Hi all,



I have a 2004.5 Dodge Ram 3500 4x4 quad cab with the 5.9HO and the auto trans. Over the last month I've noticed that there have been times that its been really slow taking off from a stop. It didn't do it all the time, just occasionally. I just bought a Bully Dog programmer and have been running around town romping on it and the trans has finally gone out.

The truck has 111,000miles on it and most of them are towing a 5x12 carson racer trailer. It acts like I've lost first gear, because once I get going it goes just fine. Also when I shift it down into first and gas it it won't go anywhere. If I take off in OD and then drop it into first it acts like I just applied the brakes and stops me.

My question is this...does anyone have any idea what might have happened? Would it be the clutches? the valve body? I have some idea of how these work but am not an expert on transmissions.

Also how viable would it be to swap in a manual transmission? I know that they were available with the manual so bolting up shouldn't be a problem, but how would I go about dealing with the electrical? I'm considering swapping to a manual or upgrading to something like the ATS or the BD trans or maybe the NADP.

Any experiences with the upgraded trans? Either good or bad? Thanks for your help in advance.

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No ideas???

I guess this isn't as common an issue as I thought, which is good. For now I've decided to just get a stock replacement trans and keep the core to take apart and rebuild stronger. If anyone still has ideas I'd be glad to hear them.

 

call dave he will put you on the right path and get you rollin again.... Goerend Transmission Incorporated if i was to guess your TC took a crap.

 

do you have any codes, it almost sounds like your truck was put into limp mode

 

No codes and no CEL. Its, been doing this off and on, I know several of the prior dodges I had had trans issues, I kinda expected it with this one too, just hoped it would be a little later.

I'm not sure what the track record is for these transmissions yet. I believe I have the 48RE.

 

As posted above Goerend Transmission Incorporated is your best bet for a darn good trans .

 

call lucas at l&n performance he'll set you straight and won't rip you off

 

+1 For Dave. and yes that is my Black and Orange Dodge on his website.... refresh it a few times if you don't see it.... sounds to me like it might be taking off in first gear.... especially since you say that it is taking off slow sometimes.

 

Thanks, it's missing first gear all together. When I shift it manually into first it wont go anywhere, it just sits there, when it shift it manually into second it will take off real slow.



Thanks to everyone, for the moment I bought another stocker trans, will have to wait a bit longer for the performance one. Will just have to keep my foot out of it for now.

 

cool ya i just reread my post and meant to say second gear cause if it started in first it would be normal right?

well once you get the stocker back in there i'd definately look into a converter and/or a valve body later on down the road. there are plenty of good manufactures out there so look around and see what they all have. just remember that the most expensive isn't better and you get what you pay for for the most part. since these parts determine how much power gets transmitted to the ground i'd lean towards the company with a GOOD warranty.

 

Well, got the stock one back in, it works flawlessly...guess I'll have to keep my foot out of it for awhile till I get the other one rebuilt. I wanted to do the converter this time around but it'll have to wait too.

If anyone is interested I'll post pics of what was wrong with my trans once I get it pulled apart. My suspicion is I may have burned up the clutches for 1st gear, so we'll see. Oh, if anyone needs stuff in this area I have a shop, I do mobile fleet services for businesses, so if you need parts hit me up, I may be able to get a better deal for you.