Hi everyone.. Been a while..was told to start my own thread on this issue.. I have a 1996 Ram ext cab. lately when I hit 1, 200 RPMS the truck shakes until it hits 2,000 PRMs, or
I hit Overdrive, then it stops. Any ideas where to start to get this resolved?

 

does the truck ride like you have flat spots on tires?

 

My 97 does that with 207,000 miles on it. I think it is the torque converter not "unlocking." Hoping it is something more simple to fix, but that was the best guess of the experts on here.

 

iT IS DEFINATELY NOTHING TO DO WITH MY NEW TIRES..iT IS JUST BETWEEN 1,200 AND 2,00 rpms and if I turn the O.D. on it stops, so it is someting in the transmision i bet, maybe the bands need to be tightened..The exhaust is popping too, so that akes me think spark plugs may be in order as well.

 

the shaking and popping might be related, or might not.

if the truck is skipping (misfiring), that will cause the engine/truck to shake.
sometimes at higher rpm's the skipping will either stop, and/or the higher rpm's will overcome the shake.

however, i can't image that OD on would help matters. i'd expect OD on to make it worse. are you sure the problem goes away with overdrive ON, or does it go away with overdrive OFF?

just a piece of info. since torque converter lockup gives you a hard connection between engine and tires, with no transmission slip, shaking tends to felt more when tc is locked. also, problems in the tc lockup can also create some shuddering effects.

did the 2 problems start at the same time? or different times?

i doubt that it has anything to do with transmission bands.
if you haven't had a tuneup in the past 3 years, consider doing that.

 

Does it do it a few times then goes away for a little while? And it jerks pretty bad too right? If so...

I had this same problem before, or almost the same. Mine would also not do it if the O/D was off (light on). I went and got the transmission rebuilt... It still did it! Then I went and replaced the intake manifold with a hughes one, replaced the cap, rotor spark plug wires and spark plug. It has not done it since.

So, before you spend big bucks on a rebuild that is possibly unnecessary, do the full tune up and a plenum fix or maybe a new Hughes Intake manifold, maybe that'll fix it. If not, the new stuff will still help your truck.

 

Thanks everyone for the helpful advice.. YES the OD is off( light on ) I made a mistake when I said on.. I may try the tune up and new spark plugs and cables then go from there! Thanks

 

The tune up is good advice. I will do that same and see if it fixes my problem, too.

 

You guys should probably also do some sort of engine treatment, I recommend Seafoam. While you're doing the plenum or Hughes airgap, if you're gonna do that, an oil change would be good too.

 

Still not sure why it would only do this shaking at low RPMs when you would expect it to down-shift if it was a spark plug issue....but, since I haven't changed my plugs, wires, rotor since I got the truck 2 months ago, I will not discount this as a probable cause until I make that change.