Good morning. I have a 2005 Dakota 4x4 with the 3.7 and the 42RLE trans. A couple months ago my son was driving it and let me know the trans was making noise so I went out and drove it and it has a shutter in OD. Feels like it is hunting gears. Still doing it if I lock out overdrive. Truck has 162k miles and has always been maintained which is amazing since I am a mechanic and most mechanics neglect their own vehicles. This is the only automatic that I have ever owned in a truck so I am not 100% sure on what is going on. I am a heavy diesel mechanic so the light duty stuff is something that I just do not deal with. Am I looking at possibly solenoids or a full overhaul. Either way it is just a thing that needs done and I will do it but just curious as to how far you all think I will need to go on this. Either way if I rebuild it or just change the pack it will be getting new solenoids. I am just curious as to which way you all would go. Time is the only issue for me at the moment. Are there any rebuilders that you all would stay away from if I decide to just buy a replacement? I also looked at buying a manual and just swapping it over but I don't have the time to deal with all that at the moment. Other than having to rebuild the front end a couple times and one shattered transfer case the truck has been great. Oh and the one rocker arm that decided to fall off one day. That wasn't what I was expecting to be fixing on the side of the road. Other than the rust spot that popped up this year on the drivers rear fender from where a tire chain broke and beat the inside. Must have cracked the paint and gotten water under the paint. I have also heard that these transmissions usually only last around 80K so am I on borrowed time with it? It isn't my daily driver. Isn't even my monthly driver. I drive my 06 2500 5.9 manual daily so I have no idea when these issues popped up. So give me the bad or good news. I am getting the itch to park my big truck and to drive my little truck again.

Thanks
Glen

When you say it's been maintained, I take it the trans fluid has been changed?

Trans fluid/filter every 35k. Oil every 4k. Coolant flushed/changed 100k (still passed testing). Diffs well who does diffs. They are full.

My 42RLE in a 2005 V6 4x2 / 3.55 gears started developing a shutter around 175,000 miles when the torque converter goes into "partial lockup" mode ("partial EMCC" / Electronic Modulated Converter Clutch). This mode, and the shutter, seems to occur between about 35mph - 50mph when under either steady-speed or light acceleration, whether with overdrive locked out or not. Above 50mph at steady speeds (at which point I'd engage overdrive if it was previously locked out), it doesn't shutter because the torque converter is in full-lockup mode. It's only in that partial-lockup mode, when the torque converter clutch is programmed to modulate for a partial clutch application (per the service manual), does it shutter...So I've modified my driving habits to prevent shuttering, which works essentially 100% of the time, as follows:

1) Keep overdrive locked out unless above 50mph, whether at steady speed or accelerating
2) No steady speeds or light acceleration above about 30mph through 50mph
3) If the truck is at any speed above about 30mph through 50mph, it either needs to be under at least moderate acceleration or coasting (to keep the torque converter fully-unlocked).

Following these rules, it's still a great driver.