2001 Dakota SLT low miles and we'll taken care of...hit a dip going to fast and wheels came off the ground...when I landed it was like the truck was in neutral.... The tranny light is on.and a weird whine coming from front...sounds like maybe front pump...all linkage is good.pan is fine filter is in place ....all the lines are fine...the only thing I see wrong is a broken ground wire that's bolted to one of the transmission bolts and is long ...haven't traced it...began pulling tranny and just noticed it....would this wire cause this???its so odd for a front pump to all of a sudden go out from a rather hard bump...well lol all 4 did come off the ground ...please help

 

What engine do you have? You say filter so I'm guessing it's not the 4.7, it has two, and sometimes there are problems with aftermarket filters on it.

 

I'm starting to wonder about the long ground wire I found broken.it connects to the transmission...a person wouldn't ground off the transmission, therefore the ground wire is intended for the transmission.I under stand the front pump is manual...its doing the whining....is there an electric pump under the filter that this found wire could have effected?

 

what motor and transmission is it? As Dan said, there are two filter on the 4.7 / (5)45RFE combination, of which the internal is known to come loose and cause a no-hydraulic-pressure situation.

The 4XRE transmissions (3.9, 5.2, 5.9) are mostly hydraulic with a little bit of electronics...supposedly if you unplug the PCM harness, you should have manual 1, 2, 3 (drive) with no convertor lockup or O/D.

 

The 45RFE does not have an electric pump. Even if one ground wire is broken, the transmission and engine are bolted together and there are other grounds.

I'd be looking at the filters. If it's whining you're likely sucking air.

 

magnet and dan you guys know your shyt. nice to have around.

wheels off the ground. wow.

any codes? large puddles of fluid? chunks of metal laying around?

I'm watching this one. It ain't the ground wire.

 

Okay,so we have came to the conclusion that its gonna be the filters...I had it out at a steep angle 4 wheel driving previously...I'm in the footheals of the Appalachian here at the southern tip of Ohio...now I'm hearing that when these Dakotas transmission filters go out they kick into a sorta neutral zone...in other words no gears...so I replaced both filters yesterday...im going out to tighten the pan after this coffee...the filters were pretty clogged...why it would've happened after hitting dip in alley I dunno...nothing else is outta order though..I strained fluid out and bought a quart of new...will post asap

 

the filter in the pan is known for having a bad seal. As soon as that barely-there seal is broken, the pump starts sucking air instead of transmission fluid.

True story: We'd just bought our 05 ram 1500 brand new, and did the first transmission service about 4 months after buying it (dad drove 800-1000 miles a week back then) at a reputable well known family owned place. They apparently had not done one of the new 545RFE's yet, and when they dropped the lift, it had no hydraulic pressure. They asked dad if anything was known wrong, which was not the case. So they put it back up and dropped the pan, and realized that the filter had come un-seated. They actually had to call the dealer to ask what the proper filter install method was...turns out the filter they had (not sure what company) did not fit right, and the dealer had to bring a mopar filter in.

 

Magnet is spot on with his statement. The filter loses its seal and the tranny sucks air.

Use a Mopar filter too. Some of the aftermarkets are pretty poor.

 

So what was the outcome? I'm curious. I have a cheap Driveworks canister filter in mine (no anti-drainback valve) and I think I'll change it to Mopar on the next drain and fill.