Just got back from a two week vacation(first in 6 years) and was towing my Prowler. Kept overheating, both the trany and the engine. Before I left, I had a shop put a billet TC and a shift kit in the trany but to no avail. The trany self-destructed. Put in a rebuilt stock and it is hanging in there but I know that it won't last long because of the mods made to the engine. Yes, I know I should have put in an ATS(or similar) trany but just couldn't afford it and the vacation. Now I am thinking about just trading in the black beast for a newer one that does not have all these trany troubles. Thinking that a manual transmission may be the answer. Still not sure what is causing the engine to overheat. Had a new thermostat and fan clutch put in. Anyway, the question is, especially for you guys that do a lot of fairly heavy towing, what kind of truck do I need to put together to tow trailers or 5th wheels anywhere under most any conditions without having to worry about breaking something. Is there some years of Dodges that are better at this than others? Yes, I would love to get a new one, who wouldn't, but can't afford it. I was thinking of somewhere between a '99 and an '02. OR do I have what I need and just need to build it up more...a lot more?
Thanks for listening..Wayne

 

Dodge's 48RE tranny in the new trucks are supposed to be improved, but the jury is still out on them for towing.

I prefer the 6 spd manual for towing.
But your 47RE tranny can be built up to handle towing- at $3600 or so.

Your overheating problem might be all the oil and crud stuck in your radiator fins from the engine breather puke bottle.
Have you moved/removed the breather bottle on your truck?

 

some being better than others is a subjective term its like prefering Ford, Chevy Or our Beloved Dodge. There was a recent thread that dealt with the crank case vent tube spewing contaminates that coated the radiator and alike. I would check there if you have done everything else and dont believe the head gasket is caput. As far as buying new or keeping old it will all come down to $$$$$ payme now or pay me later since you already know what you have and aside from a few small problems or big depending on your point of view they can be fixed If you are gonna buy a use vehicle you may wind up doing to that what your truck needs. You have to expect that after time you must put money into your vehicle they dont stay new forever although we would like that. so lets say you drop 3500 into a tranny and fix your O heat problem relatively in expensively. If you buy a new truck you will have to figure a 400-500 per month payment so at 500 you will have paid for the tranny in 7 months but are still paying for the new truck. even if it cost 5k thats only 10 months worth of payments as apposed to 60 give or take a few. I know u were hoping for get the new one they are nice i love mine but i expect to get at least 5 years with minimal to no repairs and then as long as i spend less that what a new one would cost every year im ahead of the game as long as it remains reliable.

Dan

 

No puke bottle and the blowby is way back from the radiator on a 12 valve.

I'd keep it and fix it up, you'll regret owning a 24 valve after being spoiled by a 12.
If you could afford a 3rd gen that's another story.

 

there comes a time in a trucks life when enough is enough, only you can be the judge of that. (can also read one man's trash is another's gold) Your truck is two years away from being 10, a time when the maintaince payments may equal or be greater than new... My preferance would be to ditch it now while it still holds some (more) value and spend some of the upcoming maintaince money on a new(er) truck.

Some of your issues may be simple fixes (as has been said) others are not, if you are half way mechanically inclined, go over your truck with a fine tooth comb and just look for things that look out of sorts (like the rad plugged with crud, or just pull the rad yourself and take it to a shop to get boiled, look for the tranny cooler being plugged as well)

 

I thank you guys, for all the input. I have never really "gone thru" the radiator as I should have. Might find that once it is properly de-gunked, it may work a whole lot better. Got to adding up all the stuff and money I have put into it and it came to a right scarey amount. Hate to throw it all away. As Bill says, the 24 valve has its own proplems, i.e. lift pump and such. 3rd Gen is out. If I could afford one of them, I would not be having this discussion with you guys. Dan makes sense too...it is a whole lot easier to pay $3500 as opposed to $35000.
Again and as usual, thanks for the good advice.
Wayne

 

Yeah, sounds like things are plugged up...that's the only reason I can see BOTH the tranny and engine overheating. It takes a pretty big problem to overheat the Cummins...lack of air would be a big one.

 

Something else to be considered is that the tranny has a ATF-Water heat exchanger. A slipping tranny will heat up the engine quite high. Combined with a cooling system that's not up to par anymore you'll see overheating of both.

Just my 2c

AlpineRAM

 

Finally got the radiator replaced. Took awhile to find and ship it. The old one was really a piece of work. It had been hit by the fan??? and they had then pinched off the tubes on both ends so it wouldn't leak. Kinda hard to explain so I posted a pic in my gallery. I couldn't see all this as it was hidden by the fan shroud. Sure did explain the cooling proplems I had. I'm still shaking my head over then whole thing. Can't believe someone did that. Gonna stick in an aux cooler for the tranny and see if that reduces the temp some.
Wayne