Got a call from my wife today asking if i could bring her a new shirt to her at work (works in a resturant and had a wonderful customer dump a bowl of salsa down her front!) So I leave my office and head out to my truck, start it up and put it into reverse. Nothing happens. Put it in drive, nothing happens. Engine revs drop when I take it out of park, put it into reverse or drive, and if I press the gas, the engine sounds like it is under load and a sound kinda like gravel running thru a metal tube eminates from the rear. Needless to say, I thought that was probably not good for the drivetrain so I turned the truck off and called Road side assistance...

90 minutes later, flatbed tow truck arrives, we try to get the truck loaded on there, but the back wheels are firmly locked, even with the tranny in neutral. Painful to have to watch them try to drag your truck up onto a flatbed with the back tires leaving skid marks as they drag.

Anyway, had to vent, upset wife, chevy driving coworker chuckling, and now I might be with out a truck for a while! Guys with the "clunk" beware! I have been in before and mentioned the clunk and the drive train shudder, and have had service writers tell me that is normal. Normal my @#$@.

 

Parking Break isnt stuck on??? i dunno.. heard of that happening.. hope its not a tranny problem, would be the 3rd problem i read just TODAY!

 

Good luck dealing with the dealer. How many miles on the truck?

 

"Chevy driving co-worker chuckling"....I have a "Dodge chuckling coworker" where i work.
Will be interesting to see what happened, be sure to post!

 

Parking brake is defineitely not engaged. First thing I checked. Tow truck driver and I could not push the thing even when placed in neutral. Back wheels turned maybe a 1/16th of a rotation before they locked up hard, and would not budge backwards or forwards (when pushed by us.) Seeing them drag that truck up to the flatbed, flat spotting my 900 mile old tires (don't even get me started on those wonderfully crapptastic Generals that came with it from the dealer) was enough to ruin my day.

18732 miles on the truck. Ford bought me a new set of tires (okay, well they finally admitted the Generals were crap, put a new set on, and I took them right to my neighbor's tire store and swapped them out for credit) and other then the brakes squealing like crazy the truck has been problem free.

Pisses me off cause my father in law (dodge guy) is looking for a new truck, and I was bragging out the truck this weekend. Pride goeth before the fall.

 

That does not sound like a trans problem.
Stuck parking brake or even stuck calipers.
If you moved in with a wench, a stuck trans will only hold one wheel till the limited slip takes up, which is a lot more than a couple inches.
Post back when they have an answer, please.
Chris

 

I will be sure to keep all of you guys updated.

I would have figured that i could have at least moved a little bit with a stuck caliper. This would not even move a bit, even when I gave it gas. Both wheels were locked up hard.

Talked to the service writer, but they have not had a chance to look at it, and probably won't until tommorow afternoon.

 

good luck

 

I would have put that bitch in 4Lo if you have a 4X4 and checked to see if the breaks had seized up.

 

Well I have heard back today from the service writer. Definitely a broken tranny, but they are not yet sure what broke, as they have to finish running a full set of diagnostics. Swervice writer was excellent, made sure I had a loaner vehicle (05 fx4.) I guess this is a big deal around the service department, because when I called up there to return a call from them I had missed (stupid work!) the guy that answered the line knew what truck I was talkign about and mentioned that they had all been talking about it at lunch.

I will keep this updated as I find more info.

Oh and it was most definitely not a stuck brake caliper. Both rear tires were locked up solid enough to not move a bit when they dragged it up onto the flat bed.

 

I heard back from the service writer today. It seems the "sun" gear in my tranny was welded to the planetary gears, and basically froze the transmission up and broke a few more parts in there and possibly broke something in the rear end*. Ford is putting a completely new tranny in, and he said it was probible a new rear end as well.

I asked if there was enough fluid etc in there, and he said that the fluid levels looked great, but that there had been a defect in the part that holds the sun gear in place that caused the sun gear to "wobble" and break.*

*I am not a mechanic and don't know much about transmissions, so don't flame me if I said something wrong!

Interestingly enough, I recieved an 05 FX4 with the 3.55 gears for a loaner and it seemed to shift, and accel much faster then my 04 with the 3.73s. It also coasts a heck of a lot better. I wonder if I have had a problem all along. Also I noticed that the information center display is different (font is way different, and O/D location is changed) and that they used orange LED's for the AC and recirculate indicators which are easier to see in the sunlight. Also this truck seems much louder in the cab then my 04. Did they take out that much sound dampening material?

 

ask them to reflash the PCM while its in there and this should make the 04 drive as fast as the 05 loaner.