Loud clunk in reverse this morning...

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HitchHiker

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2012 RAM Lamarie CC 4x4 HEMI here. Most mornings I drive my son and another local neighborhood kid to school. Came home as usual, I always back into my driveway. Pulled past my driveway to angle for backing up, shifted into reverse, started backing up got about 20 feet and heard a loud clunk, felt it in the drivetrain as well, thought I might have hit something actually, but never saw anything with mirrors or backup camera, but I also felt noticeable resistance, almost like the emergency brake was on type resistance, until I had the truck backed all the way into the parking area. Had the radio on at the time so I might not have heard everything.

Killed the engine, got out, nothing under the truck at all, no fluids leaking from anywhere. Got back in, started it up, let it idle for a minute, windows down and radio off, didn't hear anything odd. Put it in drive, idled out of the driveway, and puttered around the development in drive, didn't really feel anything odd. Went back home, backed into the driveway again, no problems in reverse second time at all, no resistance felt.

Anyone ever have anything similar happen to them? Wondering if I should have the drivetrain evaluated just to be on the safe side. Could a suspension part have given way? Anything to look at specifically underneath?

I always use 2WD mode unless I'm surf fishing or it's snowing out. I've got a CPO warranty up through 100k miles.


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HitchHiker

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Drove my truck twice more today. Transmission seems to be shifting a bit rougher but this could just be me paying more attention now. Other than that have not been able to reproduce the issue from this morning.


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zeddy

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a friend of mine had the same thing happen to his 2006 2500 CTD when he was backing it up. He never found out what it was. His was so loud, he neighbor came out of the garage to see what it was.
 
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HitchHiker

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Definitely intermittent. Wifey and I went out for happy hour and it drove just fine. I don't notice any issues in forward gears. Backed out of two parking spaces with no issues. Backing in the driveway coming home with the windows down I did hear something odd. I think I'm going to spend some more time in reverse tomorrow in an empty parking lot and see if I can reproduce. If I can reproduce the issue I'm much more likely to get cooperation from the dealer.


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Paluby

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A Saturday morning a couple months ago I went to back out of my driveway and heard a loud clunk. Fast forward, my spider gears in my rear diff had cracked and broken in multiple places.
 

RamCares

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2012 RAM Lamarie CC 4x4 HEMI here. Most mornings I drive my son and another local neighborhood kid to school. Came home as usual, I always back into my driveway. Pulled past my driveway to angle for backing up, shifted into reverse, started backing up got about 20 feet and heard a loud clunk, felt it in the drivetrain as well, thought I might have hit something actually, but never saw anything with mirrors or backup camera, but I also felt noticeable resistance, almost like the emergency brake was on type resistance, until I had the truck backed all the way into the parking area. Had the radio on at the time so I might not have heard everything.

Killed the engine, got out, nothing under the truck at all, no fluids leaking from anywhere. Got back in, started it up, let it idle for a minute, windows down and radio off, didn't hear anything odd. Put it in drive, idled out of the driveway, and puttered around the development in drive, didn't really feel anything odd. Went back home, backed into the driveway again, no problems in reverse second time at all, no resistance felt.

Anyone ever have anything similar happen to them? Wondering if I should have the drivetrain evaluated just to be on the safe side. Could a suspension part have given way? Anything to look at specifically underneath?

I always use 2WD mode unless I'm surf fishing or it's snowing out. I've got a CPO warranty up through 100k miles.


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Hi HitchHiker!

If you decide to take your vehicle to a dealership I'd be happy to follow up with them for you. Just PM our page with your VIN and contact information and let me know!

Andrea
Ram Social Care Specialist
 
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HitchHiker

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Andrea,

Thanks so much for the offer. Drove wifey to work this afternoon and noticed two things. One, there's a lot of brake dust on the rear wheels. Two, no pressure when setting the emergency brake. I have to jack up the truck this weekend but I'm fairly confident the emergency brake did not properly release the other day and was stuck partially engaged as a result. This would explain the odd behavior in reverse as the wheel is turning in the opposite direction and therefore the e-brake would offer more resistance. If this is the case I will take it in to have the rear braking system evaluated under warranty.


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