Clutch or Transmission Problem?

Disclaimer: Links on this page pointing to Amazon, eBay and other sites may include affiliate code. If you click them and make a purchase, we may earn a small commission.

tvhj

Junior Member
Joined
Jul 22, 2021
Posts
3
Reaction score
0
Location
Memphis, Tn
Ram Year
2008
Engine
4.7
Hey, New to the forum and hope someone has seen this problem before as I have not. This is my sons bare bones 2008 1500 with a manual 5 speed which has been a great truck. Today when he started to get off the interstate and was downshifting from 5th to 4th there was a loud pop and he couldn't get any gears at all. After getting stopped he managed to get it into 3rd with much effort and drove a short distance to my house and I could smell the clutch. He told me what happened and I got in it, with the engine off, clutch felt ok to me, I could shift through all the gears, started it up, all gears seemed to be there so I drove it around the block a few times, never got higher than 4th gear, but up and down shifts seemed ok. What in the heck can cause something like this, really not sure if it's safe to drive at the moment. Thanks much for any ideas or related info, cause I'm at a loss.
 

Smokeybear01

Senior Member
Military
Joined
Jan 25, 2020
Posts
449
Reaction score
213
Location
US-NW Coast
Ram Year
2005
Engine
Cummins 5.9
I had something like that happen to me one time in an old truck with manual trans and it was the high gear breaking apart. A couple of large chunks got carried up in the oil and lodged in between some other gears. Fortunately, I was in town and only doing about 30 when it happened. Rolled and clunked to the side of the road and shut it off and crawled around it. Couldn't see anything so I got back in it and fired it up. It drove fine through the lower gears but when I hit high gear it clunked a lot and I was sure it was going to fly apart when I tried to get it up to speed. I drove it almost 40 miles along the shoulder of the highway to get it home. Dropped the trans and found a big chunk of high gear laying in the bottom of it along with some smaller pieces from several other gears. I replaced the high gear, the shims, the synchros, and oil and threw her back in the truck and never had another problem with it. Of course, that truck had steel gears, lots of trucks today have fiber. Good luck
PS-You might have experienced a completely different situation. I just know that if I had got that oil crawling up the gears fast enough to lift the metal out of the bottom of that trans I wouldn't have made it home without the complete trans busting apart.
 
OP
OP
T

tvhj

Junior Member
Joined
Jul 22, 2021
Posts
3
Reaction score
0
Location
Memphis, Tn
Ram Year
2008
Engine
4.7
Hey Smokeybear, Thanks for the reply, It seams to be working now and just not using 5th. I'm sure it will do it again. Guess we will drain the oil and see what it looks like and go from there. Just looking at rebuild prices, labor, and a new clutch we are not sure if that's a great option. Thanks again for the reply.
 

2012RAM1500RT

Senior Member
TOTM Winner
Joined
Dec 8, 2020
Posts
2,224
Reaction score
4,145
Location
nowhere
Hey Smokeybear, Thanks for the reply, It seams to be working now and just not using 5th. I'm sure it will do it again. Guess we will drain the oil and see what it looks like and go from there. Just looking at rebuild prices, labor, and a new clutch we are not sure if that's a great option. Thanks again for the reply.
If you don't find any thing when you drain your transmission oil another possibility could be your pilot shaft bearing could have locked up and came apart. I'd drive it again and use all the gears to see if they all work first. I had one lock up and it will act like your clutch is not releasing. If it's that your transmission will have to come out also to repair. Just another possibility.
 
Top