I have a 99 dodge ram 1500 2wd 5.2l with 140k on it. I tow a 3000lb boat with it on the weekends. recently it started to make a whining noise in drive and reverse not neutral or park. I notice it at idle and any speed or load below about40 or 50mph at any temp.
Do you think i should just rebuild it and not try to figure out what it is, or do you think its something simple like a trans pump and worth fixing.

 

Welcome to Dodge Forum. I will move this to the main (technical) section, get you some additional help.

 

Simple like the trans pump? lol. Not simple, the metal shavings from a pump wearing out will destroy the rest of the tranny.

First things first though, how is the fluid level? Wipe the dipstick on a white rag, is there any blackness or metal shavings?

 

If it's not something easy like a fluid top-up, I'd suggest just going for the rebuild. In fact, skip right past the stock rebuild and get something from PATC.

In my own one-time experience, the whine got worse as the shift into overdrive did so it was clearly the overdrive unit letting go. I just didn't want to rebuild the OD unit only to later experience the damage caused by all of that friction material circulating in the ATF stream so I chucked the whole shebang. One and done.

Welcome to the forum!

 

I was looking at rebuilding it any way due to the milage, but im not sure how much longer i want to keep the truck. How much do you think im looking just for the rebuild kit and the nessary up grades in parts. Im an inport technician and think i could handle the rebuild. do you have any advice for special tools and procedures.