hey guys, im New to the forum. but I have a 97 ram 1500 with 315/70R17's and three inches of lift with stock 3.55 gear ratio. my tranny has been acting up lately. it doesn't slip, but it has trouble shifting from 2 to 3. every other gear shifts fine. the majority of the time if I let off the gas while in the high end of 2nd gear it will shift on its own, but not if i stay on the gas. and I sometimes have to manually shift from 2 to D, especially when im low on gas. has anyone else had this problem or know what could be wrong? ive heard everything you can imagine from multiple tranny shops and am on my 3rd rebuild since New. thanks guys!


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Regear you differentials, so you aren't trying to turn those meats with 3.55 gears..... 4.56 would be good....

Trans temp gauge would be good too.

 

replace your governor solenoid and sensor, i have a 97 5.2 with 34s on it had the same exact issue, replaced those along with my TCC solenoid and O/D solenoid and boom it shifts like a champ now

 

I had the same problem a few years ago. I changed out my gears to 4.56 after 3 or so years with the big tires and ended up burning out my trans. I hope that you can regear in time. Just an fyi, it is great with the new gears and new transmission.

 

I did that and still had problems especially on uphill grades.

 

really? ive had no issues to date, my buddys runnin 35x15x15's on his truck with no lift and hasnt had one tranny hiccup

 

Ya'll got lucky then. Everyone I know has nothing but problems going to 34+ size tires. The trans overheats even with external coolers. That overheating will cause a breakdown of the transmission. I went through one rebuild before I realized that the 3.55 gears in it was not sufficient. That second rebuild lasted about 10k miles. Before I rebuilt it the third time I installed the 4.56 gears front and rear first. I have 20k on it now and have had no problems with it. I 4x4 A LOT and take long road trips weekly. I never kick out of overdrive on uphill grades and am at 2000 rpms max when heavy wheeling in the sand as opposed to 3500+ rpms when I had the 3.55 gears. It was nothing but problems.

 

How did he fit those tires on there with out a lift?

 

i honestly do not know, i just know it was a 1996 4x4 1500 short box, with 35x15x15 super swampers. i went wheeling with him multiple times and he hammered it never rubbed once and you could see the suspension was clearly stock, he trimmed just a hairs width off the front bumper, it was a 5spd too thing went everywhere we needed it too

 

awesome! so a regear and governor solenoid replacement? anyone ever done a regear themself? how hard is it and how much time did it take? also, those of you who regeared, did you notice and change in mpg? and if i wanted to go 37's in the future, would 4.56 be good for them?