'01 Dakota 3.9 has no reverse...

Son found a clean '01 w/ 130k miles on it with no reverse but supposedly normal operation in forward gears.
Simple fix or overhaul? As usual for me, search is no help.

Thanks


Tim

Most likely a complete overhaul will be needed. You could pull the pan and see whats in it and check the band. I would just about bet it needs to come out.

one time, i had a 727 in a chrysler that had no reverse because when the previous owner adjusted the bands, somehow the band strut fell out, loosing reverse. put the strut back in, and all was well for thousands of miles afterwards.
having the 3.9 engine, however, suggests there may be a 904 variant behind it, and i remember lots of stories about the band anchor spot welds breaking from the band, causing the "no reverse" symptom.
in this case, the transmission definitely needs to come out.

unless you always park so you don't need to back up..........

So long ago I can't pinpoint the year, I had a similar issue with a TF - it was low on ATF, like 2 qts.
That might have been one of the luckiest days ever, though.
But I'm not all that familiar with the newer automatics, except that rebuilds are expensive.
If the rest of the truck says "buy me", figure your offerat market value minus repairs.

Thanks.
Now that moparx mentioned it, I recall hearing that about the welds also.
He found a '98 w/ a 5.2 we,re going to go look at. He would prefer the 5.2 over the 3.9 and the guy wants too much for the '01 w/ a trans problem anyway.
Thanks again.


Tim

as i recall if the adjustment gets to loose the servo piston can pop out of the housing,it can be put back in the car,but,it means the band is most likely worn very thin

See if it has eng braking in low. If it does not then the low/reverse band is not working. If its the overdrive trans it can also have a problem in the overdrive that can also give no reverse. Ron

Thanks, Ron. It was a truck for sale and he passed on it. Bought a '98 Club Cab with a 5.2 today. Very clean truck. Identical to his first Dakota after he graduated HS.


Tim

Ron, PM sent

I rebuilt the trans in my '99 3.9 Dakota (had a different issue) but the bands were found to have chunks coming out of them. Mine had a flare on 2-3 shift. wasn't all that bad to do. and cost less to know I now have a good trans than it would have cost me to go get a trans from a junkyard. I just wish this truck had more engine. but I'm gonna run it in teh ground with the current one since the body is getting to the "not worth an engine swap" stage.