Okay folks, I am perplexed here. I bought a low miles but highly abused 2001 ram 1500 about 10 days ago. It has 3.9 auto & is 2wd. The rear tires I notice have intermittent small chunks missing. The problem - When I start to go form a stop, especially after it is warmed up, it shakes violently, then starts to smooth out after it makes a groaning noise, then is fine at speed. I noticed the rear tranny mount looked worn out, so I replaced it today & it still does it. I peeked in the rear diff filler hole & it has plenty of fluid, but it smells like sin. The u-joints seem fine. I checked those with it in neutral on level ground, zero play there no matter how I twisted or moved them. The shaft over all has about 1.5 inches of rotational play. I wonder if a worn shock can do this? The tranny shifts okay as far as I can tell. I could not get proper recall info from all data as they seem to charge for the full scoop now. I have not removed the diff cover completely yet, I am apprehensive to do it since I am too broke to buy new fluid & gasket for now. There is some body damage because the previous owner considered putting it in a demo derby, got drunk & the front driver's door & fender & headlights are far less than perfect. It only has 42k miles, so I figured it is worth the risk. I just want to find it to be simple & cheap to fix. Any help you can give would be appreciated.

 

Could be worn out shocks. Where does the groaning noise come from?

 

Need to find out why it is shaking..... What do your brakes sound like? Also may want to drop the rear drive shaft, and see if your u-joints are binding.....

 

Okay, the tranny shop said the forward clutches are shot, that is causing all the issues. Thanks for reading folks. I did check for recalls, there are none for this issue but it is strange that the salvage yards said they cant keep the 518 tranny in stock & they assume they are problematic. I am going to save $1300 for a proper rebuild from my tranny guy. Wish me luck!

 

If your transmission guy says you have a A518, find a new transmission guy. I hope that was just an off hand (and partially wrong) comment from the salvage yard.

The A518, also known as a 46RH/46RE, was only in the V8s. The V6s all had the A500, or 42RH/42RE.

Either way though, his comment about them being problematic is more or less correct. If properly taken care of, they will last a very long time, but abuse them at all, even a little, and they tend to fail pretty quick.

EDIT: https://dodgeforum.com/forum/2nd-gen...do-i-have.html

 

Thanks for the heads up on the tranny model. I even looked on ebay & they displayed 518's that were listed for a v8 or v6, elegedly dependant upon application. Interesting indeed.

 

There's nothing say you can't put the 46re in yours though.

 

Okay then guys, can any of you tell me exactly how to tell which tranny I have so I can find a junk yard replacement?

 

42re.