Ram 2500 Turbo Diesel

• Automatic transmission
• 137,000 miles

Here's one for you. We have a 1999, automatic, Cumming's Turbo Diesel Ram 2500 with 4WD and apparently anti-lock brakes. We've had several problems with it over the past two years, but the most recent is perplexing.

The issue is this: I was parked on an incline, not a massive incline, just a mild incline in my driveway. When I put the beast in drive, he rolled back. This isn't the norm. The norm is that he starts to move forward slowly. You'd think that's what a big, powerful beast of a truck should do on a mild incline. I hit the breaks and BOOM! my ABS and Brake lights both come on simultaneously, thus freaking me out, as I didn't think you'd need your Anti-lock brakes to brake going less than4mph backwards down an incline that is about as steep as the side of a shoe wedge. So, me being the safety conscious driver that I am, I pull out the manual and look up the ABS light/Brake light combo and find that the truck is not a deadly, brakeless killing machine, so I continue my quest to move my truck out of my drive way.

Here's the thing, why didn't my truck want to go up such a minor incline? Why after this incident did my speedometer quit working until I am traveling at least 2 miles over25mph ? Why do I SOMETIMES have noticeable slipping when the truck engages gear from a standing position, e.g. red light, stop sign, parking space, etc.? And most baffling of all, what the hell does any of this have to do with my ABS system? WHY? Why is this all happening? Did the Dodge demon come along and decide to throw my truck into a state of mechanical dementia? It's cruel; he's not THAT old. Can anyone put all these puzzle pieces together for me, because I'm not mechanic and I'm no clairvoyant, but I am thoroughly confused.

Take care,
Azy!