I have a 2000 dodge ram 2500 4x4 with a auto trans. My trans was shifting a little odd kinda felt like it was up and down shiftin at weird times especialy under heavy acceleration so I changed the tps sensor and checked the down shift cable. I then went to change the trans fluid and filter and found a big chunk of metal it is wedge shaped about 3/4 of a inch wide 1 inch tall and has a small notch in the top and at the bottom fat part has a half circle indent about the size of a pea. I looks allot like the end of a air chisel but isnt. Does any one have any idea what this is and where it goes? Thanks Dan K

 

I think that is one of the levers that operates one of the bands. There was a post similar to this in MonteC's trans thread...... it is possible that the band just became too loose, and the part fell out, or, the band itself may be broken..... and the part fell out. Either way, check the procedure for adjusting the bands, (its in the service manual, available for download from the FAQ section of these forums) Check it out, and it should become apparent where it goes. You might get lucky. You might have to rebuild your trans. (which wouldn't be quite so lucky......)

 

It's a band anchor. It goes above the valve body where it'll be obvious enough once you get the valve body out. Don't drive the truck until you get it, and perhaps the band it belongs to, replaced.

 

can the band be replaced w/o removing the entire trans? if so, the cost will be sort of reasonable.

but depending on cost... the only thing to think about is, is it a good idea to sink 500 bucks into a repair of a 10 year old trans with probably a lot of miles. or, if you're going to keep the truck, is it a better financial move to suck it up and spend 1500 on a rebuild with all new bands, clutches, governor stuff. depending on a lot of things, you have to decide where to draw the line on the repair cost.

but like unreg said, don't drive it, other than maybe directly to the trans shop. and call ahead and get pricing first.

 

Yes, it can. The stock bands won't go in without a teardown, but there are replacement bands that can be installed easily enough without taking the whole monstrosity apart. The only tricky part is removing the old band, if it's not broken already. A proficient DIY'er could handle the job.

If squeezing the remaining miles out of the transmission is the goal, this is the way to do it. The only question is just how many miles might remain in a transmission that burped up a band anchor in the first place, and has seen some miles since it did.

Very good point. I'm so strongly in agreement that I'm ordering up a PATC Mega Viper on Monday or Tuesday.

 

Do give us a solid review on the trans, including the stall you choose.

When mine gives up the ghost, this is the one I'm considering as replacement. I figure it won't be long with the way I beat on it.


did you see the opening i left for you, VW?

 

Unless PATC talks me out of it I'll be going for 1800RPM stall, and I don't think I'll succeed in talking myself out of pointlessly upgrading to the billet converter. I'm like a dumb little kid in a candy store every time I hit PATC's site and have to constantly remind myself that I'm not building a monster truck.

Objectivity might not settle in until after the first 50,000 miles have passed and I've hacked open the remote filter to see what's in it... up until then I'm going to be grinning like a drunk monkey after every nice crisp upshift. I've had just one automatic that I didn't build or have built for me, so unless the thing spews its guts all over the the highway I'll probably write a terribly confirmation biased review of it.

 

I orderd the band anchor from dodge $12 and will be in this week the truck only has 75,000 miles on it. I bought it off Ebay and had it shipped to me, in Transit the truck was put on the top of a car hauler and hit a overpass I bought the salvage back and replaced the cab and doors. Is it possible that when the truck got rocked by the over pass that it jarred that anchor loose? It does have a small chip missing from th bottom circular indent. Thanks for all the help!! Dan K

 

i don't know - maybe. an overpass collision at what - 70mph would be an awfully hard hit. i'd think it could knock anything loose. it didn't fall off the hauler ?

 

I'm not a professional mechanic so I've got limited experience to draw from, but the few times I've seen a band anchor fall out it's been because the band above it was broken. I've never worked on a vehicle that was as abused as yours was, either.

That sucks, the carrier ramming an overpass with your truck.