j_martin

My poor son. If it weren't for bad luck, he wouldn't have any at all.

Came to Minnesota to put his truck into NATCO transmission for a serious upgrade. Goerend converter, Transgo shift kit, and a bunch of HD clutches and hard parts. $2800 bucks later he heads for home. Stopped in Williston and worked a week, then headed for Kalispell. The last 40 miles were on the hook.

Flex plate started moaning, then rattling, then let go in a circle around the flywheel bolt pattern. All in about 2 miles when pulling heavily.

What damage to TQ and transmission is likely, if any?

BTW, the rig performed flawlessly till it failed to proceed.

aicomp

Probably not much damage besides the flexplate. There is a stiffener that probably should have been added to the flexplate with all the upgrades. Gorearend sent one in the kit when I rebuilt my Son's 48RE.
Just my thoughts.
Hope it goes well.
Mike

bgilbert

Sounds like they should've upgraded the flex plate too lol.

BC847

Back when mine let go, it got up against the transmission adapter a little, but nothing major . . . .

BigIron70

As long as he shut it down right away damage will be minimal. I just had to replace one recently that wasn't shut down for a few miles this is what happens. Bolts came loose on this one. 88,000 miles on truck trans was never out. Got to love that torque on these 6.7 Cummins

cougar

You really won't know till you get it out. If the TQ got up against the oil pump like mine did you'll be replacing an oil pump. I'd replace the seal anyway.

j_martin

Well, he sort of fell into a barrel of crap and came out smelling like a rose.
Pulled the tranny and found not much damage except the plate sheared off near the hub. Checked the bone yards for a used one and missed one by minutes. A transmission shop in town had the same scene going on in the shop. Nothing else available, so he called a guy he knew that used to have a shop that built Fummins. Dug through his stuff, found an unidentified billet flex plate with the right number of teeth, gave the guy 20 bucks for it, took it home and put it in.

It's back on the road, tougher than ever.

Rick 12v CTD

you win some and you lose some.

It's always satisfying to win some right after losing some. good to hear he got set up and running again.

aicomp

Really happy to hear that it is on the road again.
Mike

j_martin

I'm an old phart that pulls a double, so I probably will have to fork out quite a bit to have a billet flex plate installed on mine.

I (we) were really surprised by the 2 mile track between onset of symptoms and failure to proceed.

I've had a rap near the rear of my engine or front of the transmission for 30,000 miles, like since I've owned the truck. Flex plate examined several times, but then Sam's was checked out 2000 miles before it failed as well.

I think I'll get the flex plate replaced and take the old one to the tank welders in town and have QC examine it. (x-ray and dye penetrant)

cougar

At only 150K miles, mine was showing signs of fatigue when the trans was pulled for overhaul. And my truck was totally stock. It did have a long history of 5th wheel towing over it's life. Probably why the original trans was replaced with a junk yard one before I got it.

jstone44720

I am stunned and impressed by the torque in some of these trucks. Flex plates aren't "wear" items in any regular use. I have always seen them treated like refrigerators from the 60's and 70's : they came with the house and you used them until the house burnt down or you just couldn't stand harvest gold appliances anymore. Glad it worked out for you all.

cougar

We need to come up with a spring loaded one the the clutches are.

Refrigerators

Szook

oliver foster

Since I am working with zero info as to what year Dodge you drive and what actually happened to your truck.
All I can say is if your crank looks like the picture BigIron posted, it will likely need to be swapped out.

Or swap out the motor, as that might be cheaper and faster.