Harsh 2-1 downshift, "Jerk" or "bump" upon coming to a stop

[Juniorss]

Mine at 45k still does it but I usually don't notice it unless I remember about it. I will say my truck has a flare on the first 1-2 shift when it is cold that I will eventually go back to the dealer for. Id just rather not have the dealer touch it until it gets really bad.

 

[Jacki]

2011 RAM 1500 with 6 speed tranny and 62K miles
about 2 weeks ago: coming stop sometimes jerk and bang, mostly when tranny is "cold" (+/- 70C)
while tranny in neutral will not jerk and bang
last 10 days: almost always while breaking slowly to stop jerk and bang, not only when tranny is "cold"
now: almost always while shifting first and second down or up will lead to jerk and bang
CEL is not on
tranny oil is right level
only while shifrting between frst and second gear

Will try change filters and oil, but think it's only a waste of time and $$$

Any suggestions?

Chris

I live in Ontario, Canada. I recently had this problem on my 2017 ram. I brought my truck in for a recall in October 2018 (55000km) for the rear tail-gate malfunction. When I got my truck back. It seemed fine for a day. But the very next morning I was not able to start my truck up. The battery had died. I was very upset I suspect the technicians drained my battery. So I trickle charged the battery back up. She was fine.
Several days later a serious rain storm followed by cold weather came through. As I was driving in local roads I came to a stop and felt a harsh jerking motion from 2-1st gear. It persisted through out the day. And ever since then I have this issue everyday. Some time the jerking motion is rough sometimes it is barely even noticeable. There have even been times when I first pull out the drive way and the jerking motion is not even occurring. So just last week I have been lazy to wash the truck through the drive through car wash. I always used to get the premium wash with undercarriage spray.
Anyhow I skipped the car wash for about a month and I noticed less jerking occurring and less jerking all around. I still feel it but not as rough.
Currently I am driving in +2degree C - sub-zero temperatures
It is my suspicion that it could be a grounding/electrical issue due to moisture
In sensitive areas. If anyone has idea please leave me some feedback.


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[CostaRam]

If your batterie had drained than the engine and tranny need to relearn and this may be the reason for the harsh shifting.
My RAM has definively electric issues and that could have lead to my shifting problem as it seems that it goes better now.
Probably disconnecting the battery over night would reset the Transmission Control Module so that it need to relearn shifting smoothly.
Somehow frustrated about my car...
Chris

 

[Cordwood]

If your batterie had drained than the engine and tranny need to relearn and this may be the reason for the harsh shifting.
My RAM has definively electric issues and that could have lead to my shifting problem as it seems that it goes better now.
Probably disconnecting the battery over night would reset the Transmission Control Module so that it need to relearn shifting smoothly.
Somehow frustrated about my car...
Chris

I keep reading this a lot but I also keep being assured that no, you cannot reset or change the TCM learning at all by disconnecting the battery

 

[chrisbh17]

Fwiw the transmission in my g37 starts to act funky if the battery dies during startup (I.e. it can barely crank then just cuts out)

I just dealt with it actually. The torque converter clutch would let go between shifts, would let the engine fall to idle if you backed off the throttle, etc.

Cleared the learned data and it started working normally again. The difference is that the g doesn't have a complex learning process like the RAM... Basically just drive it like you stole it

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[bianca11]

Same issue (occasionally) with my 2019 1500 (just made 3000 miles)...downshifting from 2nd to 3rd and....BANG! Has only happened about 3 times...but all three times were in the last 200 miles or so. If you were sleeping in the back seat...you might think that the truck just hit a deer. Oh yeah...and now my rear power window doesn't work (unrelated to this thread...I know). Think that was the 3rd time even using it? Lots of reasons and excuses being posted for a lot of 5th gen issues...how bout RAM just getting it right the first time. My two cents.....

 

[Storm Trooper]

i also heard that coming to a complete stop before the trans has downshifted to 1st can cause this.
I notice it more in warm weather than cold, I have a crew cab and think the slip joint in the drive shaft contributes to this issue.

 

[indept]

We had some Isuzu Rodeos and Troopers in the family that would do this. I forget what grease I used. It was years ago, but it was a thick red grease that worked wonders for these driveshaft slip yolks.

I've found that synthetic grease wth pfte does the job.

 

[hemi-ram2]

i have an 2018 crewe cab hemi lonestar with 17,000 i said this issue to the dealer and they said its end play in driveshaft and rearend and its normal,i dont think so. At 17,000 its seems to be getting worse.My dealer mechanics are very incompetent, i had to show them issues that they could not find , Being a mech. all my life i know what i am talking about. How do you win???

 

[Cordwood]

i have an 2018 crewe cab hemi lonestar with 17,000 i said this issue to the dealer and they said its end play in driveshaft and rearend and its normal,i dont think so. At 17,000 its seems to be getting worse.My dealer mechanics are very incompetent, i had to show them issues that they could not find , Being a mech. all my life i know what i am talking about. How do you win???

I've talked to a few dealers and ram care. They appear to have a policy of complete denial for the issue, even when reproduced in person. Many excuses, trying to play it off as normal. The only way to win is not buy a ram. I never will again because of the way this issue is handled, and they have already lost two new truck sales because of mine.

That being said, a quick learn has appeared to almost fix it for me. Took about 1 month of driving after the quick learn and it smoothed out and is mostly gone for now. Unfortunately thats not the case for everyone.

 

[Jacki]

Just thought I might throw this in. Perhaps our cheap cell phone chargers and adapter could be the culprit. I stumbled upon one of Scotty's YouTube videos that he recently posted and I thought it was something worth mentioning.


Perhaps y'all might want to check this short clip out.

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[magic280z]

My bad downshift mostly dissapeared the other day after an engine oil change. It is stopping so much smoother now. Before it felt like the truck was still pushing forward even though I was breaking right until the bump.

I can't explain this at all, but maybe there is something going on with VVT and certain oils or oil condition. My bump had gotten really bad before the oil change. The dealer has done most of my oil changes this time was at valvoline with standard oil.

Sam

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[JohnnyMac]

Just thought I might throw this in. Perhaps our cheap cell phone chargers and adapter could be the culprit. I stumbled upon one of Scotty's YouTube videos that he recently posted and I thought it was something worth mentioning.


Perhaps y'all might want to check this short clip out.

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No hatin' on you @Jacki, but while there is merit to what he is preaching, Scotty is an ******* and as a general rule I would take 90% of what he says with a grain of salt. Probably the same salt he has around the rim of his margarita....I'm guessing he wakes up around 11:30 each morning, gets all liquored up and then after a little hair of the dog, starts thinking to himself...."I should go stand in front of my hoarder looking garage and beater car with the hood up and make another instructional video about something I know very little about and if I wave my arms around enough, it will distract the viewers from seeing all the garbage in my yard."

 

[onemc4you]

Could it be egr valve bad? Or torque converter issue? You would get a code on most other things.


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[Jacki]

@JohnnyMac
I can agree that scotty, is a little out of the norm but I would like to say I am not a mechanic by trade. However I have many years of computers and electrical knowledge. For my ram truck my issue began at
-50,000km
-almost immediately after my tail gate ecu re-flash
-during a rainy day

I had the problem resolved after I stopped under-carrage car washes for several months and 40,000km.

My issue just occurred again at 92,000km
And the only condition this time was it was a rainy day. I removed my crappy car charger and almost immediately my issue stopped.
Lol it sounds so placebo I know. But this is where I am at with my ram.

-Good luck to everyone
I'll update if things change.

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[JohnnyMac]

@JohnnyMac
I can agree that scotty, is a little out of the norm but I would like to say I am not a mechanic by trade. However I have many years of computers and electrical knowledge. For my ram truck my issue began at
-50,000km
-almost immediately after my tail gate ecu re-flash
-during a rainy day

I had the problem resolved after I stopped under-carrage car washes for several months and 40,000km.

My issue just occurred again at 92,000km
And the only condition this time was it was a rainy day. I removed my crappy car charger and almost immediately my issue stopped.
Lol it sounds so placebo I know. But this is where I am at with my ram.

-Good luck to everyone
I'll update if things change.

No worries Jacki, and like I said, I don't discount the theory as it's been around for quite a while. He's just a goofball.

 

[Tommy Spotts]

I called Ram Cares today about my 2015 Ram that has a very noticeable 2-1 downshift when coming to a stop. It has been taken to a dealership twice for the problem and has yet to be fixed. I really didn't get anywhere with Ram Cares and that concerns me. It does not hard shift in tow mode...only in regular mode. It has to be a programming issue. I wish someone would help me with this problem. I love the truck otherwise. But the customer service on this one has not be a great experience.

 

[Cordwood]

Sorry to tell you, but if you listen closely you can actually hear ram cares motioning the hand ******** movement as they talk.

They leave a presence online to try and silence the complaints. Pure PR stunt they don't actually do ****.

So many of us have this shift bump issue , they have been 100% useless on it, as well as other problems i had. As far as i can see they literally do nothing but call the dealer and then call you and say...so how did that go at the dealer.

 

[Cordwood]

I've heard 100 suggestions about the problem, and no, i do not think its the cigarette lighter...

For me, after 1000 miles of me first driving the truck the thump then showed up, very badly i might add. After going to a **** dealer 3 times who refused to do a quick learn, i went to a new dealer who did a quick learn and very much to my surprise, after another 1000 miles its mostly gone. Very minimal when it happens.

Others have reported changing the drive shaft/yoke does it.

Its now my belief that its a combination of the two, its probably the yoke, but the bad programming gets stuck in this mode thats making the issue worse.

For me, i dealt with the problem for months and the quick learn without a doubt did change it.

So my very unprofessional uneducated opinion is, if a quick learn and 1000 miles doesn't fix it, have them do a new drive shaft / yoke connection whatever

 

[pauls8091]

having this problem about a year now, was told Trany will learn but never did. bring it to dealer today waiting ... good luck.

issue start since 36k. now 44K.