FYI........

Just had an eye opening education on my '01 Automatic Transmission. It was making noise that was diagnosed as a bad pinion bearing in the rear end that was resonating up the drive shaft and amplifying in the bell housing....so they thought. After a rear end rebuild, the noise was still there. (Rear end had bad bearings and needed the rebuild)

Further evaluation found the OD (Over Drive - rear housing of tranny) was whinning! The tranny shop took the OD off (after removal of transfer case) and found the main bearing cage had disinigrated, causing shaft wobble. The kicker was Dodge uses a bearing with a PLASTIC bearing cage....yes plastic!
Now it is rebuilt with an upgraded bearing with a metal bearing caged. Problem solved and runs nice a quiet.

Tranny shop informed this has been a common problem with the Dodge Transmissions.

Moral of the story: Be aware and take note IF you have any high impact jerking while pulling, rear end impact, monster truck style jumping, etc. You may end up with a broken bearing cage which is a $800 fix rather than a whole transmission rebuild or replacement.

I'm glad I found out about it before there was any tranny damage.

Sleep tight fellow Dodge jockeys........

 

Failure is usually diagnoised by vib frequency(high hz) and will do in OD but not in drive at same speed or vice versa. Sound is right under your seat.
Plastic brg separators are o'k. The brg is washed by fluid that sometimes has foreign material in suspension.