92red

Hello all,

I've had my '93 D250CC for almost 2 months now, and have driven it daily for the past week or so. It has 280K on it and was bought new by a man who pulled his 5th wheel with it. I'm the second owner.

When I put it in D with the brakes on, the tranny makes a clanging/grinding/generally odd sound, but it drives fine, shifts solid, and R works well, too.

My guess is that by 280K it's been rebuilt at least once, but I wonder if maybe I need to adjust the bands or something? I bought it to tow my Jeep with, so keeping the tranny happy is paramount for me.

Thanks in advance for any input available,
Mike

Philip

I would be checking the flex plate. I bet its days are numbered.

There is nothing inside the trans that would make that sound and still operate properly.

92red

The flex plate is the piece that would be a flywheel if it were a manual, right? So what kind of wear affects that? I always assumed that it is just a piece to hold the TC to the crankshaft... is there more? I'll be the first to say that I understand nothing about transmissions. And that they scare me, too.

Philip

Dodge flex plates are noted for breaking around the crank mounting bolts.

The other issue I have seen and heard of is the engine main thrust bearing going out and letting the flex plate hit the engine to trans adapter.

92red

Hmm... heard of any problems that might be cheaper to fix?

Holsteinman

If you can do it yourself the flex plate is a cheap fix compared to most anything else the problem might be. The torque that these engines put out can take the flex plate out over time. Hopefully that's all it is.

Philip

I have seen a few cummins engines that the engine adapters were not centered properly also. Cummins drilled the holes a little off center.
These were on 903's and NTC350's but the same thing can happen on our baby engines I would bet.

The easy way to check the flex plate is to unbolt the converter and push it back into the trans case. Take a inspection mirror and a flash light and look around the flex plate mounting bolts real good.

92red

So you can do the inspection w/o taking the trans out? That's my primary worry as I don't have a proper jack.

Will I have to take the trans out to change the plate if that's the problem?

Thanks to you both for the info so far...
Mike

Philip

Maybe not. I have slide transmissions back on long bolts used as guide pins before. Then reached up into the bellhousing and used a long wrench to unbolt the flex plate. You would need to support the back of the engine. If your rear crossmember on the 2WD is above the frame rail you could just unbolt it and slide it back on the frame attached to the trans. ( I am not sure if your crossmember is above or below the frame, my truck is 4x4 and its below the rail).

In a shop with a lift and a trans jack this would be a couple of hour job. On a creeper and using floor or bottle jacks add at least 2 to 3 hours. Thats if you have all the hand tools needed.