Well, I finally got the slant running pretty good. Took it for a very short drive this morning - was very smooth and accelerated pretty good. I did not "hot rod" it. A little while ago, I needed to back it out of the garage; started her up and pulled it into reverse (auto). It was still on fast idle and chirped the tires when it went into gear. Then, nothing. No reverse! Still have the forward gears. I can manually pull it into low and shift manually to secoond and then high gear, or leave it in drive and it will shift fine. What did I do now? If it weren't for bad luck.......

Is this terminal?

Thanks, again.

dave

Classic case of a broken low/reverse band in the transmission. I've been there and done that a couple of times with Mopar automatics over the years.

You can drop the tranny pan and confirm it real easily- if the rear band adjuster is floppin' loose, the band is broken. If it isn't, then you *might* have a cracked rear band apply piston. IIRC, The apply piston can be replaced through the pan with the tranny in the car- the band pretty much requires R&R-ing the transmission, and since youre "in there that far already" you might as well just have it overhauled. Or do it yourself.

Yep, broken low/reverse band.

When mine broke some years ago, the operating lever put a dent in the tranny oil pan from the inside out.