Problem: 2017 Manual Transmission popping out of gear

[TEX_03]

I have a 2017 Ram 3500 with the manual transmission that I am experiencing issues with the transmission popping out of 6th (and occasionally 5th) gear. The gear shifter physically moves back into neutral with no hand on it. I am only experiencing the issue when I am my towing my 12K fifth wheel and slowing down with my exhaust brake. A couple of times I have attempted to keep it in gear with my hand on the shifter and she still pops back into neutral. Otherwise, I see and feel no other issues with the transmission or exhaust brake.

I experimented today on our return trip, and it did pop out twice without the exhaust brake and coasting in gear to slow down.

I am not mechanically inclined, so any insight would be appreciated.

Thank you,

Michael

 

[Randy_F]

Sounds like a new teammates is in your future.

 

[RVTRKN]

Warranty time.

 

[Brian Criste]

Out of curiosity, how many miles are on your truck?

 

[TEX_03]

Out of curiosity, how many miles are on your truck?

3,500 miles. She's only 3 months old.

 

[Brian Criste]

3,500 miles. She's only 3 months old.

I have a 2016 w/ 20k on it and it has never done it. Buttttttt.... I have a 96' with a NV4500 5 speed. Original trans never did it even heavy with the exhaust brake. I installed a reman from Standard Trans at about 250k miles and from the beginning it did 2 things weird. Occasionally when you'd take off in 1st gear heavy, it would jump out of gear as you were loading the driveline (letting the clutch out) and make a big "bang" sound. Other times, when the exhaust brake would come on in 5th gear, it would also jump out of gear. My local transmission guy pulled it apart and said the main shaft was machined wrong. A call to Standard transmission and they sent him a new shaft. Problem solved. I also believe Standard Transmission paid his bill if memory serves me right. He also mentioned that it wasn't shimmed right when it was set up, but that might have been because of whatever the machining issue was. Now, I'm no manual trans guy, but whatever he did, fixed the issue and we had many trouble free miles after that. My guess is something wasn't shimmed right. Some guys on here also complain of 6th gear rattle. Mind does it a little bit but some guys have zero rattle. Might be a shimming tolerance thing. Just some thoughts.

 

[MichaelOverfield]

I think it is clear you have an internal transmission problem, and it will require a replacement. On the good side, you should be under warranty, and this was not a problem later on. My G56 has never, not once popped out of gear as you describe, loaded, exhaust brake, towing, never. It is something that will get worse, it won't fix itself. As Brian well stated before, most likely issue in your case was some kind of assembly SNAFU and something was not put together, or shimmed, or machined correctly. Do let us know when you get this resolved.

 

[Michael Riley]

I also have a 2017 Dodge Ram 3500 with a manual transmission. I ordered mine from the factory. At 500 miles, coming down a pass in Oregon, unloaded with the exhaust brake on, my transmission popped out of 6th gear. This happened numerous times. I took it to the Dodge dealer and they couldn't "replicate" the problem so sent me home with no fix. I then took video of the transmission popping out of gear and the noises it makes. Long story short, my transmission was just replaced yesterday. The new one still makes way more noise than I think it should, rattles/chatters in 2nd/4th/6th gears. Very quiet in 3rd gear. I have not taken it anywhere to check the 6th gear popping out issue. I have a 2003 Ram 3500 with a manual and it makes no noises at all. Works like a champ. BTW, I have since found out that there are quite a few 2017 manual transmissions popping out of gear that FCA is dealing with.

 

[jgillott]

Does anyone know if anything changed with the G56 for the 2017 model run?

 

[Newsa]

I think the last change to the g56 was in the 2007.5 model. Too many 6th gear failures from towing in 6th with a 0.79 final drive ratio. So they tried to make it less attractive to tow in 6th gear by changing it to 0.74 final dri e ratio.

It is suggested to only tow in 5th when towing more than 10,000? I consider more than 10,000 on the heavy side.

Not sure if the suggestion to tow in 5th is in the owners manual or not. I think it is mentioned. But I think your g56 has a warranty issue because others tow in 6th with no problems. I have only towed that heavy for 500 miles (in 6th). All my other towing has been under 10k.

What ratio rear end do you have? If it is 3.43, you should be towing in 5th on grades. 5th is not an overdrive. It is direct 1:1. So they will not change that.

 

[jgillott]

I think the last change to the g56 was in the 2007.5 model. Too many 6th gear failures from towing in 6th with a 0.79 final drive ratio. So they tried to make it less attractive to tow in 6th gear by changing it to 0.74 final dri e ratio.

It is suggested to only tow in 5th when towing more than 10,000? I consider more than 10,000 on the heavy side.

Not sure if the suggestion to tow in 5th is in the owners manual or not. I think it is mentioned. But I think your g56 has a warranty issue because others tow in 6th with no problems. I have only towed that heavy for 500 miles (in 6th). All my other towing has been under 10k.

What ratio rear end do you have? If it is 3.43, you should be towing in 5th on grades. 5th is not an overdrive. It is direct 1:1. So they will not change that.

Interesting. My October 2006 built 5.9l 2007 has one of the last of the low gear ratio G56 trans. I think Motorhead's truck, which was built in November or December of 2006 has the newer, higher ratio, G56 if I remember correctly.

 

[Newsa]

Interesting. My October 2006 built 5.9l 2007 has one of the last of the low gear ratio G56 trans. I think Motorhead's truck, which was built in November or December of 2006 has the newer, higher ratio, G56 if I remember correctly.

yeah. That sounds right.

All 2013's were actually 2013.5 year models because they started production late. Mine has a June 2013 build date.

Imagine the frustration of those who had to wait for their orders (ordered trucks to arrive). In my opinion, it was worth the wait no matter which transmission you got

 

[RVTRKN]

In my opinion, the early G56, is the better G56. Its better suited for the aluminum case, with less stress on the case. Even though you run at a higher RPM, the trans runs cooler. After spending a lot of money and labor on my 07, I keep mine cool @ 180*, otherwise it would run over 225* plus

 

[mfurrh55]

Interesting. My October 2006 built 5.9l 2007 has one of the last of the low gear ratio G56 trans. I think Motorhead's truck, which was built in November or December of 2006 has the newer, higher ratio, G56 if I remember correctly.

I have an 07 that was built in Dec. 06, it has 0.79 6th gear, and I pulled 18,000 lbs. To new York and back in 6th, and I've hauled some pretty heavy hay loads 1200 miles with no problems in 6the gear

 

[RVTRKN]

Everybody seems to tow in 6th, even though it not advisable, even I tow in 6th. However anytime I hit an incline I shift to 5th and even 4th when climbing at 23K GCW. I'd imagine your trans temp gets up over 200* plus. Even with my ability to keep mine from going over 180*, I keep as little stress as possible on the aluminum two piece case.

 

[mfurrh55]

Everybody seems to tow in 6th, even though it not advisable, even I tow in 6th. However anytime I hit an incline I shift to 5th and even 4th when climbing at 23K GCW. I'd imagine your trans temp gets up over 200* plus. Even with my ability to keep mine from going over 180*, I keep as little stress as possible on the aluminum two piece case.

Yeah that's just common sense to downshift on an incline, got 173,000 on it so far

 

[Newsa]

When taking in for warranty service, tell them it is popping out of 5th when towing and using the EB. Don't offer the info that you have been towing in 6th. Just to be safe

 

[NIsaacs]

When taking in for warranty service, tell them it is popping out of 5th when towing and using the EB. Don't offer the info that you have been towing in 6th. Just to be safe

Whatttttt??

Nick

 

[jgillott]

Does it say anywhere in an owners manual where you can't tow in 6th?

 

[RVTRKN]

Surprisingly, no it doesn't. But you'd think it would be printed in BOLD ink in the manual.