So after a bunch of minor issues with the trans in my brothers truck, he finally opted to rebuild it. We pulled it, did a complete tear down, cleaned all of the internals, reassembled with new frictions, steels, bands, seals and gaskets. Trans cooler lines were flushed and a new convertor was installed.

Now the bad: After the trans was re-installed we started the truck and in park it seems like there is a load on the engine. Going to drive, you can notice a change in rpm, but the truck only wants to try to move if the engine is above 1500 RPM. We shut the truck off and are trying to determine the best starting point.

Anyone have any ideas?

The truck is a 2001 Ram 1500 Regular cab, 4WD, 360 with the 46RE.

 

Check shifter linkage. Also check fluid level - warmed up and in neutral. Make sure cooling lines are connected properly. Also, how much end play did you have at input shaft?

 

The end play on the input shaft was .055" (The manual said between .034" and .084"), we checked the lines when we cleaned them. We did back flush the lines, but we did not change the check valve.

The shifter linkage seems to be OK. I put the trans in drive with the shifter, then disconnected the linkage to verify that the shift lever was in the correct location.

I did check the fluid level but it was high. It was at the same reading as it was before we started the truck. I did not let it warm up for fear of damaging the trans. The level was check with the truck running less than 30 seconds.

 

Truck needs to be running, in neutral to properly check fluid level.

Is the torque converter fully seated onto the pump? Sounds like it might be misaligned.... with all the bolts out, t/c should move back and forth a little bit, easily, if it is jammed tight against the flexplate, gotta drop the trans, and reinstall the t/c, and hope it didn't damage anything.

Backflushing the cooler lines with the check valve still installed? And that worked? Are you sure?? (bottom line at radiator is input line, from trans.)

 

+1 on checking TC. Also, did you do anything to valve body?

 

Sorry if I was not clear. The truck was running, and in Neutral, however the engine had only been running maybe 30 seconds at the most. I did not allow it to run more than that for fear of damaging something.

I was able to spin the converter easily to align the flex plate bolts.

I guess back flushing is the wrong term. My brother flushed the lines. He first hooked the can to the return line, and the check valve would not let it flush. He then hooked the can to the pressure line and flushed it that way.

 

No, we did nothing to the valve body.

The whole reason for the rebuild was that the front band was bad. After changing the front band, the front pump seal failed. He opted to rebuild it while it was out this time.

 

Possible the bands are TOO tight?

 

Hmm, I remember getting out the torque wrench to torque them.......but I don't recall backing the adjusters off.

I will have him check that shortly.