I have a 1998 Dodge Ram 1500 5.9 with 160,000 miles on it, when I get to around 45mph and it shifts into (what I believe to be) overdrive the rpm's drop to 1200ish like normal but with my it will start to sputter and stay that way until the rpms go above 1500. It does this when I'm going up hill at that speed and keeps hesitating until it shifts or goes above 1500.

The sputtering is not to bad but it is very noticeable to me (not my wife when she drives it). It's sux b/c I can get up to 45 very fast but its like all my power just drops off.

Any help would be appreciated, thanks.

 

Now you can do a tune up, but most likly its your torque converter locking up, i thinks it almost normal for these things, my truck hase done for 4 years, try dr.Tranny shudder fix, i havent tried it yet but i heard it will get rid that shudder.

 

Overdrive at 45MPH and on a hill... not good. Your engine's just working too hard to fight that tall gear ratio and the hill at the same time. When you come to a hill, manually drop out of overdrive.

The overdrive is meant to be used at times when you're cruising at highway speed and the engine is loafing. It's not meant to be used when the engine is going to work hard to maintain speed.

 

I did some research, seems to be (like you said) a torque converter problem. I put the Dr. Tranny shutter fix and it got alittle bit better will post again when I have put a few more miles on it. The problem seemed to come up after I did alot of towing with the truck.