Looking at buying but have a concern.

I'm looking at a 2008 Ram 3500 DRW and they said it has the Aisin transmission. Not a big follower of automatics, so is that Dodge's version if the Allison/Dirtymax combination? Is the Aisin an great automatic?

Here is the kicker though and has me questioning. She says it get's a little "sassy" in 3rd gear. Of course I question what she means by this. It has a hard shift from 2nd to 3rd gear under acceleration. But if you drive it normally/lightly, she shifts just fine.

Should this hard shift be a deal breaker on the purchase?
The truck has 223,*** miles on her.

Then, I am also looking at a 2004 Ram 3500 DRW but a 4x2 with an automatic. Thoughts on that transmission? Good or not so good? Don't know what transmission it would be.

My current 3500 has the NV4500 in it and love it.

Ram and automatic transmissions have always been a bad combo. Has bitten me three times, and my trucks aren’t worked very hard at all. On the ‘04 look into the reinforcing plate for the valve bodies/solenoids. Under $100 and will save you a $6k transmission. I learned the hard way.

Scott0700 said:

Ram and automatic transmissions have always been a bad combo. Has bitten me three times, and my trucks aren’t worked very hard at all. On the ‘04 look into the reinforcing plate for the valve bodies/solenoids. Under $100 and will save you a $6k transmission. I learned the hard way.

Click to expand...

So, The '04 I am considering needs more support under the valve body?

Did they correct that situation with the Aisin? The '08 has the Aisin and the exhaust brake, which is a huge plus for what I have planned with it

I would suggest you test drive it and see for yourself, but it doesn't sound good. I'd budget for a trans if you decide to purchase, as well as a complete front end rebuild if it hasn't been done already, it's probably in need of hubs, ball joints, etc being that old.

mtnrider said:

I would suggest you test drive it and see for yourself, but it doesn't sound good. I'd budget for a trans if you decide to purchase, as well as a complete front end rebuild if it hasn't been done already, it's probably in need of hubs, ball joints, etc being that old.

Click to expand...

That old? Really???
The Dodge I have now is an '04 with 291k on the meter. Haha
Regular maintenance items are always something to look at and I would never buy a car without test driving it first.

I have found in the past that a lot of transmission shops are all too happy to sell a new transmission than to just fix one that is repairable.
Perfect example. I currently have a 1991 Chevy 3500 that I was told needed a transmission by a shop. Come to find out, the control wiring was damaged and grounded. Repaired that and it now shifts thru all 4 gears.

Could the hard shift be a solenoid that needs replaced? A pressure regulator?
I guess I'm just wondering if anyone has had a hard shift like this and found the issue fixable?

Looking into the hard shift issue and came across this thread. This gives me hope that it may be something small. Could I be that lucky? haha

OK, I did buy the truck. The truck is in a lot better condition that I thought it would be. Interior is nearly perfect, the outside does have a few dents but nothing to be worried about. I don't think it is a bad transmission, but rather a torque converter control situation instead. It's not a hard shift like I was told at all, but something rather different.....

The shifting. Here is what I noticed on the test drive.

Just putting it into drive and driving. Between 2-3 gears, the engine revs before it goes completely into gear. It does it a little between 3-4 gears too, but not nearly as bad. Once you are in any gear, she pulls great with no slipping. Shifting does go a little erratic while trying to pass and downshifting. Almost like its searching for the right gear to be in. Staying a steady speed, no indications that there is a problem.

Putting it into drive and turning on the tow mode. In this mode, the transmission does hard shifts and even harder downshifts. No extra revs at all, just jams into gears. The downshift into 3rd is the hardest.

Putting it int drive and turning off the overdrive.....The thing runs beautifully thru the gears. No revs and no hard shifts.

So, after I purchased it, I was driving thru the cities with the OD off and at hwy speeds, I turned the OD back on.
Did about 50 miles and checked the fluid (Which has no burnt smell to it). It was a quart low. So, here is where people "opinions" will come into play....I put in a quart of SeaFoam Trans tune and finished driving it home (About 200 miles).
There are no stops for that 200 miles but when I came to a slowdown at one intersection, and gained speed again, it seemed to be shifting better.


This all seems like a torque converter control issue or a TCC solenoid issue. Does the Aisin have a TCC solenoid in it. I haven't researched the transmission yet. Just got it home yesterday evening.

Thoughts?