Clacking issue in front end!!!

865 Views 3 Replies 2 Participants Last post by ramvan2500, Apr 20, 2012

Imedicx90

Discussion Starter · Apr 14, 2012

Well last night I was getting ready to leave for work and I noticed the power steering pump was getting louder. So I went out and bought the replacement and the pulley so I could do the swap today, however when I started to drive the truck there was a clacking noise and it suddenly stopped shifting almost as if the tranny was giving out. I know dodges are famous for the tranny going so I figured I would ask and see if its the tranny making that noise? or is it something else? I checked the driveshafts and neither seems to have any play in the U-joints. It will go into reverse just fine and i dont hear that noise in reverse just when its moving forward. Is it possible that the U-joints are still bad but havent completely given out to the point of actually dropping the shafts?

If anyone has any ideas please feel free to let me know. Im trying to figure out what exactly I'm getting into with this problem and whether I should just have it towed to a shop to get looked at/fixed.

Thanks guys!

-Medic

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ramvan2500

· #2 · Apr 14, 2012

Imedicx90 said:
Well last night I was getting ready to leave for work and I noticed the power steering pump was getting louder. So I went out and bought the replacement and the pulley so I could do the swap today, however when I started to drive the truck there was a clacking noise and it suddenly stopped shifting almost as if the tranny was giving out. I know dodges are famous for the tranny going so I figured I would ask and see if its the tranny making that noise? or is it something else? I checked the driveshafts and neither seems to have any play in the U-joints. It will go into reverse just fine and i dont hear that noise in reverse just when its moving forward. Is it possible that the U-joints are still bad but havent completely given out to the point of actually dropping the shafts?

If anyone has any ideas please feel free to let me know. Im trying to figure out what exactly I'm getting into with this problem and whether I should just have it towed to a shop to get looked at/fixed.

Thanks guys!

-Medic

Thanks for making dodges transmission problem pretty evident. They aren't bad transmissions, they just have crappy tolerances and sometimes defective parts but once fixed great transmission a joy to drive.

Anyway's I wouldn't want to jump to the transmission as the source of the problem, that would certainly be putting the cart before then horse... First thing is to check off U-joints, usually U-J's don't make the kind of noise you describe but anything is possible so drive the truck for a little while then go under the truck and put you fingers on the caps of the U-Joints, if the caps are VERY hot then the U-Joint is probably bad, if the U-Joint is warm then it's probably from heat from the diff or transmission.

For the sake of it, does the truck make noise when the transmission is in drive with the brake applied?

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Imedicx90

Discussion Starter · #3 · Apr 20, 2012

he ysorry for not replying to this sooner but i fixed the truck. it just so happens that my front u joint on my drivers side gave out completely and the yoke got caught in the housing. so i had to pull everthing and replace the yoke and the u joint and now it seems to shift just fine. i do have a long shift from 2nd to 3rd but it doesnt really seem to affect the performance of the truck. thanks for the tip though! ill definitely keep that in mind!

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ramvan2500

· #4 · Apr 20, 2012

Imedicx90 said:
he ysorry for not replying to this sooner but i fixed the truck. it just so happens that my front u joint on my drivers side gave out completely and the yoke got caught in the housing. so i had to pull everthing and replace the yoke and the u joint and now it seems to shift just fine. i do have a long shift from 2nd to 3rd but it doesnt really seem to affect the performance of the truck. thanks for the tip though! ill definitely keep that in mind!

That's great you got it all fixed, like I said probably was a u-joint. Couldn't say with any confidence without looking at it myself. Oh the delayed 2-3 shift is a common problem with the old tf's it could be a sticking 2-3 shift timing valve but it's probably a leaky direct clutch inner lip seal, many chrysler tf's in the 2nd generation and partially 3rd generation were effected by a machine error, the direct clutch drum has a machined grove for a lip seal and the grove was overmachined so the lip seal wouldn't protrude enough out of the grove to seal, symptoms don't start to show up until the trucks ages because it's takes a while for the seals to wear this is one reason why chrysler didn't have a recall for this issue. Anyway's there is an updated seal you can purchase it has a base that is .03" larger than stock seal to compensate for the over-machining.

Another member on the forum had a similar issue and he just replaced the seal, he didn't put the trans back in the truck yet.
You can really confirm this seal as the culprit by putting the truck in reverse, if you have no reverse gear or it slips then it's that seal.

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