My 98 3.9L automatic 4x4 Dakota Sport has been experiencing some major shifting issues:
1) About a one to three second hesitation between when I press in on the gas and when the gears actually engage and the truck begins to roll (the truck then lurches forward once they actually engage). This is present in both forward and reverse and occurs whenever I first put the transmission in gear and any time I leave from a dead stop.
2) Under constant throttle the truck will bounce around in RPMs as if hunting for which gear it should be in. Under heavy throttle it will barely shift at all and can jump all the way to 5500 RPMs before finally shifting.

Any advice on these issues would be very appreciated and thanks for taking the time out to read about my problem!