Ram lost 5th Gear

GordoSD · Apr 4, 2012

Had thye 96 Dodge Ram Cummins with the 5 speed manual out of the shop for the first time in 6 months. Was tooling along 70 mph in 5th gear when "COUGH" I thought something blew in the engine. Then I started slowing down like I was in neutral. checked the rpms and they were at idle. Almost pulled off the road but thought to try 4th gear and it was fine. Pulled off at next intersection and looked under. No fluids. All the other gears worked, plus reverse. Couldn't see any linkage hanging.
WTF? Sheared the shaft just driving along? Any thing I can check before a visit to a tranny shop? 131k on the clock. Gertrag.

Stuart · Apr 4, 2012

The nut holding 5th gear came loose and the gears slid apart. Take the transfer case and the tail housing off.You will see a split nut that has two allen head fasteners to clamp the nut to the shaft after it is tightened against the gear. Reassemble with either loctite on the main shaft or 3 spots of welds. Have fixed a lot of them this way. Its a very simple fix you could do yourself with a little time. Hope this helps

GordoSD · Apr 4, 2012

Is it OK to drive it as is? I don't want to fry the whole shebang.

GordoSD · Apr 4, 2012

Where are those two halves of that nut going to be?

Fullthrottle · Apr 4, 2012

The nut doesn't break it simply unscrews from the mainshaft, therefore it and the gear will still be hanging on the shaft. I've seen folks drive them for some time that way. It'll wear the threads out of the nut if it rattles around to long on the shaft. I usually do exactly as Stuart recommended. However sometimes if the splines are worn in the gear it will come off even with the nut welded. If it happens again usually have to replace the shaft, gear and nut.

Anonymous-0 · Apr 4, 2012

hate it when that happens ,,,mine has been fixed twice in 330k miles,,cost me $400 each time ,, i think it is easy money for the tranny shop,, in the future do not lug in 5th gear under 45 mph ,,the cummins 6 cy torque hammers hard on that gear at low rpms ,,, kinda like the diesel 2 cy lder j deer gutting out sikle bar gearboxes on hay bines

GordoSD · Apr 4, 2012

Is this a good time to also do that fix on the "Pin" that falls into the gear gallery?

GordoSD · Apr 4, 2012

I'm thinking thats on the front of the motor.

GordoSD · Apr 4, 2012

Don't lug it in 5th. Usually at 50 or above . Did the throttle plate adjust and it just doubled the motor torque. So 5th gear shoots me from 50 to 75 in nano seconds.

State of Jefferson · Apr 4, 2012

You're right, the "Killer Dowell Pin" is in the front case.

Ben

fixerupper · Apr 4, 2012

If it's like mine was, the nut will be still there on the end of the threads. Mine is 2WD so fixing it was super simple. Had the tranny off for a clutch job so I set the tranny on a couple of blocks with the tail shaft pointing up and did the fix.The previous owner put maybe 10000 miles on it with the nut off. Jim

Janicholson · Apr 4, 2012

Or put it as together as the threads will allow and weld it in place. If it works forever you win. if not you were going to replace those parts the other way. Jim

Jim Ed Love · Apr 4, 2012

Fixed mine that way after the orginal nut backed off and then put on one of the new improved nuts and had it back off after 20,000 mile. Went and got another new and improved nut, put it on and took the first improved nut and run it up for a jam nut then spot welded it on four places opposite one another with a mig. That was 75,000 mile ago and I believe she is gonna hold. Some say not to fix it this way cause it throws the mainshaft out of balance but I have not noticed any vibes in the tranny. Poor folks got poor ways but it worked for me.

Not a bad job to do. Took me longer to drop the driveline and carrier bearing than to pull back case off and put the nuts on, mine was not a four wheel drive though.

MSD · Apr 4, 2012

Son lost his going snowmobiling one time. Drove it to where they were going to stay and fixed it in the parking lot. He has did a number of them so is pretty good at getting it back running.

bison · Apr 5, 2012

better way is to weld a small heavy (5/16 or 3/8 id) walled bushing against the nut,then cut at a 90 degree angle trough the bushing and nut,drill one part of the bushing to the bolt shank size ,tap the other 1/2 of the bushing to accept a grade 8 fine tread allen bolt.
Snug the bolt up,torque the nut to specs and tighten the allen bolt.

I done 2 neighbors trucks tranny's that that way 10 years ago,..still going strong

Nathan (SD) · Apr 5, 2012

Weld the nut when you put it back on. Took me the third time to figure it out. I had a 1998 do it at 40,000 mi. and a year later a 60,000 mi. The Dodge dealer gave me improved nuts the first two times. Third time was the welder. Still working after 12 years.

641Dave · Apr 5, 2012

I wouldn't use it to much.

Mine went out and my 5th gear and reverse finally quit. Seems that when the nut backed off my gears were only partially engaged and it worn them funny. When I got the nut fixed it put them in a bind from the odd wear and I ended up having to go back in and replacing those gears. That's when it got expensive.

Nancy Howell · Apr 5, 2012

Seems that was a problem with those trucks. Our 95 did it twice while under warranty. Second time they called in a specialist and they welded the nut on. Haven't had any problems since then.

mkirsch · Apr 5, 2012

I saw that on a TV show where they went through the common problems and fixes on the late 90's Dodge/Cummins trucks.

You don't even have to get into the transmission. Overdrive (5th) is in the tail housing, and like everyone else said, the nut fell off. All you gotta do is put it back together.

I think they put a couple of good tack welds on the nut on the TV show.

cumminspuller · Apr 5, 2012

Mine came off on my 97 at about 180k. Fixed it but tranny fried a few days later so it didn't matter. There are about 3 upgraded nuts taht dodge has sold through the years of this happening. The latest nut has 4 small set screws in it. This is the one I have in my tranny now. Sometimes it happens more than once sometimes it doesn't and there is no reason why for either of them. Welding them works sometimes but it you have to pull it back apart you will likely be buying a main shaft for the trans then.

Chris

Doug in IL · Apr 5, 2012

That happened on my '97 a few years back. The nut came off just West of Topeka, Ks. I was pulling a gooseneck trailer with a offset disc on it. Drove it back to near Peoria, IL. in 4th gear. It was a long slow trip home! Took it to the local transmission shop and he fixed it for a couple hundred bucks. Hasn't come off again.

Texasmark1 · Apr 5, 2012

I know that you guys are having tranny problems on the older models. I had the smaller work horses and bought later models. Had zero tranny problems. Apparently Mopar had to save face and fixed the problems.

Stayed with them for a number of years, and other than a rough ride, the reliability and performance was stellar.

Running a GM today and love it. But it took the Govt to clean out the featherbedders, from the CEO down.

My 2c,
Mark

barnE · Apr 5, 2012

Lost OD on 88 s 10. Still had 4th and kept going. Then trans locked up 100 per cent. Getrag trans. had lost all fluid and you know what happens then. Dave

barnE · Apr 5, 2012

Lost OD on 88 s 10. Still had 4th and kept going. Then trans locked up 100 per cent. Getrag trans. had lost all fluid and you know what happens then. Dave

Ram lost 5th Gear

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