I am working on a '99 2500 with a 47RE. The truck seems to shift and accelerate fine in 1st and 2nd gear. The problem occurs when the torque converter tries to lock up at 40-50 mph. We have already replaced the APPS. That had little effect on the syptoms. We have checked the grounds and all are good. I have noticed though that, unlike my truck, the shift into 4th gear is not real noticable (almost as though it doesn't shift at all). We tried tightening the bands this afternoon. The rear bands were excessively loose. After tightening the bands there was no notable improvement. So, now my question...

Is it possible that the clutch pack for third and fourth gear is fried? Additionally would this cause a problem with the torque converter lockup? Is there a definate way to tell if the clutch pack is bad?

Any help is always greatly appreciated.

Thanks,
Sean

 

Is the truck stock or modified? It's usually the lock up clutch in the converter that goes first but frying the clutches instead isn't uncommon.

 

How many miles are on the tranny? Also just like Bigblue said is the truck modified? And another thing what kind of abuse had the truck been through, like is the truck an everyday back to work driver or is it used as a hot shot truck? 47RE can hold some power but dodge has not made an automatic tranny that can hold any power. You might have a bad lock-up solenoid which is located on the side of the valve body. You have to purhcase the entire unit which consists of the lock-up solenoid and the overdrive solenoid. It all comes in one nice package with all new wires and a new plug. They around $55.00. You could have burned up your clutch packs but I would check on the cheap stuff first. That also might be your shift problem into overdrive. The solenoids some times get stuck open or closed causing similiar problems. Good luck I am also having a tranny problem so I feel your pain.

 

It would be wise to have it diagnosed to see if the pcm is calling for lock-up. There is also a test where you "T" into the cooler line and observe the psi when the lockup occurs. OD and lockup are pcm controlled so you really need to be taking a look at the electrical side of things too. The "rear band" you refered to is the l/r band so unless you were having a prob in manual low or reverse it's really out of the loop for your probs.

 

Ok,

The truck is bone stock, with 13x,xxx miles. I forgot about that one. The "shifting" problems started after hauling a couple thousand pounds of hay through some rather steep hills. I will have a look at just about anything at this point. Once again, I do appreciate the help.

Sean

 

I have the same problem but i also lost reverse. mine will shift into overdrive at 45 mph. I had a cooler line bust on mine pulling a load and before i could get off the road it was toast. Still trying to figure mine out.

 

Just rebuild it, if you lost all the fluid-------

 

As J-Body said, the band you tightened had nothing to do with it.

You can try to put the truck on jackstands, and put it in D and run it up through the gears, at the same time have someone hold onto the rubber cooler lines on the driver side of the truck up by the radiator, if you "feel" a "bump" in the line shortly after the truck has shifted into drive, that is a good indication that the truck is "trying" to lock up the converter. When the converter is told to lockup by the computer and the solonoid actuates there is a spike of pressure that you can feel in the lines. This is basically telling you that the electronics are good.

You can also wire in a "mystery switch", this will force a lockup. if the above test is good, throw a temporary switch in line and road test the truck, if you do not get "lockup" you very well may have burned up the converter lockup clutch.