My father has tasked me with selling his '97 Ram 1500, with the 360. It is a 93k mile truck - he has had it since 40k and it is in excellent shape. It runs and shifts very well, however, on the 3-4 shift it makes a strange high-pitched "whirring" noise before 4th gear engages. It ONLY happens on the 3-4 shift, not during any other shifting. It also shifts just fine - the noise is a bit disconcerting though! What could this possibly be, bad fluid or a mis-adjusted band? I'm pretty sure it's on the 3-4 shift, I will be driving it again tomorrow to double check though. I was planning to drop the pan to change the fluid anyways and would like to get the problem squashed!

 

See what you find when you drop the pan.......

 

Mine makes a similar noise through shifts, doesn't slam into gear or slip, just makes a noise, so im not to worried about it.

 

I dropped the pan, changed the filter and put some fresh ATF+4 in yesterday. The old fluid and filter didn't look too bad, and there was very little stuck to the magnet in the pan. With the new fluid the truck still runs and drives great- like you say tweav, it doesn't slam or slip or anything, and the fluid has been consistently changed. Guess it'll have to do!