Everything I read is pickin on dodgeram360. geez. lol

 

Ya know, after some more reading of all this mindless rubbish that people are saying about you and the way you drive and after just trying to see the problem for what it is tohelp diagnose the issue, it looks like you just roasted the tranny since it was already on it's way out before you decided to take a long trip by overheating it and then suddenly shutting it down before it got a chance to cool down by circulating the tranny fluid through the radiator for a little while. If the motor started to rev up when you put the truck in park, the PCM was probably trying to run the tranny fluid through the radiator to cool things off before you shut down the truck. These trucks were designed to take care of themselves to a certain extent. For example, when your tranny isn't shifting out of 2nd gear or even out of 1st gear and just revving real high, your tranny is not just acting up because it's broken. There are built in failsafes designed into the PCM & tranny to prevent serious damage from occuring too soon if at all posible. When an engine in our trucks revs real high and the tranny doesn't engage the next gear, this is what's called limp mode. This, "Limp mode," is designed to allow more tranny fluid to be cooled through the radiator and to give the transmission a break simply by causing the driver to take notice that something is wrong and do something about it by simply taking it easy for a little while if the driver takes it easy at all...

People who drive big rigs often if not always keep their engines running after they are done driving all the time. Not because they have tranny overheating issues, but because of the turbos they have on their motors are often Oil Cooled and Lubricated. Meaning, without the engine running the turbo's turbine shaft, and bearings overheat and wear themselves out quickly. Turbos are often only oil cooled and lubricated by just a tiny layer of oil that only does it's job when the motor is running and the oil pump is constantly refreshing the turbo's bearings. If a motor suddenly shuts down, what happens is the turbine shaft in the turbo, which is spinning at a very high rate, runs out of oil for lubrication almost immediately and overheats quickly. Thus, since big rig drivers know about this and know what to do about this, they keep the engine running for a little while to allow the turbine shaft to slow down and the oil to drop in temperature to prevent the turbine shaft from prematurely wearing itself out.

Same thing probably happened with your tranny. It was probably overheated and the PCM wanted to cool it down by running the engine at an appropriate speed to prevent serious damage from occuring. If or when you suddenly shut the truck down, you overrode the failsafe to cool off the tranny and allowed the internals of the tranny to just simmer in all that overheated fluid.

If you want to read more about this, crack open your trucks owners manual and start reading in the towing section. It says something like if your towing and the trans temp gets too high, you should drop into a lower gear to allow for the tranny fluid to be cooled faster since the fluid will be pumped through the radiator faster. Another thing it says is that If that doesn't help, to pull over and rev the engine at a constand RPM to allow things to cool down. Check it out.

And to everyone else, give this guy a break. He is just like the rest of us who do stupid things to our trucks every once in a while like leave an oily rag under the hood when the engine is running which sets the thing ablaze which isn't the worst part of the story like when the fire dept. shows up and just rips everything up while confiscating the local residents garden hose... Yeah you know what I'm talking about. Or like when your taking a turn at 50 on a mountain road and the *** end gets really loose, outa control like a motha****a loose, and your on the wrong side of the road aiming for a ditch and you end up swerving onto the other side of the road only to find your truck in a position about 2 feet from rolling since the truck is already standing on only 2 wheels with nothing stopping you from going down a hill except for The Almighty's hands keeping you from wrecking out along with the lumber rack on your truck holding you in place while leaning up against a 4000 gallon sistern tank on a Friday night. Yeah... Nov, 9 2007. That was almost the end of my career... And to all the other guys who have broken **** that I don't know about.

Just Chatafakup.

 

Well said.

 

sorry dude but after reading 5 pages of this post and your responses I have to agree that you are a total moron. You don't know jack about vehicles AT ALL let alone anything to do with a lifted truck. And I also agree that you ask everyones opinion but snub every word anybody says. so why bother asking?

There is lots of good advice in this thread and things that people have told you to check that may very well be causing your problems.
I agree the tires and the axle gearing are NOT whats blowing your tranny. How could they be? do you not understand how power is transmitted thru a vehicles drivetrain? let me give you a quickie education. the power starts at the engine. when you hit the gas the power from the engine is transmited thru the flywheel thru the torqu converter and transmission. from the transmission (if 4wd) the power then goes thru your transfercase and again if 4wd and in 4wd is split to the front and rear axles thru your driveshafts. the driveshafts turn the pinion gears which in turn spin the ring gears which in turn spin the axle shafts and those spin your tires. Power does not flow in reverse from the tires to the tranny. yes its true the extra weight and size of the tires means that they need more power to spin, thats where your axle gearing comes into play.

For example, the transmission in my Jeep has now seen 3 different tire sizes. the stockers on stock 3.55 gears, 33s on 3.55 gears, 33s on 4.10 gears and now 35s on 4.10 gears. let me tell you that the tranny in my Jeep is about the only original part left on the damn thing. If your bigger tires will damage anything its going to be axle components. particularly wheel hubs and ball joints.

Dude if you dont want people giving you **** LISTEN to the advice people give you when you ask for it. dont just dismiss it. many people on this board have alot more years, knowledge and experience on you. so shut the trap and open the flaps.

 

Ok, it goes to tranny shop today. And from this point, I'm all ears with ya fellas.

 

WOW!, I did not read all of this thread but i got the jest of it. I just towed a trailer from wa to ut in one of the biggest storms that they have had down here and my Ram did great, we had wind mountian passes everthing........no problem.

Sounds like you need to get one of those rice burners to go real fast.

 

I don't care about top speed...if I was into truly speeding still I would have kept that silly neon. As for abuse of this truck with me romping on it, I think its a half *** argument. What about slamming your truck through mud & sticks in 4 low, that can't be great for the truck. I would bet speeding is less damaging then slamming a truck through the mud or the woods. I really don't do mudding at all, so consider it a trade-off, instead of abusive offroading, I do my fun on the streets. You guys should have seen this truck when I bought it, it was in rough shape. It was on the break of becoming a beater mudder truck, or becoming something nice like it is now. It was all dented up, hood couldn't even open, had an old rusted through exhaust system, the doors were all sagging, it goes on. The way the truck looks and performs is a testiment to the way I treat my truck. One thing I do know how to do is maintain a vehicle and keep it very clean. So people can jab me and say I don't know anything about vehicles, but I hardly see people around my town with vehicles that look as crisp and new as mine, and it's because of the way I take care of her. Forgive me if I'm wrong, but I stand confident that doing a few peelouts and opening up the 360 is as abusive or maybe less abusive than putting it into 4 low every weekened and tossing it through the woods scratching up the paint and wining it through mud, so come on guys, you can't play this card on me anymore. I take care of my truck, and I'm not a blindless owner, I take the right steps to keep after it. I love this thing, and I do my best to maintain her. Since July when I bought it, this truck has really seen some major improvements. I took care of all the body work, use mobil synthetic oil, bought a thuren fabrication trackbar, allignments, keep on balance and rotations, completely new and fresh exhaust system, complete tune-up, exterior details...hell those are just a few. I may not know the most here, but can we stop making this a who knows more contest. I'm ready to listen though guys, but only if you were willing to meet me half way here, and understand many of you take negative approaches towards me. I'm open ears, hell I need your help, and I'm ready to listen. Just know that I'm not an "idiot" and I am listenting to everything you guys are saying to me.

Now as for the transmission, I checked the fluid, and well, it's pretty much full. It lost about a 1/2 quart, which would explain what was left in my grandparents driveway, but I couldn't imagine a 1/2 quart of transmission oil to cause that harsh of a shifting issue... I'm having triple a towe the truck again over to the transmission shop. I'll keep you guys updated with what they say, and I AM OPEN EARS from this point guys.

 

[quote]ORIGINAL: Slomojo01

Ya know, after some more reading of all this mindless rubbish that people are saying about you and the way you drive and after just trying to see the problem for what it is tohelp diagnose the issue, it looks like you just roasted the tranny since it was already on it's way out before you decided to take a long trip by overheating it and then suddenly shutting it down before it got a chance to cool down by circulating the tranny fluid through the radiator for a little while. If the motor started to rev up when you put the truck in park, the PCM was probably trying to run the tranny fluid through the radiator to cool things off before you shut down the truck. These trucks were designed to take care of themselves to a certain extent. For example, when your tranny isn't shifting out of 2nd gear or even out of 1st gear and just revving real high, your tranny is not just acting up because it's broken. There are built in failsafes designed into the PCM & tranny to prevent serious damage from occuring too soon if at all posible. When an engine in our trucks revs real high and the tranny doesn't engage the next gear, this is what's called limp mode. This, "Limp mode," is designed to allow more tranny fluid to be cooled through the radiator and to give the transmission a break simply by causing the driver to take notice that something is wrong and do something about it by simply taking it easy for a little while if the driver takes it easy at all...
quote]

Please tell us more on how the PCM is trying to run the trans fluid ???

the PCM ON newer trucks does control some things with the trans.. put tell us more about this ??

 

and if we are really worried about the trans cooling or heating do what i do , we all pretrip our rides before we leave right ??? while the truck is warming up put it in N do your walk around and when you are gonna park it let it sit with the e brake on in N for a min then shut it down...

 

That's very true too, I remembered somebody mentioned this before, and since then I've added it into my ritual, as stupid as that sounds. I've come to a conclusion with what I want to do with the truck though. I just needed to sleep on it. I am keeping the lift, and I am keeping the 35" sized tires. BUT, what I do think I'm going to do, is get rid of the nobby mud tires. I don't need them. I don't do any hardcore offroading. I've been looking into the Procomp All-Terrains, and the Procomp All-Terrain Extemes. I'm even a little nervous to go with the extremes. I think what I'm more looking for is a smooth ride. The tires on the truck fit the lift well. When I look at my truck, it doesn't strike me as out of proportion or oversized, it's just right. I think when I get a smooth treaded tire that is geared for the roads, I will be much more happy with its performance and the end of the thick mud tire tread against the pavement. What do you guys think of the procomps, think that would be a good solution? I was just looking at the truck, and you guys are right, it'd be silly to dismantle what it has. I know I'd be really sad if I lowered it. I love hopping into that thing all high up and loud, it makes my day. I just hate the tires, they don't fit me at all. If your in mudding, then sure, the compromise of the loud ride and the poor performance in snow and rain would be something you'd take a hit on. I think when I achieve a nice smooth ride, and can just hear the sound of the flowmaster doing its work, I'll be much more happy, and the focus will no longer be on the size of those tires. What do you guys think? I also just dropped the truck off at the transmission shop, so I'll see what they say when they call me back.