Transmission trouble
 

Today after about a 5 mile drive to the Post Office, I came out and started the truck up and couldn't get it to go into any gear, I'd move the shift selector and depressing the accelerator would just rev the engine. After a few minutes, I was finally able to get the gears to engage well enough to limp the truck home but could only get up to about 15MPH and the shift from 1st to 2nd was very hard. If felt kind of like I was driving the truck with the parking brake set. I know very little about transmissions so I don't even know where to start.

Some background, the truck currently has 295k on it. At 242k, the transfer case ripped in 1/2 (still not sure what the cause was on that but I've heard about the same thing happening to others) and caused a crack in transmission case. Since we had to move everything into a new case, we rebuilt it at the same time. I had them install a low stall, billet torque convertor, a Transgo valve body and we installed some other hardened internals at the same time, total rebuild cost with the case was about $3500 and I expected it to last a long time. This was 4 or 5 years ago. A couple of years ago, it developed a leak at the gasket so I had the pan dropped, fluid and filter changed. I've not had the trans temp over 210* since the rebuild and most of the time it runs 160* - 190*. Fluid level is full and clear.

I just don't know where to start beyond checking the fluid level. Transmissions intimidate me, so many moving parts.

did you get a chance to check fluid level

Was the OD light on the shifter selector blinking? If so you will need to get the codes retrieved with a scanner that is able to read tranny codes. There's a high chance that you trans filter could of fallen off since you said you replaced it.

The snap ring probably came off the drum assy.

I did check the fluid it is full and clear red, still looks like new.

The OD light was not blinking. I have AE, haven't scanned it but I guess I should just to see if it shows anything.

The filter was done 2 or 3 years ago, I've driven probably 20 - 25 thousand miles since then and Garrett at Powerstroke Magic did that work. Anything is possible but, his reputation and the time elapsed since the work was done make me doubt that it's dropped.

I'm wondering if I've got a valve stuck or something. After letting it cool off yesterday, it goes into gear everytime but, it's slipping badly. I guess I'll scan it and if nothing shows up, I'll town it to a shop. I'm 70 miles from the closest shop so, I'm hoping to avoid that. Living rural is great until something like this comes up.

Mine did this years back. Got it to drive, worked good for a week, then same problem. I'd say it's time for a rebuild. Mine did it at 134K.

It's not a stuck valve.

The internal snap ring probably came off the drum assy or the snap ring groove broke. Disassembly required.