I have a 1997 Ram 1500, i just bought it about 2 months ago. It has 120k miles on it and today for the first time when I was backing my big boat up is was making a whining noise.

Any ideas? Thanks!!

 

Search around on the forum and you will find that the trannys in these trucks are junk and you will either need to rebuild or replace your tranny at some point. Your whining noise could be the pump going bad, torque convertor going bad, or any other multitude of problems that are common on these trucks.

 

It could be any of the things Speed mentioned, or it could be something you really don't have to worry about. These 97's had a little problem in the tranny that is more an annoyance than a real issue. When cold, the tranny can make a whining or roaring noise depending on how much gas you give it. Even though it sounds bad, it's really harmless. They had a TSB that addressed it by doing all sorts of changes to the tranny but I think it said it only needed to be done to make the customer happy. Mine makes that whining, roaring sound when cold, but it goes away as soon as it warms up. So far, no problems.