hard shift when put in drive
 

I just bought a 2011 2500 with an auto tranny, when I first start it up and put it in drive it goes in smooth, but after driving it when I put it in drive it slams into gear and jumps forward. You can hear metal as it goes into gear. I still have the factory warranty and will be taking it in but I'm currious if this is a common issue. I know dodge don't have the best transmissions out there but with it only has 37,000 miles and I don't believe I should be having problems already.

The 68RFE has proven to be much better than the 47/48RE it replaced. Only heard of one (or two) on this forum failing, and both were modded trucks. Hopefully your dealer is one of the better ones, and can sort it out. Could be the throttle cable or a sensor.

This truck is bone stock and has been from its original owner. Little did I know till now that the owner traded this truck in do to transmission problems. It was in the shop for 56 days so he traded it in. It don't seem to have a high idle causing the hard shift, and it will only do it after its been put into drive then taken out and put back in without killing it. If you kill it than it shifts smooth as could be. I know the manager at this dealership and he promises to make it right. I want to do the deletes and program it but I'm scared to do it till the trans proves itself.

does it have all of the latest factory updates? I'm pretty sure there was one fairly recently that dealt with shifting and drivability. I have gotten in the habit of going to neutral between reverse/drive and drive/reverse shifts. Keep us posted what happens to yours!

When I open the hood it says that the pcm has been reprogrammed so I'm thinking it has the updates. I had a buddy hold the brake and shift it from reverse to drive and the drive shaft actually spins about a 1/3 way around before stopping. The u-joints are tight and it will spin all the way to the rear axle. I'm thinking the problem is in the rear end. Still don't make sense due to the low miles.

I don't know what you consider "hard", but when I put mine in gear you definitely feel it. Forward or reverse. It's very similar to how other trucks I've owned have felt when you were in 4WD and shifted into gear. I wouldn't say it jumps, but it definitely moves. Mine has done that from day one though. I just assumed it was because of the massive amounts of HP and torque.

My truck has done this a million times, even prior to built trans.

HERE IS THE FIX.

Put truck in neutral from park, wait 2 sec, put truck in drive. Situation solved. Do not just drop into drive from park especially if the parking brake is set or released

Well I just got a call from the dealership and they said that there is some play in the rear end but they don't see any wore out or broken parts so they aren't going to do anything right now. Gotta love warranty work. Whenever they can get out of it they will.

I tried pausing in neutral before going in drive and it doesn't help.

Try a different dealer if you can. Many of them really don't know their (nose) from a hole in the ground.

Make sure it's well documented, probably only a matter of time before something breaks for good.

I would do Quicklearn on Transmission, if PCM had been flashed recently this might not have been done. You might want to ask your dealership buddy if the tech did that procedure.

The guy i know told me that his service department is a joke and to take it to a guy he knows at the other dealership.

Ill call and ask for the service record to see what's all been done. That will probably help me get a better idea at what's goin on. Maybe I got a lemon and they are trying to keep it from me.

Quick-learn should always be done when PCM is flashed, if tech skipped this step may cause hard shift problem.

I have also noticed this on my 2012. I dont hear anything metallic (yet) but it goes into gear harder than any truck I have owned. It has 1700 miles on it. I knew I should have bought a manual.

Have someone hold the brake down and shift back and fourth from drive to reverse while you watch the driveline. See if it turns more than it should. Mine turns about a third the way around.