Grinding Noise RAM 1500 pickup at 1400-1500 rpm

Greetings. I have a 2010 Dodge RAM Hemi Laredo pickup. Love it. Currently 34k miles. Have kept up with all maintenance. Since about 3k miles, I have intermittently heard a “grinding” noise at about 1400-1500 rpm. Usually while accelerating going up hill/inclines. Assumed it had to do with automatic gear shifting. Have reported this to dealer maintenance folks at each visit. They have reportedly not been able to identify the source, as they claim they do not hear it, despites numerous test drives. Everyone who drives with me has heard it!. I am concerned, as at 36k my full coverage for the transmission warranty expires. Incidentally, at 33,100 miles 2 broken studs were extracted from right exhaust manifold. A new exhaust manifold gasket and 2 new studs were replaced for a different niose. Are these related, or does anyone have a clue about the “grinding” that I still frequently hear at 1400-1500 rpms? THANKS!

@CalyGirl here’s an idea. Tell the service manager to hang on to the car for awhile. Let them drive it home. Maybe they just haven’t driven it long enough.
Tell them you’ve got better things to do than show up at the dealership for no good reason. You’re not imagining the noise. My old service manager used to tell us to keep trying, even if we couldn’t immediately duplicate some customer’s odd complaint. He said customers would rather be driving their cars than hang out at the shop making stories up.

Here’s an idea: make an appointment with the service department to have somebody (hopefully a mechanic, not a service adviser, but take whatever you can get just to prove the problem exists) go for a test drive with you driving the truck. Sometimes certain symptoms do not show up with certain drivers due to variances in driving styles. My sister had a problem with her car a while back that I could not duplicate no matter how much I drove her car. I went for a drive with her at the wheel and the problem showed up immediately. I couldn’t duplicate it because I drive differently than her.

How about spark knock, detonation? Does it stop instantly if you lift you foot off the gas pedal ??

You should not be putting much load on the engine at 1400 RPM…Perhaps the transmission is not downshifting as it should, lugging the engine…

See if you can narrow down the conditions needed to replicate the noise. Once you can replicate the noise on demand the better your chances of getting it fixed.

If your HEMI uses cylinder deactivation, you may be feeling a vibration relating to it operating in 4-cylinder mode and “lugging” Does the “grinding” go away if you slightly increase your pressure on the gas pedal?

Other possibilities: You may be hearing a loose catalytic converter heat shield or other exhaust component rattling, or you may have a belt tensioner with a bad bearing.

Thanks for everyone’s input. I will have a “discussion” with both the sercvice advisor and a mechanic about this intermittent but worrisome issue. I will keep you posted!

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Update on the RAM 2010 grinding noise. I appreciate everyone’s input. It was a failed torque converter. I was able to reproduce the noise with me driving with the service manager. It was very specific: 35 mph and 1400 rpms. They took down the transmission and found the issue. Cleaned everything up and replaced faulty parts. The dealership was great. Driving noise free! Thanks again!

That’s good news! Hopefully more stuff will break soon so that you can have it fixed under warranty :).

Thanks for the information. Failes torque converter might be good to know. Glad you told us what it was.

My 2019 does the same thing, it’s every singe ram. They need to recall this thing.