1995 Dodge Ram 1500 4wd 5.9L, over 400,000 miles on Engine, Tranny was rebuilt about 40,000 miles ago

Had to drive from Laguna Beach to Ventura and back for work a few days ago. Round-trip that's about 245 miles. When I got
back and off the freeway I noticed a loss of power from a complete stop to almost 2nd gear. Almost as though I was trying to pull something
or I was trying to go through thick mud, like a resistance feeling. Going up hill is getting worse, I have about 75% loss of power. It's down to a crawl
going. If by pedaling the accelerator it happens to downshift and catch acceleration (whatever that's called) and I pump it fast after that it will keep
accelerating with a lot of the power back....so far. Any Ideas what I should start checking?? One more thing, The last time I replaced the fuel pump/sending unit
I didn't heed the warnings of buying a cheap one and I bought probably the cheapest one out there. I think it was like $60. Yes, I know, very dumb.

 

First thing to check would be fuel pressure then.

 

Just finished checking fuel pressure. with ignition-on-engine-off it reads about 1-2 psi below what it should. At idle it reads
high.

 

What's high?

 

Kind of sounds like a plugged converter. Plenum gasket and converter? What's the #8 spark plug look like? Finish testing the fuel system first though. Has the timing chain been replaced?

 

HeyYou: at idle the fuel pressure was reading a little high on the guage. about 55 and normal is 35-45
2bit: the timing chain was replaced about 2 months ago

last night I lost all gears accelerating from a stop light. Towed it to my house and was able to drive it into car port after tow truck lowered it. Righty nowe When I start it and shift into reverse, neutral, drive, 2, 1....all are very noisy, neutrtal being the worst. In park it goes away. the noise is not good. tranny fluid is at the right level. My tranny may be done?

 

Sure sounds like it's toast.