Cracked Flex Plate?
 

I have a 2004.5 truck - recently pulled a 2 car enclosed trailer. Upon arriving home, I noticed in all gears except for Reverse and while driving slowly that the truck makes a horrible noise. I believe it could be a cracked / bent flex plate.

From my understanding the only thing the flex plate is responsible for is to start the truck. I did not think that the flex plate did any torque transfer when driving.

I assume the only way to find / confirm the problem is to drop the tranny. If it is a cracked / bent flex plate then my thought is to replace the torque converter since it is stock and has 180K miles as well as put a new flex plate in. I do not want to dump $4K into the tranny if not needed - since the tranny is out can a tranny shop look at any of the other components to determine if a rebuild is in the near future? Maybe replace the adjusting bands? I have another thread pertaining to this but i did not like the title of the thread. If there is a way to change the title of a thread, please let me know.
Thanks
Scott

The flex plate it the mechanical link to the torque converter from the crank shaft. They do crack and come apart under heavy load. It is a somewhat common problem. You do have to pull the tranny to replace it.

If you're having to pull the trans and want to have it inspected. You might as well go ahead and at least do a replacement of the clutches, maybe even a shift kit to firm things up.

The way I would look at it is, you already have 180k, you tow a decent amount of weight on a regular basis. If you don't address it now while the trans is still intact, you'd be looking at $4k later down the road. Believe me, I just found out the hard way.

I had an issue with the bolts backing our of the converter and creating one he!! of a noise. Had to pull the trans so went ahead and spiffed up the trans while there.

Jim

Last July my 2007 Mega 2500 had a similar issue with a clicking noise coming from the bell housing area. I contact a friend of mine who is a diesel mechanic and he found a bolt had backed out of the converter. He retapped it and used Lock Tight on the rest, and so far all is well.

Thanks for the reply

Looks like I might be in a position to upgrade the tranny if I have to take it out.
Thanks
Scott

Don't skimp!

^^^ this ^^^

Roughly how many hours to pull the tranny? Truck owner time - not shop time. I do have a lift, just curious how long it takes.

If you have a lift and a extra pair of hands to help pull it, you could do it in a hour or so. I pulled my trans/t-case all at once on my back, goofing around and having a beer or two took a little over 2 hours.

Lift is good, tranny jack mandatory!

Thanks - I took the truck to a local tranny shop just to get his opinion. I think the bottom line is that the tranny needs to get pulled. So my list of parts at a mininum should be: Torque Converter, valve body?, flex plate if cracked, new clutches, New bands - maybe heavier duty if they offer, better input shaft?, anythink else? I alread replaced the 2 solenoids.

Do I get the parts from Dave at Goered or someplace else?

Thanks for your suggestions

Do call Dave, all of his parts are tested before sold. Also, even if your flex plate is OK, I would while you are there replace it with a billet one. Compare the two and you will be amazed at how light weight the original one is.

Issue found - now I have to fix it
 

I dropped the truck off a local tranny shop, very reputable. He put it on the lift and luck was on his side. The engine stopped perfectly where the flexplate bolts to the torque converter. He said the welds on the torque converter are letting go / ripping off[roll].

I will pull the tranny - likely replace the torque converter & flex plate - then decide on what else to replace. The tranny shop uses a brand called RECON - does not mean reconditioned. I will compare various brands as well as consider dave's. Maybe I can buy parts from Dave and put in my tranny.

Earlier this week I called dave's shop and they stated all this other stuff that they change out in the tranny's - I need to seriously consider if I need all that stuff when I do pull 15K lbs but I do not hammer on my truck like some people.

Thanks for your advice - i will take pictures of the torque converter once pulled.

Yes! Use Dave's parts in your rebuild! You will be glad you did.