My truck has developed a um... "Stutter" when taking off from a dead stop. It's not an engine hesitation, and the transmission doesn't seem to be slipping.
It feels like there it would if there were alot of slop in the ring and pinion, but that's not the case.
It's VERY hard to explain what it's doing. It's like a very sloppy u-joint, but it makes no noise at all.
You accelerate but for a split second the truck sits there. and then you feel a small jerk... and then it takes off.
Am i making any sense at all?
Anyone feel my pain?

Anyway I'm being told by my dealer that something in the trans has broken.
Any thoughts?

Thanks For any help.

 

What motor and tranny do you have? I can't tell you if it is broken or not, but what kind of maintenance have you done?

 

he's gonna probably have the 4.7 with the 4 speed auto, my guess if i remember correctly the 5.9 was not available on the long beds!!!

 

Sorry, It is the 4.7 with 4 speed auto.

 

I have basically the same truck and I had a similar issue recently. It seems that these long bed trucks have a two piece drive shaft. There is some kind of joint in the middle of it and apparently it needs to be lubricated occasionly. I brought it to the dealer and they took it apart and cleaned and greased it and I haven't had the problem since. I am sure I could have done it myself but I already had it in for other issues so I just had them do it. It was about 2 hours worth of labor according to them.

P.S. Actually the 5.9 was available in the long bed, I have one.

 

sorry legend71
only thought the 4.7 was available, cause when i price out my truck on kbb and hit QC long get i could only option the 4.7! but thats cool now i know [sm=guilty.gif]

that thing that holds the drive shaft up is called the carrier bearing, that thing is a b!tch to get off the drive shaft, had to do it mine went bad!!

 

Did you have to replace that or do the clean/lube thing? I would like to not pay someone to do this next time!

 

the carrier bearing is a bearing surrounded by rubber so in time it will break down but yea greasing the bearing up and the rubber would probably be a good thing to do every once and a while, which this reminds me i have to regease my u-joints Thanks

 

Just got home from the dealer...Results not good:
Dealer told me (originally) that something inside the transmission had broken... THEN they called and said the problem was with the transmission mount, said it had split in two pieces.
Of course they didn't have one in stock, so i called around to see if i could locate one. No luck... No one had it in stock Did find out it's a $28.00 part though (from another dealership.) Had my dealership order it.
I get a phone call today saying that the transmission mount had taken alot of the movement out, but it didn't cure the problem completely. They tell me that there is trouble in the rear diff, and that they want me to bring it back next Monday.
Keep in mind that i have a service contract that they sold me...not a Chrysler contract, an aftermarket one. My deductable is $100.00.
I paid my deductable today (for the tranny mount), and they are telling me i have to pay another deductable on monday!
I'm paying two deductables for the same problem?!?!?! Makes no sense.
After pleading my case to a couple service writers, I reluctantly paid my deductable and was headed out the door when in walks the service manager.
I cornered him and asked if any of this made sense. He said he wasn't "up to date" on my vehicle, that he "didn't know the specfics."
I explained it all. He test drove the truck agreeing that there was still an issue. This is the craziest part of it all: HE THEN LED ME INTO THE SHOP TO FIND THE BROKEN TRANS MOUNT THAT THEY HAD REPLACED!
He leads me to the tech that did the work, and there on his roll-around-cart was a dirty but very functional trans mount. NO WEAR, NOTHING STRESSED, and IN one piece.
BUSTED!!!
Total bill on the mount was $373 and some change of which the service contract had to pay all but my $100.
$28 in parts.... over $345 in labor. TWO days WASTED. On a perfectly good part.

Sooo.....Whats gonna happen next week when they turn in a claim to the service contract holders for a rearend repair?
My dealership is already warning me that if they find no breakage it's not going to be covered.

What next? Any ideas?

 

I would get my copy of the service contract and see for myself what it says about paying a deductible two times for a problem. Since the transmission mount was not broken, they are just "changing out parts" and seems they don't really know what the problem is. Also, since the problem was not cured by changing out the "bad" part, which really turned out to be good, they shouldn't even charge for it, or at the very least, they should waive the deductible for the second operation.

Read your contract, call the company that issued it, find out for yourself what's going on. Unfortunately, there are many dealers out there that don't have a clue how to fix anything, I would press them on the part that they have already changed not being bad.

You didn't say if you had a limited slip differential, but the problem you describe seems to fit the symptom of slipping clutches in the unit. What the heck is this business about "if they find no breakage its not going to be covered?" Does that mean if they tear into the rear end and don't find a problem that it won't be covered? This is just not sounding right, I would run from those people, find another dealer or perhaps a good private repair shop, I don't like what I'm hearing about these people and believe me, I've had my experiences with a few dealers. What are they going to do, keep tearing things apart until they find the right thing, charging you $100.00 each time? As I have said, something stinks here and if I were in your place I would change dealers instead of trying to deodorize the one you have, more especially if you are going to have to pay the deductible a second time.

Are they a 5-star dealer? Report them to Dodge. Don't take this sitting down.