"Jerking","hesitating" off acceleration.

[haseebgill12]

Gents, Ladies,

02 r/t.
In 1st or 2nd gear, less than 35 mph, every time I come off acceleration and start decelerating the car jerks, relatively, violently.
It seems to be worse the harder I come off acceleration.
For example, if I red-line it in 1st and come off the accelerator it will jerk much more violently than if I just come off acceleration at say 3500 RPM.

It DOES NOT happen if I immediately depress the clutch when I come off acceleration; therefore I assume it is transmission related .
Any ideas?

Regards,

[occasional demons]

Engine mounts/torque struts are toast.

[Dreamer1uk]

If the mounts are good, I'd be looking at a possible clutch issue IF the hesitation and bucking stops if you immediately depress the clutch pedal.

Keep us posted.

[occasional demons]

The clutch takes the stress off of the mounts/TS.

What happens is the torque strut's inserts begin bouncing back and forth from the engine suddenly moving forward on deceleration. The slack sets up an oscillation that doesn't stop until the clutch is shoved in, or the gas is pushed again.

[g_force58]

I agree with Bill. my 2000 ES MTX did this when the torque struts went. I thought the trans was toast, but I lucked out. The struts were much less expensive. yippeee

[haseebgill12]

Damn, it sounds much better than a toasted transmission however if I recall correctly the centre mount is a PITA to get to.

Is it best replacing all three at once?
And am I doing any excessive damage to the car by continuing to use it like this, I mean it's been this way for over a year?

Also, are after-market mounts safe to go with? OEM ones in the UK are ridiculously expensive.

[occasional demons]

You can begin with the torque struts, as those will help the most. Then you can replace the trans mount and the center load bearing mount if it still has some "slack". The factory mounts are expensive here also, but probably not as expensive as they are for you.

The china made units will work, but they won't last too long. Some of them even have a plastic center that crushes if you torque the bolt to spec. So beware of what you get, and only purchase those from a place you can actually look at it.

[Midnight_Rider]

The china made units will work, but they won't last too long.

Yup, you get what you pay for. You might be able to negotiate buying Mopar OEM from someone stateside and paying for shipping the parts to you.