Transmission Crapped Out

[HammerHead]

Got my truck back last night. Driving it home put a big grin on my face (the fact that it cost me $0.00 certainly is a part of that). The tranny has not been this good since I've owned it. I had appointments to go look at a few cars today, but cancelled all of them.

Well done sir, congratulations!

 

[Sherman Bird]

The valve body in my 2014 crapped out at 38K suddenly while just sitting on the freeway. Stop/go traffic, traffic cleared, I hit the gas and pretty much went nowhere. I did manage to limp it a couple miles to an exit but it was barely moving by the time I got off the highway. Had it towed to the dealer and it was all fixed under warranty.

I'm not sure if the tranny paired with your 5.7 is the same as mine with the 6.4 - mine is a 66rfe model. Anyway, I'm now at 90K and things have been uneventful. The tranny still shifts like ****, shudders at times and regularly feels as though it is going to blow up again but I've learned this is just life with a Ram tranny. It did this both before and after the rebuild. I have a lifetime warranty so I really don't care if/when it goes again (ideally, I won't be out in the woods miles from cell service).

Why would you put up with sub-standard transmission operation? That truck is an investment. Get it fixed properly! You may have to turn over rocks to find a competent transmission specialist capable of fixing it.... but it is worth it!

 

[Sherman Bird]

Agreed about the warranty. I will definitely broom this one before the 100,000 mile drive train warranty is up. Which is sad. It's been a great truck but I have always heard about the transmissions being the weak point. I thought that had been worked out prior to 2015. The only issues I have experience is that the radio sometimes will not come on at all when I start it. If I let it sit for a while it works fine and the power mirrors aren't working, but since I'm the only one driving it doesn't affect me at all. The radio thing is a PIA sometimes if I am driving more than 5 minutes. If my wife is with me she will ask "would you like me to sing?" I have yet to take her up on her offer ;-)

Don't define the truck line by a few complaints! Brooming a vehicle at a paltry 100,000 miles is ludicrous! At prices north of what a house used to cost, a vehicle is a long term investment! I drive an SUV that topped $65K new. I performed repairs and maintenance on it for the original family that bought it. At 220,000 miles and 11 years of age, it needed 3 thousand dollars wort of work. They declared that it wasn't worth it, and bought another of the same brand and model and paid the big price for it... just to avoid $3K in repairs, so I bought it. I performed the repairs and have enjoyed trouble free operation since. My total investment was under $7K. It now has 263,000 miles on it six years later. Still runs perfect... and the wife and I go on trips and use it for a daily driver. A footnote: This previous owner approached me 3 times attempting to buy it back for his son. He finally figured out that no meant no! My intent is to keep it til it's at least 20 years old (it's 17 this year) and has 500,000 miles on it.

 

[HammerHead]

Don't define the truck line by a few complaints! Brooming a vehicle at a paltry 100,000 miles is ludicrous! At prices north of what a house used to cost, a vehicle is a long term investment! I drive an SUV that topped $65K new. I performed repairs and maintenance on it for the original family that bought it. At 220,000 miles and 11 years of age, it needed 3 thousand dollars wort of work. They declared that it wasn't worth it, and bought another of the same brand and model and paid the big price for it... just to avoid $3K in repairs, so I bought it. I performed the repairs and have enjoyed trouble free operation since. My total investment was under $7K. It now has 263,000 miles on it six years later. Still runs perfect... and the wife and I go on trips and use it for a daily driver. A footnote: This previous owner approached me 3 times attempting to buy it back for his son. He finally figured out that no meant no! My intent is to keep it til it's at least 20 years old (it's 17 this year) and has 500,000 miles on it.

Ok Sherman, we need pics of your 89!

 

[mtofell]

Why would you put up with sub-standard transmission operation? That truck is an investment. Get it fixed properly! You may have to turn over rocks to find a competent transmission specialist capable of fixing it.... but it is worth it!

Unfortunately, the only "competent transmission specialists" I have available to me are at Ram dealerships due to my warranty. Also, on the it's best day this transmission is only mediocre due to the gear design, spacing and programming. I know programming can be changed but the warranty thing complicates that.

 

[maverickmk]

Don't define the truck line by a few complaints! Brooming a vehicle at a paltry 100,000 miles is ludicrous! At prices north of what a house used to cost, a vehicle is a long term investment! I drive an SUV that topped $65K new. I performed repairs and maintenance on it for the original family that bought it. At 220,000 miles and 11 years of age, it needed 3 thousand dollars wort of work. They declared that it wasn't worth it, and bought another of the same brand and model and paid the big price for it... just to avoid $3K in repairs, so I bought it. I performed the repairs and have enjoyed trouble free operation since. My total investment was under $7K. It now has 263,000 miles on it six years later. Still runs perfect... and the wife and I go on trips and use it for a daily driver. A footnote: This previous owner approached me 3 times attempting to buy it back for his son. He finally figured out that no meant no! My intent is to keep it til it's at least 20 years old (it's 17 this year) and has 500,000 miles on it.

Now that I have my truck back and the transmission is better than it ever has been, I am rethinking my stance on selling it around 100,000 miles. I have confidence in the transmission now so I feel more secure about it's longevity. Especially since they rebuilt it and not just replaced a part. That gives me piece of mind.

 

[Summit1]

Now that I have my truck back and the transmission is better than it ever has been, I am rethinking my stance on selling it around 100,000 miles. I have confidence in the transmission now so I feel more secure about it's longevity. Especially since they rebuilt it and not just replaced a part. That gives me piece of mind.

It appears their transmission guy did great work on your truck, proving that dealerships often have some very good (excellent) staff. When I had problems with my Jeep GC several years ago (at fairly low mileage), the valve body was found to be failing (a known problem on some of the 2014's). The replace was a revised/upgraded part and the dealer tech was amazing. Got the part changed and did the recalibration done, but was not personally satisfied with it (he's a perfectionist), so he tweaked it more and then said it was finished. And yes, it was better than new; we kept that vehicle another four years and never had any more problems with it.