I have a 2003 Ram 1500 SLT4x4 with the Hemi. I bought the truck 6 months ago with 32,000 miles on it. I put on about 4,500 miles and last week while on the highway the tranny went, there was no third gear. So I put it into second and drove it home. I brought it down to my local dodge deaership where they said they were going to rebuild the tranny. My question is should I ask for a brand new tranny or does dodge usually do a good job on rebuilds. Are there ay other things I should look out for? Someone told me that if my tranny goes again that Dodge won't cover it, is there any truth to that? TIA

 

I lost a tranny at around 4,500 miles in my 06 and they fixed it and didn't tell me anything like that. As far as I know they must fix it under warranty for as long as it's there if it is not void from aftermarket junk. You will be fine with a rebuilt tranny, they are replacing all the bad parts so you will be good. Also, to save your transmission NEVER hit wot from 55mph plus in overdrive, it throws the tranny into second prime and second prime cannot handle the power of our trucks. Do you know exactly what went in your tranny? I lost 2nd gear and over drive clutches along with the valve body.

 

Mine went at nearly 40000 as well. They rebuilt it and i'm at 68000 now. I never put the tuner back on so my shift points have been stock since.I have a suspicion that is what caused mine.

I too have an 03 1500 reg cab short bed 4X4 Hemi.

 

The 5-45 automatic trans seems to be more durable than the 1996-2003 46RE but there still seems to be more failures than normal.

This whole 'design family' of auto trans starting with the infamous 'UltraDyne' in the minivans has had durability problems.

It is worth noting that Jeep has a certain degree of independence within DC and they insisted on putting the Mercedes W5A580 automatic trans behind the 6.1 Hemi in the Grand Cherokee SRT

 

ce2flaco, I have a few posts floting around here stating on how I feel about superchips after my blown tranny. Oh yeah, never again will one of those tuners touch my truck.