Six problems related to manual transmission have been reported for the 1998 Dodge Ram 3500. The most recently reported issues are listed below.
1998 Dodge ram transmission locked up. While in traffic, the consumer had to coast to the shoulder while pulling a 26' trailer. The consumer was unable to get the trailer completely off of the highway. There were numerous complaints about this problem. Chrysler refused to help.
5th gear suddenly ceased to work on my very well maintained 36,000 mile 98 Dodge 3500 manual drive truck. My father and I were nearly in a multiple 18 wheeler crash on a bridge before we were able to finally limp along. I now come to realize that there is a service bulletin on this very problem ( 21-10-98a ) which was ignored by the manufacturer. It nearly cost my family dearly.
Loss of fifth gear (manual transmission) while going up a mountain on interstate 25 in wyoming resulting in rapid deceleration of vehicle. The problem was recognized by Chrysler in 1994 and service bullitens where issued to dealers. I have discussed this with numerous owners of this same model and have found it to be a common problem encountered at various mileages. Chrysler refuses to do anything about due to "out of warranty" status, the repair would be performed no questions asked if within the warranty period.
While driving, the vehicle lost fifth gear, it was confirmed by the dealer that the nut backed off the gear. Nlm.
Diesel engine, manual transmission, 3500. The nut that holds the 5th gear on in the transmission comes off while the vehicle is moving at a high rate of speed. Resulting in no 5th gear. It is known that the nut sometimes jams the rest of the transmission, resulting in no transmission at all when moving at a high rate of speed. It has happened to me twice and it is about $600+ to fix each time. I live in California, my business friend in south caroline has had it happened twice also, and he knows of another person in texas that had the same problem. I do not know of too many people that have the same vehicle, so it seems strange that the one person I do business with on the other side of the country has the same problem and that he knows of someone else in another part of the country with the same problem. The pick up spends 1 or 2 days in the shop, they replace the nut, and that's it. The second time they replaced the nut, I think they put locktite on it. The old part is not available, but my work orders from the Dodge service departments are. I am not sure of the exact dates of both occurrences, it is all filed away, but if you want, I can dig them up for you.
While driving in 5th gear there was a loss of power as if in neutral. The other gears were functional. Dealer said a new lock nut was needed to hold gear in place.