Chrysler Repair: Transmission, larry conger, haynes manual

Question
Hello Roland,
Thanks for being there to help.  This is so kind of you.  I have a 1997 Dodge 1500 truck.  When I drive it through the week, it does just fine.  But after sitting over the weekend it makes a noise when you put it into reverse and back up.  It only does this when you start using it after it sits for a while.  And stoppes for the rest of the week.  There is some kind of adjustment what you make when you service the trasmission, and this all started when the adjustment was made.  Can you tell me what is going on.  It was very hard to adjust due to the fact that it was hard to get to with a limited amount of tools that I have.  and I really don't want to go back into it with out knowing what to do to correct the problem when I get in to it.  I thought that I did everything that I was supposed to.  Thanks in advance for any help that you may render.  And thanks again for being a volunteer.

Larry Conger Sr.

Answer
Hi Larry,
Unfortunately I haven't serviced truck transmissions (or for a fact car transmissions either). Looking at the manual for the 3-speed non-electronic automatic trans used in the car lines there appears to be two band adjustment procedures, one for the kick down band and one for the low-reverse band. The latter sounds like the one that may be out of adjustment. It appears in that A-413 trans that the low reverse band is adjusted after you drop the pan and drain off the trans fluid, then you have access to the adjuster which requires a low range torque wrench and a spec as to backing off the adjuster "x" turns after tightnening it to "y" inch-pounds, where the values of x and y are transmission-specific. Other than that, I have no other suggestions except to be sure that you have the correct spec value for the transmission in the truck. I don't have any contemporary truck manuals, so you may have to go to a library with a collection of manuals, or buy the Haynes manual that covers the truck that you have. It may have a different procedure for adjusting the band that is giving you the problem than what I have described.
Roland