I'm going to replace the rear tranny seal on my 03 Ram 3500 2wd, manual tranny. I have a shudder on takeoff but only when pulling my 5ver, which is 2 to 4 times/year and only 150 miles or so and have heard that's kind of common for my truck. While I'm repairing this, is there anything else I need to change out? U joints maybe?

The shudder is more than likely a dry u-joint. When loaded the squat changes the pinion angle. If the truck doesn't get driven much loaded the the joints wear in one spot. When you load it they run in a different spot. Also while the driveshaft is out, put some good grease on the tail shaft of the transmission.

You need to address the shutter before you break a joint and are left sitting. Probably U-joints and/or carrier bearing.

Shutter or clutch chatter?If clutch chatter get out of the clutch quicker.

With the 6-speed, you could be looking at clutch issues for sure. I had to replace mine at 97,000 miles when it started slipping. The clutch with the 6-speed is a known relatively weak spot.

Possibly related to spring wrap under high torque. Hard to know unless I drove it. Seal just holds the grease in. Yes check the entire driveline for tightness. Could be a clutch issue but by the time you inspect you may as well just install a new one. Don't forget the release and pilot bearings.

Rear seal repair. Anything else needed? | Good Sam Community

18 Replies

albow
Explorer
Nov 13, 2018
Pretty sure it's not the clutch and since I don't have to remove the tranny for the rear seal, I won't. Sounds like I should change the ujoints though. Thinking about it, I notice a little driveline slack from time to time which is probably the ujoints, right?
Grit_dog
Navigator II
Nov 13, 2018
fj12ryder wrote:
With the 6-speed, you could be looking at clutch issues for sure. I had to replace mine at 97,000 miles when it started slipping. The clutch with the 6-speed is a known relatively weak spot.

The NV5600 OE clutches aren't a weak link on a stock truck. The clutch on the G56 trans is though.
Grit_dog
Navigator II
Nov 13, 2018
Tail shaft seal takes about 10 min to replace plus R&R driveshaft.
Kind of mutually exclusive of the other symptom and not a large repair that would be beneficial to consider other pre emptive repairs. Not sure how else to say that.
time2roll
Nomad
Nov 13, 2018
Possibly related to spring wrap under high torque. Hard to know unless I drove it. Seal just holds the grease in. Yes check the entire driveline for tightness. Could be a clutch issue but by the time you inspect you may as well just install a new one. Don't forget the release and pilot bearings.
fj12ryder
Explorer III
Nov 13, 2018
With the 6-speed, you could be looking at clutch issues for sure. I had to replace mine at 97,000 miles when it started slipping. The clutch with the 6-speed is a known relatively weak spot.
rhagfo
Explorer III
Nov 13, 2018
Shutter or clutch chatter?
If clutch chatter get out of the clutch quicker.
ScottG
Nomad
Nov 13, 2018
You need to address the shutter before you break a joint and are left sitting. Probably U-joints and/or carrier bearing.
transamz9
Explorer
Nov 13, 2018
The shudder is more than likely a dry u-joint. When loaded the squat changes the pinion angle. If the truck doesn't get driven much loaded the the joints wear in one spot. When you load it they run in a different spot. Also while the driveshaft is out, put some good grease on the tail shaft of the transmission.

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Rear seal repair. Anything else needed?

18 Replies

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