After countless talks with my father, uncle, and friends of the family, I also bought my Dodge with a 6-spd manual. They have hands down the WORST auto tranny track record. The Dodge Ram has such a horrible tranny record, its not even funny.

But on a lighter note, I dont think the clunking sound is all that much of a problem. If it is in fact the nature of the auto trannies, there could be FAR WORSE, honestly.

The standard trannies in the dakotas are now made by an outside tranny company, GETRAG, which makes trannys for chevy as well.

 

Ronnustwo, the only reason why maxing out your steering wheel is no good is because it puts stress on the power steering pump, even more so when its cold. If you max out your wheel you can hear the powersteering pump get a bit louder almost like a soft whine.

 

Almost two years with my '05 and have never had a klunk, thump, rattle, start up tick/clatter brake shudder or ANY kind of noise that I think should not be there. So, if the dealer tells you a noise is normal, and tries to send you on your way, he or she is completely full of B.S. and you should start screaming LEMON and threaten to call your state's Attorney General's Office then DO IT!

 

Can you elaborate on this more? Where are the steering locks located? I'm experiencing the same issue and I'd like to take a look. Maybe you would see some evidence of rubbing? I'm mechnicaly inclined just not a mechanic. Thanks!

 

"start screaming lemon" LoL.

Hey who knows, you might have this noise and klunk too, it just might be normal sounding to you. Sometimes people listen to hard!

 

Trust me, if there was any kind of noise, however slight, or vibration, or whatever I would know, and my Dak has none. I'm paranoid like that. Maybe I lucked out with a trouble free ride.

 

And so you did. Lucky you. Still the best looking mid plus size truck built. Now they just need to get to consistent quality put some real ***** under the hood.

 

Can you elaborate on this more? Where are the steering locks located? I'm experiencing the same issue and I'd like to take a look. Maybe you would see some evidence of rubbing? I'm mechnicaly inclined just not a mechanic. Thanks!
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Truthfully I don't even know what they look like or where they are, but i would imagine the are some type of device attached to the steering arms that prevent the wheel from turning any further. I haven't heard that noise since the mechanic greased them up. I would imagine they are supposed to be greased regularly. I took my truck off-raoding in a horse-farm mud pit in the beginning of the summer, doing donuts and all kinds of wacky things at high rates of speed - so I'm sure I'm the cause of there being no grease underneath the truck where it's supposed to be. And oh yeah, my K&N FIPK filter actually popped off while doing so.....

Another thing about all the klunks noises, snapping noises, wheel shudder, tranny problems, etc. etc...... My truck really doesn't have most of the problems I read about either. And I do not baby my truck AT ALL. In fact, it takes quite the beating most of the time, because I get such a rush out of driving it!! My last exciting "auto" was a tricked out Mazda Protege 5 spd that I had a lot fo fun beating up, and also had Suzuki Katana that I used to pull corners at 110 MPH and straights around 150 MPH, so you can probably get an idea of what I put my truck through.

Point being, I don't baby my truck, and it treats me pretty well.

 

Yeah that's the thing, great looks but underpowered. Mods have helped but still not satisfied with respect to performance, despite being trouble free mechanically(so far).

 

MITSUBISHI MOTORS TECH TALK Volume 132 November 2006

"Clunk/Clang" Noise When Shifting from D to R or N to Park--2006-on Raider 4.7L V8. A "clunking or clanging" noise when shifting from Drive to Reverse or from Neutral to Park is a normal operating characteristic with the 4.7L V8 Raider. DO NOT ATTEMPT ANY REPAIR. This normal sound is magnified by the use of a weight-saving aluminum driveshaft."


There you have it.