Today we got our first snow of the season here in MN. As usual with early season snow, it is wet and heavy, very slushy. Had to go out to bring my son to work. After a 45 minute round trip I returned home and parked in the garage. The shifter was reluctant to move from D to P. I gave it a nudge and ended up with the lever in the P gate but the trans stuck in R. Couldn't get it back out of the P gate. Oops. I then made the mistake of shutting the truck off and couldn't start it again since it wasn't in P or N.

Turns out that on that drive the wet heavy snow was thrown up under the truck and packed in completely around the transmission and transfer case. Very odd. There wasn't all that much snow elsewhere under the truck but it was totally encasing the transmission. I tried letting it sit for 20 minutes hoping that the heat of the engine, trans, and exhaust would melt it off enough to move the shifter but that was a no go. I had to crawl under the truck and pick out all the snow from that area. Once it was all out I could move the shifter again.

Needless to say, if this would have happened anywhere except my garage it would have been a much more painful disaster. I can't believe Dodge didn't do adequate testing in snowy conditions to find this major flaw in the under-truck dynamics. I'm not looking forward to additional winter driving with this damn thing now. I guess I better keep something in the truck to pick with (prybar, big screwdriver, stick, etc) and some good warm clothes in case I have to be under the truck out in a parking lot somewhere...

Here's the snow that I picked out from around the transmission and transfer case. This is ONLY from that area. I didn't scrape out snow from anywhere else under the truck or the wheelwells or anywhere.

Rob

 

what about making a shield for it around the shifter part.

 

Yeah, would have been nice if Dodge would have...

Rob

 

Sounds like a freak thing. Mine is never parked inside. I put on about 100 miles by lunchtime today - some fun. Got worse as the morning went on and all of the "should have stayed on the couch" people started littering the ditch.

Pulled one guy out and told him to be carefull, his response was thats easy when you have a big truck. (My big truck with worn out rear tires, no weight in the bed and 2wd)

 

BTW, the worn out rear tires are getting replaced Monday. Firestones courier wasn't running any more today because of the weather - smart on their part.

 

Did you charge him 20 bucks for the pull out? Planning on doing this a bunch this winter!

 

No, and normally I would not pull someone out with my pickup - but they were on a residential street near my house with a wheel stuck over a curb. If they had been really stuck I never would have had enough traction

 

had this happen a couple times last winter with my 09 and everytime it was slushy snow it would jam the shifter up. i had a brutal job to get it out the first time and didn't have a clue what happened till i looked underneath. it's a ****ty setup for sure

 

Is it possible for the snow to have come off of your tires from turning inward and got slung off the treads into the area...just a thought? Maybe it's being thrown under the plastic wheel wells towards your tranny if your truck is jacked up any, more so if it's other than a stock lift.

 

It definitely had to come from the tires, because the snow wasn't deep enough to hit anything under the truck. And I spent most of that time driving in the existing tire paths on the road, not making my own new way through the slush. Truck is stock wheels/tires/height. And I even have splashguards.

Rob