Dakota SLT 4.7L V8

• Automatic transmission
• 50,000 miles

Everyone on this board with a Dodge Dakota or Durango 2000- 2001 or Jeep Grand Cherokee 1999-2001: I have the fix to your transmission shift clunks. I have a 2001 Dodge Dakota 4X4 with a 4.7L V8 and the 45RFE transmission. I bought the truck with 31,000 miles on it. I was all excited and drag raced it a few times. It started having a problem at about 50,000 miles. I drove around for 1.5 years in a panic because I couldn't afford fixes. I thought I'd wreck the trans.

Problem: On gradual acceleration, it would rev too high in 2nd gear. Then it would pause and clunk into 3rd. Here's the fix given to me by a Detroit vehicle owner's manual writer. He's sort of an engineer's consultant. Have a dealer reset the TCM (transmission control module): the computer.
The problem starts like this: The TCM sets when the gears shift based on the driver's habits. When high acceleration and/or (i think) heavy gas pedal usage happens (drag racing or towing), the TCM learns to rev to higher RPM to give the truck higher RPM's before shifting, and thus more power for acceleration. But it never unlearns this by itself.

I caught you- you have a lead foot. Reset the computer and quit speeding! The TCM should no longer clunk into higher gears. This fixed my problem.

I now have a new problem. Clunk sometimes when changing gears from P to D or R; D to R; or R to D. It may be the rear U-joint. It squeaks and I've been oiling it for 5000 miles. The squeaking shuts up temporarily, but something in the rear still clunks sometimes. Any ideas?