Have an 01 2500 4wd, HO with a six spd. 93000 miles, about 30% pulling 15000 lb gooseneck. Was running empty, just cruising at 55 mph, and heard and felt a slight rumble in the drive train. Slowed down and tried to accelerate in 5th, and felt the rumble again. Long story short, 5th & 6th gears were gone, all others good. Limped home slowly, took out tranny (not an easy task, that is one heavy chunk of metal!) Took it to a local shop that is very good with tranmissions. When opened up they found the output shaft that has the 5 & 6 gears on it cleanly twisted in two. Also a little syncro wear.

We are struggling to find parts. Can find no one that has seen or heard this problem before. No rebuilts to be found in this area. Any ideas on parts or rebuilt units??

Also trying to figure out what caused this. I am the only driver of truck, and I baby it, loaded or unloaded. When the thing snapped, I was running empty, no hard acceleration. The engine is completely stock, no aftermarket work at all. Any comments or opinions to shed light on this would be appreciated.

The only possibility that may or may not be connected, is that only 2 or 3 miles before this happened, I had to drive thru a 2 ft or so ditch to exit a job site. The right front & rear wheels had to drive down into & out of this roadside ditch. Was in 1st gear, had to use 4wd, just eased thru slowly, out onto the road, shifted into 2nd, shifted back into 2wd, and let out the clutch. Everything seemed normal. Was in a residential area, so stayed in lower 4 gears, until I turned onto highway. It was just 1/8 mile later after I had accelerated gently and shifted into 6th gear that this occured. Could this be connected?

I see no problems of this sort in the TRC dialogue. This transmission appears to be bulletproof, or so I thought. Thanks for any help or advice.

 

Don't have alot to offer. Sorry to here about it.

 

If you still have a warranty, let Dodge deal with it. If not, you might want to call up New Venture or whoever makes the tranny and ask them about it.

 

Try WWW.StandardTransmission.com

Try WWW.blumenthalmfg.com

Between the two, you can find parts, rebuild or brandnew.

As for why, you are running a bit over GCVW although most folk get away with it most of the time, some really over.


(Sorry for the non html links but I no longer run Javascript in forums - too easy to hack)

 

What you have experienced is a common problem with the 6 speed and really heavy pulling. The modern ultrathin case deflects and causes that long monster to misalign and break parts.

www.txchange.com will have the parts you need for the repair. When you are done, build a girdle for the transmission to keep it from twisting.

I usually see this problem on trucks with four wheel drive and an overdrive unit installed. Then they ususally crack the bottom of the transfer case too.