On the side of the road in South Dakota - Montana Owners Club

rving2us · 07-15-2009, 05:04 AM

Hi all, Mary Elizabeth and I are on the side of the road at I-90 exit 296 waiting for the "hook". Calling and getting great service from Good Sam ERS, our transmission started freewheeling on the expressway. and we limped off licking our wounds like whipped pup.

We are parked in Mitchell, SD waiting on a new transmission with ours laying on the bench at Iverson's Dodge. We are at Ron Dee's campground #32 drinking ice teas and staying up late. We were supposed to be back at work tomorrow but that has been put on hold, you just got to love RVing. If you are heading our stop in and say HI.

NCFischers · 07-15-2009, 05:28 AM

Visit the Corn Palace while you are there. I haven't been there in many years.

DarMar · 07-15-2009, 07:29 AM

Sorry to hear of your misfortune. Sounds like you are making the best of the situation with the unexpected extended vacation. Enjoy where you have landed.

Art-n-Marge · 07-15-2009, 07:48 AM

What a great attitude! Sorry about the failure, but things are getting taken care of and you can remain in good spirits and miss a little work over it.

Take care and stay safe!

Waynem · 07-15-2009, 09:15 AM

And will your boss really believe you broke down, or just think you were looking for a couple of extra vacation days?????

bob n pam · 07-15-2009, 01:13 PM

I second what Jim said. Visit the Corn Palace.

Pam

Mudchief · 07-15-2009, 01:45 PM

We know what you are going through. Hope they get it fixed soon.

rames14 · 07-15-2009, 02:20 PM

Sorry to hear of the misfortune, but glad you are safe and being taken care of in Mitchell. Lots of things to do there including Cabelas, the Doll Museum and the Corn Palace. I believe they also were opening a Minuteman Missle Silo for visitors there. Take care and good luck with the rest of your trip.

dsprik · 07-15-2009, 04:00 PM

Ouch! Great attitude. Have fun. My bank would be excited... A new Allison trans for me would mean dipping into my line of credit. How much does a new one of those cost anyway???

Trailer Trash 2 · 07-15-2009, 08:31 PM

well from the looks of it exit 296 and Mitchell, SD. is exit 335 is that where the transmission is being repared?

harleyrider · 07-15-2009, 08:56 PM

OMG I would have been freaking out,looking for my blood pressure meds and I don`t even have high blood pressure.

Beings I`am a dodge owner also incurring minds want to know how many miles you have on your trans???

Good luck with your repairs.

Bill-N-Donna · 07-15-2009, 09:39 PM

Glad to hear you’re making the best of it. GS is a good thing to have isn’t it? Even though it cost us when something breaks down add the cost of towing as well as towing your camper to the campground to it and you would have quite a significant bill.

rving2us · 07-16-2009, 04:40 AM

Thanks for all of the well wishes, having MOC to keep us company is helping to make this doable. The following are some answers:

Waynem - Talked to both of our bosses and after some weeping and wailing we did get them convinced.

Mudchief - Thanks for the idea of the missle silo, we are checking into that.

dsprik - Adding some brake work I was planning to have done when we got home the price is a tad over $6000.

trailer trash - DW says we are at exit 232

harleyrider - The ram is a 2003, 2500 with just over 59,000 miles - not many, huh? I damaged it on trip in 2007 at Crescent City, CA and have taken the rig to Maine since the damage not counting the local camping trips. I drive about 20 miles a day to work. The real hook here is we put the truck in the shop back in March to do some PM fearing the transmission and was given a clean bill of health from a local Dodge/Jeep dealer trying to avoid this situation. We have brought that particular point up frquently in conversation over the past few days.

sreigle · 07-16-2009, 07:40 AM

I'm sorry to hear of the problem but had to smile at your positive attitude. I'm glad things are getting fixed for you.

I have no firsthand experience with this but have read many times that in the "older" Dodges the automatic transmission was the weak point when towing heavy weight. Hopefully your new one will do better. Supposedly, the transmission in the 2007 and later is much stronger and able to handle the weight. So far, so good, on ours. I don't know whether the 2006 has the same transmission as yours or is a stronger one.

Good luck.

Art-n-Marge · 07-16-2009, 08:10 AM

Hey Steve, I have enough acquaintances who have had problems with older Fords and their trannies. I think in their cases they tend to drive their trucks a little hard and not shifting properly when towing. I had a boss who towed a 40 ft, 3 axle toy hauler at 75 mph with his F-250 up and down desert highways. He stored the trailer out in the desert, so he didn't have to travel far from where he used it. He kept saying, "It's no big deal and problem", then complained after the fact, that the tranny fluid would boil over the dip stick, ya think? He didn't have a trans gauge. But this guy was an extreme case.

rving2us · 07-16-2009, 09:46 AM

Sreigle, since I have some free time on my hands and I am using a customer service car from Iverson Dodge we have been hanging around the car lot lately. One of the salespersons was telling us about the only change in heavy duty line of Dodge is the sixth gear in the transmission and a change in the rear end from moving further away from the 4:11 due to fuel usage to a 3:73 with ample pulling ratio with better fuel milage.

We told him we would settle for one with one workable gear and maybe a clutch or two. Looking to be back on the road soon. What's hot and what's not in south eastern South Dakota, your online reporter singing off.

sreigle · 07-16-2009, 02:43 PM

Jon, how confident are you that salesman "knows his stuff?" Back when I was contemplating the trade that ended with us purchasing the Dodge, everything I read said the automatic in the then-new 6.7L Dodges was a new and much beefier transmission. But, I have misunderstood and been misled before. Fortunately I've not heard of any of these 6 speed autos in the Dodges being shelled out. So far, anyhow. Or maybe I've just not heard about it.

Ozzie · 07-16-2009, 05:05 PM

That sounds really familiar...the same thing happened to us out there a few years ago when we had the MH. Something like 110 degrees or more in the Badlands and my tranny starts dripping, so...we rented a car for a few days and it end up creating some nice memories with our youngest daughter. I think I might want to head back out that way again. And once again...on the way to Glacier...

sreigle · 07-17-2009, 09:07 AM

Are you driving the bus again this year at Glacier, Ozzie?

rving2us · 07-22-2009, 07:32 AM

We pulled into our drive last night around 10P. Thanks to everyone for responding and helping us cope with our breakdown, it was good to have a diversion to our plight. The overall repair was expensive in both time lost and money however the good folks at Iverson Dodge in Mitchell, SD took very good care of us and got us back on the road in a timely fashion. The truck drove better than I remembered with its new transmission. Hopefully no more breakdowns until we get this one paid for, as for Mary and I we are already working on next summer's adventure.

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