no one can help me ! i have had a couple different shops look at my truck,s trans and the all have said it looks and drives fine, but i know it does not .. i am stumped , hopefully some one can help before i get a rebuild for nothing .. its only an issue in 3rd or o.d. , sometimes it will shudder as it is going into lock up i think .. or it is dropping rpms so low it shudders... never had this problem til i pulled my trailer(6000lbs) with my new edge w/ att .. thats the day it started , now i cant figure it out .. can some one with excellent trans skills help me ? thank you !!

 

It is common knowledge that the 47RE can't hold the power of the stock CTD, especially at the torque peak of 1500 RPM. Now you have increased power you use to pull a trailer. Your manual says don't tow in OD which is the way they avoided saying don't use full power at low RPM because the tranny doesn't have enough line pressure until 1800 RPM. The shuddering you feel is the torque converter lockup slipping. Slipping will produce particulates which will circulate and clog orifices, then you will have additional problems. Shuddering probably only occurs under 1800 RPM when you are developing full rated torque and pulling a load, so keep your foot out of it until you pass 1800 RPM. Depending on how often you have done this, you may or may not have enough particulates circulating to cause other problems. Even a fluid change and flush may not clean it up.

 

mine does it witha billet triple disc. brand new 4 months ago. rebuilder said its normal for that truck. had to take his word for it. witha 18000lb backhoe on the gooseneck it feels like its comin thru the floor.
get used to it

 

when i was running the beta smarty and towing, i would get a bad shudder when the tc was locked. it was terrible...i know exactly what your talking about...the problem most likely lies in your TC IMO

brett

 

did you end up doing a torque converter in your truck ? and if so did it go away ?

 

nope. just lowered the smarty back to reg programming and it mostly went away...i can still make it do it when i get on it when the tc is locked...terrible feeling

brett

 

I'm a little confused now. I bought a 97 2500 cc about two months ago and have been pulling my 5er with it as well as it being my daily driver. I had Dodge e-mail me the build sheet and it has the 47re tranny. It also has the tow package and the camper package. I had always heard not to tow in od so one of the first things that I did was read the owners manual and it said nothing about turning od off to tow. I have been towing with od on and turning it off if I start up a grade steep enough for me to lose speed. Am I doing it right or should od be off all the time I am towing?

 

How many miles on truck? Do you know anything about the service history?
In the meantime try to keep the rpm at or above 1800 when towing in OD. For the long haul you are probably looking at a converter/valvebody and maybe some trans upgrades. Then you can tow, smile and enjoy your truck.
James

 

Thanks. It has a 103,000. The original owner (I'm the third owner) was very meticilous about service, but, I don't know what if anything he had done to the tranny. My 5er only weighs about 7,000# and I was thinking about trading for one that weighs 10,000#, but don't want to trash the tranny.