I recently experienced a similar "transmission" problem. My 88 Dakota
would intermittantly have the symptoms you described. When you started
to move, the transmission was under an obvious strain and then suddenly
with a jerk it would jump forward. I was sure that there was a problem
with the transmission. After three trips to the shop, they finally
discovered that the rear brakes were "sticking" and then releasing.
They replaced a brake cable and it was OK after that.
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