I just bought this beautiful 2001 Dodge Dakota EXT with the 4.7 about 4 days ago. After driving a lot of miles on the highway the past 4 days, I was driving a steady 80MPH on a highway this evening whenI hear a big pop, the speedometer went to zero and I coasted the truck to a stop. No gears will engage including park, but the drive shaft is spinning just fine, speedometer is working again but still nothing. The dealership provided me with a 1000 mile, 30 day warrenty so I had it towed back hopeing they will fix it.

Ive heard problems about Dodge rear ends, I tried to find something in the search pertaining to my problem but no luck.

What did I do to the truck? What am I going to have to go through to fix this? Is the rear end blown?

 

Could be your transmission or your Rear Diffential fluid was low and all the gears messed up and your stuck with that hunk of junk Never had a problem with my 02 Dodge Dakota except my damn tranny stickin until I got it drained and changed the filter

 

Typically if the rear end grenades you have a ride you won't soon forget - rear tires locked up and truck careening off the road. Is it a 4wd? If so did you try shifting the xfer case? Sounds like it popped into neutral. or the chain broke. That's not unheard of.

And I've never heard that the chrysler 8.25 and 9.25 axles are known to blow up, except when run without oil.

 

 

The guys at the shop said the gear pinion broke. He said basically the entire rear end was toast. Told me from my abuse to the truck, but that is just stupid car lot mechanics.

 

It's 2 wheel drive and Im thinking the guy who had the truck before me drove the dog out of it.

 

my rear end went out last year, I caught it before it blew though. I guess some clip that holds the clutch packs in snapped off. 1k later and she was good as new

 

yea, they said they have to replace the entire rear end assembly.... i hope these car lot guys do it right, otherwise im going to have to come out of pocket for this real soon. whats the best/fastest way to test the durability of a rear end? I want to TRY and make sure it'll last, mywarrenty will expire after the work will be completed.

 

do a burnout

no, it should be fine after there done with it. I guess you could jack up the rearend and spin the tires to see if theres any play in it or take the diff cover off and check their work.

 

I tell you what, I can do a standstill burnout all the way into 4th gear at 6000 rpms, that should test it