[GreenHornet15]

So my journey has been long. I love my car but it has been more "challenging" than I could have imagined. Sorry. So I knew there was something a little messed with the car when I bought it but figured if anything, I would get it fixed and have the trim package and color I wanted without it being across country. Dodge dealer said they cleaned input shaft and plates but never did and that was 2 years ago. I know now because I finally got an independent shop to take a look and they showed me the massive amount of rust on one of the clutch plates, not to mention a nearly destroyed driveshaft. How nobody noticed these things in the dozens of drop-offs at body shops is beyond me, but I digress.

With my beloved 2015 Sublime Pearl RT Plus Shaker getting stuck and gear and having problems shifting, Dodge and the shop finally got tired of me and replaced the whole transmission because they didn't want to go "looking for trouble" as he once put it when I told him there was a problem. Everything felt good.

Then the problem came back, Dodge said nothing they could do because shop said it was the clutch and the clutch was a wear part. Decided to give the money to an independent shop, recommended on here. Great group of people. First they replaced my fluid with RP, which definitely helped. Next time, they found the rust and drift shaft and I opted to replace the whole clutch as they needed the kit for the alignment tool anyway. Great, this has to be the problem. I'm happily pay for a new clutch, slave cylinder, bearings, etc.

Car feels great. Never gets stuck in gear anymore, but sometimes feels like I'm somewhere between being in and out of gear. Will take it back to the guys to see what's the next they want to look at, but wanted to get y'alls opinion on here. With a new transmission and clutch, what's left to cause these kinds of problems? I'm talking about sometimes having to push HARD to get into reverse or 1st, like it's caught on something. Sometimes I end up grinding because I'm 1/2 way in gear(?) Sometimes shifting is perfect and it seems ready for me to put the old Barton back on for the 5th time, which in the past seems to make the problems more noticeable. Then going into 3rd feels rough. Stop and go city traffic trying and failing to get into first. Just weird.

Are we talking syncros here? Because at this point I would go back to Dodge and make my last fight as I reach the end of my warranty to get them to open it up and fix what's wrong. I understand the transmission was a rebuild because the new ones go straight to the assembly line, but is it possible to have these types of problems in a trans that was signed off my tremec?

As some of you who know by now, I don't like to give up. I didn't come this far to give up now but if it's always gonna be like this, I gotta sell it. So I'm almost at that point.

I have broken in the clutch over 500 miles. Mostly city miles, no hard acceleration. Maybe I need 1000.

Thanks for listening and God bless you and your chariot.

 

[Roc1978]

So my journey has been long. I love my car but it has been more "challenging" than I could have imagined. Sorry. So I knew there was something a little messed with the car when I bought it but figured if anything, I would get it fixed and have the trim package and color I wanted without it being across country. Dodge dealer said they cleaned input shaft and plates but never did and that was 2 years ago. I know now because I finally got an independent shop to take a look and they showed me the massive amount of rust on one of the clutch plates, not to mention a nearly destroyed driveshaft. How nobody noticed these things in the dozens of drop-offs at body shops is beyond me, but I digress.

With my beloved 2015 Sublime Pearl RT Plus Shaker getting stuck and gear and having problems shifting, Dodge and the shop finally got tired of me and replaced the whole transmission because they didn't want to go "looking for trouble" as he once put it when I told him there was a problem. Everything felt good.

Then the problem came back, Dodge said nothing they could do because shop said it was the clutch and the clutch was a wear part. Decided to give the money to an independent shop, recommended on here. Great group of people. First they replaced my fluid with RP, which definitely helped. Next time, they found the rust and drift shaft and I opted to replace the whole clutch as they needed the kit for the alignment tool anyway. Great, this has to be the problem. I'm happily pay for a new clutch, slave cylinder, bearings, etc.

Car feels great. Never gets stuck in gear anymore, but sometimes feels like I'm somewhere between being in and out of gear. Will take it back to the guys to see what's the next they want to look at, but wanted to get y'alls opinion on here. With a new transmission and clutch, what's left to cause these kinds of problems? I'm talking about sometimes having to push HARD to get into reverse or 1st, like it's caught on something. Sometimes I end up grinding because I'm 1/2 way in gear(?) Sometimes shifting is perfect and it seems ready for me to put the old Barton back on for the 5th time, which in the past seems to make the problems more noticeable. Then going into 3rd feels rough. Stop and go city traffic trying and failing to get into first. Just weird.

Are we talking syncros here? Because at this point I would go back to Dodge and make my last fight as I reach the end of my warranty to get them to open it up and fix what's wrong. I understand the transmission was a rebuild because the new ones go straight to the assembly line, but is it possible to have these types of problems in a trans that was signed off my tremec?

As some of you who know by now, I don't like to give up. I didn't come this far to give up now but if it's always gonna be like this, I gotta sell it. So I'm almost at that point.

I have broken in the clutch over 500 miles. Mostly city miles, no hard acceleration. Maybe I need 1000.

Thanks for listening and God bless you and your chariot.

Which clutch did you go with? Also, did they use Royal Purple SynchroMax in the "new" trans? I have similar issues, especially grinding going into reverse. I found that if I put it in 4th before going into reverse, it slides right into reverse. On the same hand, if I put it in 2nd before going to 1st, it seems a to not "stick" going in. I have to say that when I last replaced my clutch, I also did the trans fluid, & that's when I went with the SynchroMax. It was shifting great for about a week or so, but after some hard pulls & quick shifts, it was back to the same thing.

At this point, I'm just dealing with it until I can either replace the trans with one built by RPM, or until I can ship it to NC & have it rebuilt by Tick Performance. The rebuild runs about $3500 with a 10-day turnaround. The RPM trans, last I checked, was $5k; & is a full swap. They'll want your original trans also.

As far as clutches go, I had a Hays Dragon Claw for a bit. I have to say that it was great while it lasted! Unfortunately, it didn't last very long with daily street driving. Replaced it roughly 6 months later with a MacLeod RST, mated to a Fidanza aluminum flywheel. This has been working great for the past year & half! I will say that I went with the RST over the RXT due to cost, plus I'm nowhere near 800hp. I've also noticed that Hays has discontinued the Dragon Claw sometime in the past year or so.

As for a slave cylinder, I don't think the car needs it unless you're running it on the track. One tip I found that was helpful was to replace the brake fluid with higher temp stuff. I'm using the Wilwood EXP 600 Plus. Problem is that most shops aren't gonna put this stuff for you, & you have to flush the entire brake system. This also includes flushing the hydraulic release (throwout) mechanism. I can tell you first hand that this is a real pain to do on your own, but worth it if you're mechanically inclined & have the time to do so. The problem is that it's so hard to find trustworthy mechanic shops out there.

Hope this helps someone out there!

 

[GreenHornet15]

Good question. Part #AAARA05130. I believe he said it's the stock clutch clit because he couldn't find the alignment tool by itself. RP is in the new transmission. It seems like I'm better off building my own car than trying to play mix and match with components that may work best? Agree with you on reliable shops. I think I've been to every Dodge dealer in my state. It was only the indy shops that even took me seriously...

Has to be a reason this affects some transmissions but not others

 

[Roc1978]

Good question. Part #AAARA05130. I believe he said it's the stock clutch clit because he couldn't find the alignment tool by itself. RP is in the new transmission. It seems like I'm better off building my own car than trying to play mix and match with components that may work best? Agree with you on reliable shops. I think I've been to every Dodge dealer in my state. It was only the indy shops that even took me seriously...

Has to be a reason this affects some transmissions but not others

I can't find that part online, so I'm gonna assume that it's an OEM clutch? The OEM clutch is pretty good. MacLeod is awesome, especially for performance. I hear Monster Clutches are good, but I have no experience with them. I had a repair shop chain install the Dragon Claw for me. Since it came with it's own flywheel, they kept my original steel one. They also didn't bleed the clutch afterwards I came to find out later. They also were the ones that told me I need a a slave cylinder when the clutch started squeaking. Turned out that it was squeaking cuz it was wearing out. That's what I did the next one on my own, & why I prefer to do most things myself. First time replacing a clutch myself, so it was fun for me. Just very time consuming.

Not sure why some have issues, & other do not. I'm the 2nd owner of mine, so no telling what the original owner did. Even my local dealership seemed hesitant about it, but I'd rather row through the gears than have an auto. Makes driving more fun! The Tremec T56 was a great transmission like 15 years ago. The T6060 is supposed to be the "improved" version. For what it's worth, I've heard a lot of good things about the RPM transmissions, which are rebuilt also; but they are built with better hardware. Check this: Challenger. Looks like their prices have also come down a bit also. Here's the info on the rebuilds from Tick Performance: Six Speed Parts & Rebuilds - 2009+ Challenger R/T & SRT8 - Page 1 - Tick Performance, Inc.. They do basically the same thing that RPM does, only they don't keep stock. Hence the 10 business day turn around. They will also powder coat the trans if you'd like.

 

[GreenHornet15]

I can't imagine investing more into this car when it seems no matter what I fix, it continues to have problems. Going back, I probably would've just bought a new car and no worries about previous owners. What started out as a commuter car.. hard to imagine getting another challenger without worrying about having similar problems. I just wasn't looking to sink that much into a fun car and I love the looks and feel of the car. I'm with you on manual - I could never go back to auto, notches or not

The original plan was a sting ray but cooler heads prevailed. At least this car has held up through the NE winters thanks the wonderful people at bridgestone for their blizzaks.

 

[Roc1978]

I can't imagine investing more into this car when it seems no matter what I fix, it continues to have problems. Going back, I probably would've just bought a new car and no worries about previous owners. What started out as a commuter car.. hard to imagine getting another challenger without worrying about having similar problems. I just wasn't looking to sink that much into a fun car and I love the looks and feel of the car. I'm with you on manual - I could never go back to auto, notches or not

The original plan was a sting ray but cooler heads prevailed. At least this car has held up through the NE winters thanks the wonderful people at bridgestone for their blizzaks.

I hear you there. If I could do it over, I would've just got the SRT 392. They don't even make that one anymore, just the Scat Pack. The 2-year-old R/T is what I ended up with on a whim, but I love this car. I don't wanna give it up. I've already invested too much into it. I honestly feel that your issues will go away with either an RPM trans, or the Tick Performance rebuild. Up to you though, if you wanna put that kind of money into it.

On a side note, the new Sting Ray Vette doesn't have an option for a manual trans.

 

[GreenHornet15]

I hear you there. If I could do it over, I would've just got the SRT 392. They don't even make that one anymore, just the Scat Pack. The 2-year-old R/T is what I ended up with on a whim, but I love this car. I don't wanna give it up. I've already invested too much into it. I honestly feel that your issues will go away with either an RPM trans, or the Tick Performance rebuild. Up to you though, if you wanna put that kind of money into it.

On a side note, the new Sting Ray Vette doesn't have an option for a manual trans.

Did not even know they still made them, but I'm talking 67 sting Ray. Not the best choice for a commuter car in the northeast 😁

 

[Roc1978]

That's a rare find in deed! I love the look of the '66 personally, but they didn't have the 454 as an engine option until '67. The biggest engine for the '66 was the 427. Finding an original '67 with the 454 these days is like finding a needle in a haystack.