dodge trannies

daryl

i am thinking about buying a 98 dulley with a
diesel but hear lots of bad news about the
transmission being very weak and therefore at about
100 to 125000 miles get ready for severe trannie
problems so if any body can shed some light please
respond

f150rules

No personal experiences but every Dodge owner I have personally conversed with has told of transmission problems at some point. Lots of owners here on Edmunds swear otherwise though. Use your own judgement. Look at Dodges TSB's for the past 6 years. Dodge has admitted to weak links in their transmissions, especially in the diesels. Gas trucks have had lots of problems too. Brakes are another big issue to think about. Lots of noted premature brake pad wear.
A friend of mine had a Dodge 360 3/4 ton extended cab long bed. Went through brake pads about every 10k miles. Dodge replaced all but a few sets under warranty till he finally traded for a Powerstroke Ford, but it was still a hassle for him.

davids1

Dodge Ram 1500 extended cab 4x4. Traded that one for a '99 Ram 1500 Quad 4x4. The '97 had 38,000 miles when I traded. No tranny problems. Also was still on the original brake pads. No tranny or brake problems with my '99 either after 13,000 miles. I've driven several newer GM trucks, and in my opinion their brakes are inferior to my Dodge. Had to really stomp on the brakes to get any effect.

jcmdie

The dodge brakes needing frequent changes has a lot to do with the rear brakes needing adjustment every oil change. Most people don't bother and then the trucks starts using only the fronts. That is the main reason why they wear out prematurely. 40,000 miles on my '98 4X4 5.9 and no tranny probs. Again I have my tranny serviced at regular intervals.

f150rules

Didn't mean to indicate a blanket problem with Dodge. Just relaying what I have heard. I suspect from your post that you have been as happy with Dodge as I have been with Fords. Why change what works, right? People have indicated similar problems with Fords, but I have never experienced anything and hear few reports of them from others. Dodge has admitted to transmission problems and brake problems though. Maybe it is from customers not following maintenance requirements like you indicate about the rear brake adjustments. I wouldn't want the hassle of doing that either though, so if it were my truck, I would just keep replacing the pads. Call me lazy.

davids1

Discussion crossing manufacturer's boundaries without getting nasty, I like it!! By the way, how are you supposed to manually adjust the rear brakes. Would love to do this myself, as I try to do simple maintenance myself. Thanks. David.

jcmdie

Although I always have it done , I believe it's just like the old days with manual adjusters. They usually have a rubber plug covering access to the starwheel adjuster. A brake adjusting tool is used to turn the starwheel. My mechanic does the job. I haven't done this sort of adjustment in over 20 years.

davids1

before. I'll give it a try.

z71bill

I thought that went out back in 1950. Between 1950 and about 1965 your rear brakes automatically adjusted every time you backed up and applied the brakes. Never heard of such a thing. When is Dodge going to improve their technology -maybe get into the 1960's?

jcmdie

For economic reasons GM makes the rear brake assembly on the Dodge Ram. They are suposed to self adjust but don't. Poor quality. They are suposed to get 4 wheel disks in the 1500 next year. and I believe that the 2500 and 3500 have them now.

cdean

I find this strange. I have had nothing but good brake life on my GMs. '94 half ton had front brakes down to nothing and about 1/4 pad left on the rears after 90K.

current truck is about 2,000 lbs heaveier. Front brakes are getting close with 55,000 miles on them. Not as long lasting as my half ton, but all GMs get long life.

how does this explain Dodges super short break life, obviously they aren't the same. Delco special design just for Dodge?

jcmdie

all the older trucks got better brake life. Different materials in the pads- no asbestos. By having poorly functioning brakes in the rear the fronts prematurely wear out. Besides I understand that dodge uses less surface area on thier brakes and that doesn't help.

cdean

i had metallic brakes on my '94, and I have them on my new one. I'm getting perfectly good mileage out of my brakes now, considering the weight i'm pulling and the ridiculous traffic i drive in that causes me to stand on my brakes about once a week.

Delco must have a special variation of the GM brakes that they are making for Dodge.

cdean

explain high mileage brakes on all gm vehicles then mr. genius.

davids1

Explain the high mileage brakes on my Ram!! I have always gotten good wear out of my brakes, regardless of the brand of vehicle I drive. It has a lot to do with your driving environment and style. My wife wears out brakes twice as fast on her much lighter car because she has determined it necessary to wait 'til the last minute to slam them on. Go figure??!!

cdean

good point.

My mom had a suburban, same year as my truck. she only got half the miles out of her brakes..i like to think I am easy on them the way I drive... I know she wasn't.

rrichf

Ford must have used junk for brakes in my old '92. They only lasted 88,000 in LA traffic.

My wife has had to have the brakes on her '91 Honda Accord done at 33,000.

Rich

wwhite2

So if i understand the last few posts i read ........ One must drive like a women if your brakes wear out prematurely........ you wont be getting any if you continue to talk like that

wwhite2

It seems like gm is selling dodge its old leftover drum brake adjusting systems from the 50-60s that needed manual adjusting Hope they got a good deal on them

98dodge

This doesn't seem to be a too active thread. But I saw some very vague (and possible misleading) comments above. I have a 98 Dodge 2500HD V10 Auto (47RE) 4X4.
Here's the general consensus with a large group of Ram owners to which I belong:
The current auto transmissions behind the gas engines work great and last a long time if serviced regularly and not abused. A small group has experienced problems with the Auto (47RE) behind the diesel, and the speculation is that the Cummins puts out too much torque at low RPMs before the tranny builds up adequate pressure. So it's best to let the pressure build up with a diesel prior to punching it. Better yet, get one of the manual transmissions. The proven NV4500 is absolutely the best manual transmission in any truck in this country. Look in 4WD magazines and you see countless adds for them to improve on older 4X4s. The new Allison 6-speed is supposed to be even better, but it hasn't been around as long.

As for the brakes: in the 95 to 99's--they suck! Dodge finally got around to doing something about the complains with the new 00 or 01 models. I think the 2500 and 3500s are the ones that now have the new dual-piston brakes in front. Wish I had these on mine! Dodge has also had plenty of problems with increased pad wear in the front. They tried to correct this by adjusting the bed-load sensor in the rear, as well as trying different pads. All these are iffy in effectiveness. The biggest factor in improving pad life is how you drive the truck--as a girl, grandmother, repressed red-haired adopted iguana, or however you want to describe it. Bottom line--Dodge brakes have not been very good, but they should be better now.

meredith

After 30 or more days of inactivity....

this topic is being "frozen". It will be archived or deleted in the next 10 days or so.

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