Snapped a flexplate on a 5.9 Cummins last Tuesday. What a mess.

I was pulling a loaded trailer up a steep grade near Flagstaff when I heard a loud crack. The engine revved but the truck didn't move. Turns out the flexplate had cracked clean through after 180k miles of service. I had to get towed 40 miles to the nearest shop. Spent 8 hours dropping the transmission and replacing it in their lot. Has anyone else dealt with a flexplate failure on a high-mileage Dodge? I'm wondering if there's a telltale vibration I missed before it went.

2 comments

2 Comments

cora8631mo ago

The flexplate thing sounds like one of those parts you just don't think about until it goes, like wheel bearings or that little plastic clip in your sun visor. I've noticed that with a lot of stuff, not just trucks. You get so used to a certain hum or shake that your brain just files it under "normal" and you stop hearing it. Then one day the thing snaps and you're stuck wondering if that weird noise you heard three months ago was actually a warning. It's like how you don't notice a mild headache until it turns into a full-blown migraine. That vibration you're asking about probably was there, but it was so faint and gradual you just learned to live with it. Now you've got a story and a bill to show for it.

felix_hayes641mo ago

Buddy of mine ignored a faint grinding for six months, then his alternator grenaded on the interstate.