In no way do I feel offended. I feel pretty stupid for all the **** I post guys. I know why you guys think I'm a joke half the time. I'm always bragging about this and that, and just being all over the place. This whole transmission ordeal has really made me see a different side to everything. I just can't wait to get my truck back and take care of her. No more excessive burnouts, just DRIVING and appreciating my baby. I know why you guys gave me a lot of ****, because from your standpoint, I just sounded like an annoying kid with a nice dodge, who didn't know what he was talking about. You guys can bet you'll see a new me on this forum from now on. Now that I have more of an understanding about what a big lifted truck is about. I can't promise you won't see some exhaust videos now and then because this truck sure does have a nice growl. But, yeah, I've been stupid guys, real stupid. I know what to do now. And from now on, I'm focusing on whats going to improve the health of the truck. All the fancy wheel crap can come way later down the road like you said Silver. So thank you guys. Now, I'll just get that tranny taken care of. I think we can put this never ending book of a thread to rest now, and I'm just going to chill out, and "just drive" my truck around. Sorry guys, I've just been on a 7 month excitment rant with this truck, and now that something has finally broken, it's time to start enjoying this truck and stop trying to make it show everyone what it has everyone second. Ok, let's end this thread so you guys can get a break! Wooh[8D]

 

are we there yet? i have to go to the bathroom!!

 

Ill hold you to it

 

I hate my work schedule I miss all the posts from being gone from 4 to 5 complete days a week, but anywho. I bet most of user error like most people said, BUT i'm not going to touch that. I have my V10 dually 4x4 with mods from homemade mostly. (head and intake porting and all that). That truck huals *** unloaded with basically no strain on it what so ever. The trans was weak on it when i got it over a year ago and i know i don't drive pussyfooted by anymeans. I'm sure its weak due to pulling weight though due to it being a 1 ton dually oh and the obvious it did have a 5th wheel rails in it when i bought it. The truck has a leveling kit on it and is like almost 2 inches overall tall then my 1500 which still kinda makes me wonder at time with only 265's on believe. I dont have the money for new wider rims for it yet because i don't like spacers usually but when i do i'm getting 285's. Solid truck drives down the street straight at any speed i want to throw at it. Like i said she moves with little to no strain, i love the V10. By the way if it matters to you or not it has 124k roughly.Now the 1500 4x4 bone stock is mostly a joke at an speed in comparison. I want to put a lift on it and 35's, but I let my dying disabled father drive it because he has nothing. I know i need to give that truck a good once over on the suspension because something has to be out of wack. I love this truck a lot too, its really nice sometimes to go to most parking lots with a extended cab shortbed compared to the big fat assed black bitch which i call my dually. The 5.9 seems to be underpowered and all that which i plan on looking at the plenum when Michigan decides it wants to warm back up alittle. The 1500 and the 3500 are night and day differences which i'm sure wasn't hard to guess that. The 3500 seems to be built one hell of a hole lot more sterdy which it has to be due to what its made for. Now i'm a drag racer at heart. I've had over 19 mustangs, 2 chargers(68 and 69) and a hemi cuda. Currently I have a 23 Ford T bucket which is my cruiser/go fast car. When its nice and warm and i feel a major need for speed i don't find myself looking for one of my trucks keys (which i modded v10 could fill) but i go towards my bucket. Yeah it looks like i own alot and all that but hard work does pay off, plus overseas pay is really nice when i was active. I also have another go fast vehical and thats a modded 2k Mustang Steeda. I may be only 24 but i've gone threw school for racing suspension fab. and UTI's hotrod program. Go figure i'm a Tow truck operator, i dont really want to work on cars full time either DD's or race because i'll loose alot of it as I hobby which is more important to me. Anyways i've went through all this to show you i have experienced a lot in my almost 25 years on this earth. Now from what you was describing i would look over your truck a lot more before making any drastic changes. Also on a 5 inch lift it came with new coils and all that i'm guessing, did the guy save all stock suspension componants and do you have them? Give the truck a nice new set of new shocks and give it a good once over. You said you don't know much of what there is to know? This place has some of the best dodge pesific information I have came across, as these are my first 2 dodge trucks i'm still learning alot on these. I hate to jump on the bashing bandwagon though as to say most of what i see go wrong with your truck is user fault. Yeah you said the trans was weak when you got it and all that, but as you stated this is a TRUCK, drive it as one. That is all the negative i am going to say because you said you was going to get some act right! Also i wish i had mommy or daddy capiable to help me out with money when something breaks as i've put well over 32 thousand dollars alone on my t bucket and i've got well over 25 grand in a Race prepped 392 stroked race prepped engine in my garage built by me except for the engine machining. Just sit down and give a serious thought as to what you want to do with your truck and what your abilities as either a driver or mechanic or well as you seem to do pay someone else to do.

 

My motor slurps down about 2 quarts of oil through the plenum every 3000 miles and it hasn't done a darn thing to the tranny. Maybe I have other issues to be concerned with but I know for a fact the plenum is one of them. I've taken my throttle body off my intake to see a pool of oil towards the back of the intake and there certainly is a leak... As far as that making my tranny have problems though, absolutely not. As someone said before, it'll cost you $500 bucks, yeah somewhere around there depending on how fast they work, but considering a $75-$100 dollar an hour charge plus parts which are normally double retail price if you buy it yourself, you may want to consider doing the work yourself once and for all. At least then you'll be a little more familiar with your truck, otherwise you can do what most Dodge owners do. Absolutely nothin! These motors don't even need oil changes because they are so reliable! You can probably just add oil whenever it's low and still get the motor to go 250,000 miles.

Have the shop look at your tranny like they were meant to in the first place. If they don't do that they'll probably point out how there are some scratches, knicks, cuts and bruises all over the under side of your car and then some that's in need of repair too... Which of coarse, will be repaired at a rate of around $75.00 an hour a la 01DodgeRam360...

 

If you have any type of lift that's not built well, including a body style lifts, it's going to just be something to prop your truck up into the air for show and your going to simply raise the truck's center of gravity, meaning you'll not have the stability like you want. If you can't afford to redo your lift properly, best thing is just bring your truck back down to around stock, and work your way up from there. Maybe some add a leafs in the rear with your rear leaf springs rearched, and something from a reputable company like fabtech or procomp to lift the front otherwise you might be following the path of "mickey mouse" as some might say and that's simply half ***.

 

http://allpar.com/fix/trans.html

Information on transmissions you might be interested in.

Fluid loss

Kelli Bee wrote: “I wanted to let you know of an issue I had with a 1998 Neon. I was told by the dealer that I needed a new transmission. It was leaking about a quart every 8 miles. The car shifted fine when it had fluid so I got two more opinions. One said new transmission, the last said there was a cut in the cooler line that no one bothered to check. While I thought it was the seals, it was in fact easier and cheaper than that. You might want to let people know to check that also, since most of us can do basic work but are confused to the actual way to inspect a transmission.�

Using quality parts in a rebuild - don't trust the repair shop!

Master Tech Bill wrote:

I have made a living doing these transmissions since 1990 and have read your page and it's great. I have dealt with aftermarket shops and also worked for dealerships.

The advice I have for anyone getting their trans rebuilt is - go to the local dealer and buy a front carrier (planetary gear) and rear carrier (planet or planetary gear). Bring them to the shop and insist that they are put in. Make sure the dealer sells you the one with the hardened spline -front and the 5 pinion rear. All the aftermarket is saturatedwith parts from Taiwan. It's like the difference between Snap-On and Harbor Freight.

If you have first release overdrive hub it has to be updated to the new hub and and also the 2-4 hub to match the front planet if the trans is made before 7/93 for the 1994 model year. The 2-4 hub breaks quite often and now has a thicker collar. Best bet-buy all four pieces if (built in) 1993 and earlier, all models if you can afford it. They have all been redesigned and strengthened.

If you get your trans done at an aftermarket shop what you are charged for the Taiwan parts is most likely pretty close to the dealer price for the mopar gears.

Dealing with rebuilders and repair shops

Christopher Grimm also had this advice for dealing with shops:

If you're looking at a rebuild, do your homework. See if the shop knows about shift improvement kits for the 604, they DO exist! Also ask them about a wiring harness upgrade, and how they set the clearances in the tranny. See if they mention adding another clutch pack to the 1-2 clutch pack, so that there is 5 instead of 4 in there. Make sure they replace the spider gears!!! Above all, make sure they use the proper fluid! If not, don't even bother. If they met all the requirements except the fluid, ask them if you can supply your own. Also see if they can get the 9" converter, $$$, but worth it if you want your engine to rev a little quicker. There are also different gear sets available, I have the 3:55s in mine. I never told you what the clearances should be did I? Make sure they set them at the lowest setting possible. This will shorten the shift time, firm up the shift, and give you more life out of the tranny. Good luck. One more thing, an auxiliary cooler is a must!

[See the earlier tips about replacing components with updated dealer parts]

 

I am kinda getting sick of this thread... It's not just me is it?

No offense 360 but, you just have to make up you mind. forget about everything except for your tranny. That is number 1. Remove your lift with some friends or just leave it on. If you leave it on, just drive slow and safely so as not to **** up your tranny if it's not 100% gone already.

If the shop has taken over 3 days to do anything about your tranny, get it the **** out of there. Start doing your own testing to it. Check the fluid Level! Crack open the pan! See what's siting at the bottom of the pan by the magnet! Is there anything like chunks of metal or paper? Find out! If nothing but regular tiny microscopic metal fragments are there, change the Filter and adjust the Bands with the assistance of a $20.00 repair manual or a free repair manual from the library that you can borrow! Put everything back together! Add Fresh Fluid! See if it still leaks! Find the leak! Focus on that for now! Then if you want, pull the tranny yourself! Take your time and be Safe! That right there will save you $150 bucks as opposed to being charged for someone to remove it for you for some repair or rebuild! And who knows, maybe take a look inside, or just start calling places about it instead of having it towed for who knows how much in order to take it to a shop that takes their sweet time to fix your truck that you seem to be very interested in fixing as soon as possible.

 

I think you missed the part were he said he had taken the truck out of that shop and had an appointment set up with somewhere else. I think he has also decieded that if the the tranny has a small problem he'll have it fixed and the work on the lift till he has enough money to replace the tranny.

 

I think in addition to the Truck of the Month vote...we should have a
LAMEST THREAD OF THE MONTH vote.......
I nominate this thread...

If you want a big truck dont buy a 1500, If you want a fast truck--dont put ginormous tires on it...and if you do put the right gears in etc. The tranny--give me a break. You know that you have to be gentle with these trannys and your blasting the **** out of it and then whining when it breaks...

Slap a tranny in it, sell it, or pour some TRANS-X in the ATF and see if the tranny acts right---then sell itand buy a v10 or diesel 2500 or 3500.

You can mod the **** out of a Ford Taurus...but it still won't be a BMW....bad comparison? maybe.