If you are mechanically inclined at all you can do it yourself. The instructions are pretty good plus I can send you info what I have as well. You actually have to drop the valve body to install the shift kit, so the Sharadon is easier, but more expensive. The resistor is an electrical resistor you have to splice in between 2 wires to your transmission. You will notice an improvment with the transgo, but it will not be huge.

As far as your trans issue, I would order up a few sets of filters, do a fluid/filter change and see how it reacts before doing the shift kit. Then when doing the shift kit use new filters, more fresh ATF+4, maybe even changing more ATF by pulling the trans line to the radiator cooler and getting 3 or 4 quarts out this will gradually change out your ATF. 100K mikes, do you know if the fluid/filter has ever been changed?

LB

 

Thanks for your responses LB. Im not to wild about working on my trans by myself. With all the fluid in the pan coming out at once, I cant afford to mess up my dads driveway by spilling it all by mistake. And I sure wouldnt want to screw up something on the valve body itself. Ill see what it will cost to get it installed though. Anything less than $200 in labor, and I would probably consider doing it.

I did have the trans pan dropped, filter changed and all the fluid flushed (it was a gentle flush, talked to the mechanic about how it was all done) Before I did that the fluid looked pretty new and didnt smell burnt, but who ever changed it the time before didnt seal the pan right with the rtv sealant so it was leaking everywhere. I decided just to get it done right. The guy who owned it before me supposedly changed all the fluids very often. It just has this wierd problem, and it had it before and after the fluid change. I almost think its normal, but I cant be sure.

And as a sidenote, I definetly noticed an increase in trans performance tonight. I had to retune my truck because when I floored it, it would do the 1-2 shift, 2-3 shift, but then it would shift back to 2 and rev up higher before shifting to 3 again. So I increased the rev limiter and the shift points and it shifts pretty firm now, expecially the 1-2 under WOT. I still might do that shift kit though. I think the valve body might be a little overkill for me. And I dont want a shift that is too firm, just enough to feel it a little bit. I sure would love for the tires to bark between 1st and 2nd. I could do that in my old truck with the manual trans. Even though the thing was slow, I could make 33" all terrain tires break loose between 1 and 2.

 

And LB, how is the mopar under the rail bedliner holding up? I want to get one for my truck, but some trucks I see bedliners that actually warp over time and look worse that a beat up bed, so Im a little sceptical to spend $300 on one.

 

I spent $350 on my over-the-rails Rhino liner. Personally if you're already looking at spending close to that go for the spray in (Rhino or Line-X). You won't regret it.

 

no warpage at all, and the anti-skid surface works very well I love it. I think you can do better, get friendly with a few parts people and see if they will give you body shop price!

LB

 

I can get it for a 25% discount so it would be about $240. Now the bedliner from an 08 Dakota should fit my 05 Dakota, correct? I only ask because I have the mopar spoiler on my truck that comes with the 08 from the factory, and they account for the factory spoiler. In the 05, the tailgate protector wraps over the edge, and I dont want to have to modify it.

 

The bedliners "kind of" cross over from 05-08. I have an 08 and put an 05-07 Dodge OEM bedliner in it a few months ago (btw, that deal I tried to put together on getting bedliners cheap fell apart due to lack of interest. Thanks guys! :/ ).

The tailgate liner should fit perfect with the factory 'spoiler' you installed. The place where I'm thinking you might have issues though is with the bedrails and possibly the front cross piece across the front of the bed and rear bedside posts. When I installed mine, I had to do some trimming on the front lip to clear the bedrail tiedown mounting brackets where the bedliner wraps over the front rail of the bed. I also had to remove one of the bedrail tiedowns to give enough clearance to get the bedliner underneath the bedrails. There just wasn't enough room or flexibility to fit it under with both tiedowns in place. The other place that needed trimming was in the rear at the bed posts next to the tailgate in the corners. The bedliner was a bit too high to fit under where the tiedowns are positioned over the welded posts. Since you don't have the tiedowns (I'm assuming) that shouldn't cause an issue for you.

If I were you, I'd check with a dealer and cross reference part numbers to see just what the differences are between the 05-07 and the 08-10 model. My dealer has bedliners in stock for just about every truck they sell so maybe they'd even let you get eyes on to see what differences there are between the two.

 

Thanks Racinartist. Atleast I know now that there is a good chance that they arent the same. Im doing a side job right now so Ill probably get a bed liner with the extra cash I get from that. Worst case senario I can just get the 05-07 bedliner and use a table saw to cut off the tailgate cap. Time will tell.