I just recently started to drive this truck again after sitting for three monthes. I took it for a drive, it only had first then skipped second and the rest were fine. My reverse was also very strong. So i dropped the pan and found a black grease around the magnet,"no big chips" and my front band anchor had fell off. So i re-adjusted the front and rear bands to specs and cleaned out the valve body and reinstalled it with a new filter and atf+4 fluid. Got back to the truck and drove it and it now only has first and second both really strong with no third or overdrive, it wont even fall into third or overdrive, and when i thought things could get no worse the reverse started acting up. When you put it in reverse you could feel it go into reverse but when you accelerated the rpm it would slightly rise and then it would slam into reverse and whether you stopped again and go it was fine and real strong. Now its two weeks later and it dont even have reverse now and the reverse taillights dont work either when in reverse. The low first gear works and second as well as drive which puzzles me cause if reverse is bad i would suspect low first as well.. Im at a loss any help from anyone would be great. Sorry so long New member...

 

Anyone please??

 

I had almost exact same thing happen to mine. I was told by a friend of mine; her dad is retired tranny guy; that it is quite possible the front clutch pack is going out. Mine started out with little slip takeing off from a stop. Then the next day was driveing along and noticed the OD OFF light was on and couldnt get it to shut off, and it wouldnt go into overdrive. Latter thet night I drove it to his house and it went into OD but then I got what sounded like tire rubbing in the wheel well I hit the bracks and it stopped, he said it sounded like the front clutch pack grinding. He told me to leave the OD off. So when I got ready to leave it would go into reverse but wouldnt move, tranny fluid was burnt. It went into just 1st and 2nd but it wouldnt go into reverse without reving the engine and then it would go in hard. I replaced mine and am going to eventually tear it down to see what the problem was. Mine had 172,000 miles on it. I would look into getting rid of the check valve located in the cooling line. Black grease around the magnet does not sound good at all. There is a link on here somewhere for the factory service manual. Find the section on your tranny pay attention to the area on road test diagnostics. There is a table there that tells you what is applied and when when your in each gear, this will help you to understand why you have forward gears and no reverse or OD.
I hope this helps.

Dave

 

Does it have a on off switch for the Over Drive?
on some models there is a overdrive senor or vaccum pot to switch it into O D They attend to freeze up and not allow it to work properly.
If you have access to a heated shop leave it inside for a day and see if that work.

 

it does have a overdrive switch and seems to be working properly as for the light coming on and off and when i put it in reverse you can hear something sliding in the transmission like the band is just sliding on the drum.. could it really only be that check ball in the line by the radiator taking away my pressure?, and if possibly so how do i take it out.

 

some professional help please

 

You need to check your transmission fluid level, with the truck warmed up, in neutral with the ebrake on. Check the level, the color of the fluid, and how it smells. If it smells burnt, or looks discolored, you definitely have a problem.

 

When i had started to drive it again and noticed it skipping second gear i had dropped the pan and cleaned out the valve body and pan and put new atf 4 in it and fixed the band anchor and filter and then it had first and second but no third or overdrive and then eventually no reverse. the sunshell was not cracked the bands were not wore out or any glazing to the sunshell and i adjusted the bands back to specs which gave them only about a quarter of an inch slack. with the e brake on and in neutral it is right at the full mark. First and second are strong. When you put it in reverse you can hear the engine go under load but all you can hear is a real low sliding sound like the band is sliding on the drum. Do you think the rear servo may be jammed?

 

You are in a dead area and you need to post in your era of year of make.


2nd Gen Ram
1994 through 2001 Rams


~Rustin~

 

I got 1997 ram 2500 5.9 gas 46re.The tranny shuttles back and forth between 2 nd and 3rd gears.It shifts normally into 3rd and then all of a sudden it shifts back to 2nd gear.Anybody got any ideas why it does this?
Reverse and all the other gears seem fine and lockup works.Thanks for any help.