As some may remember, I posted a while ago about a friend's '00 Durango that
wasn't going in to lockup, and was overheating the transmission fluid (trans
temp light would come on after 10-15 minutes of driving... that's about
260°F). It then started slipping in multiple gears. We pulled it out (what
a BITCH... f'in exhaust all in the way, not to mention all rusted to sh** -
and just about ZERO access to the top bellhousing bolts, combined with two
fully-fused dowel pins that just didn't want to let go), and tore it down.
Finally got it free of the engine, and down on the bench. Thought briefly
about buying the special tool to disassemble the OD unit, until I saw they
wanted $70 for it. Rummaging around the shop, I found a scrap piece of 3/8"
plate (which the plasma cutter quickly turned into a 4" disc), three bolts
(which the welder quickly attached to the disc, making a little tripod), and
before you knew it... presto, a $70 tool for free. Stuck it in the press,
and didn't kill myself removing the 800lb. OD direct apply spring.

With everything torn down, we found a busted snap ring in the OD
(inconsequential to the trouble), some aluminum shavings in the OD hub
(probably from the od direct steels chewing on the case - again, not germane
to the trouble), evidence of rear clutch pack slippage (almost no grooves
left in the clutch discs), decent amount of non-metallic "crud" in the pan
(clutch material), and some evidence of overheating (nasty-looking, and even
worse-smelling, fluid). I know ATF+4 smells bad normally, but man... you
should take a whiff once it's been cooked. Quincy would puke.

We long suspected that the TC clutch was shot, as that would explain the
lack of lockup, as well as the immense heat build-up (nothing warms up fluid
like a slipping clutch). So, with a new TC, reman'd VB (didn't want to take
the chance it was something screwy in the LU circuits of the VB, or that the
LU solenoid was weak), and a rebuild kit, we put the whole thing back
together. I had to re-use some of the original steels, as with the new
steels, the snap ring wouldn't fit. I didn't feel like trying to get
thinner snap rings, or trying to machine the ones we had back down. And
besides, the original steels looked fine (all were nice'n'flat, no warping,
and no black marks). IIRC, it was only the rear clutch pack that needed the
original steels re-used.

We flushed out the coolers (factory cooler in the radiator, plus an external
cooler - installed to help make the drive down to my place) with a can of
transmission flush. Important safety tip... don't install the can on the
return line....the check valve in that line will quickly make a mess, with
trans flush all over the place. DAMN, that stuff is cold. Once hooked up
to the right line, a whole bunch of crud came out - took almost the whole
can before it would run clear.

So, with all the new parts in the trans, and everything buttoned up, we
re-installed it (it was then that I realized I forgot to re-install the
stupid E-clip on the park rod. SOB! Well, it turned out I'd get another
chance...). More of a bitch, trying to get those upper bellhousing bolts in
place. Finally get it in, piece the exhaust back together (we cut it in two
places to remove it), and fire it up. P1762 code - governor pressure sensor
volts high/low. Limp mode... 3rd gear only. FFFAAAAWWWWKKKKKK.....

Stuck a gauge on the governor test port.... 60psi @ idle. Not good....
should be around 3. Pul the VB back out (all that brand-new, EXPENSIVE +4
fluid... no one sells/carries +3 anymore. I used to pay $2.50/qt. for +3 -
now it's well over $5/qt.... we saved every drop for re-use). Bench-test
the solenoid - seems to work. Bench-test the sensor... the BRAND NEW
sensor on the rebuilt, tested, certified, blah blah blah valve body....
nothin. At first, I read 0.98v from it, regardless of pressure. After
that, it would only indicate 0.03 or 0.04v, again, regardless of pressure.
GDMFPOS. Off to the dealer, get a new sensor (can't/don't want to deal with
calling the place, sending it back, playing the "well, you must have damaged
it" game). Slap that back in, re-install VB, button everything up
(remembered to install the stupid E-clip this time - a little more difficult
when the trans in the vehicle), replace liquid-gold tranny juice, and start
it up. No codes. COOL! Go for test drive... 1st gear, 2nd, 3rd, 4th....
wait for it.... wait for it.... lockup. Terrific. Spectacular. Couldn't
be happier...

..... until....

Aw, DAMMIT! Leak from the input seal... dripping out the inspection plate.
Contemplate the amount of carnage several well-aimed rounds of .50 caliber
would do the transmission. Chuckle inside at the thought. Through deep
meditation (about 8 bottles worth), conclude that it's just a new seal, that
's a little stiff.... and it'll work it's way in and eventually stop
leaking. Yeah, that's the ticket. 'Cuz there's no way in HELL I feel like
pulling that POS back out again.

So, that's where we stand now... next step... all new brake lines. As was
discovered during the transmission work, the north east really doesn't like
factory steel brake lines... it turns them all brown, textured, and
crumbly. And, of course, Dodge runs them so they're right in line with the
spray coming off the LF tire - right behind the inner fender shield, which
helps to make sure they get blasted with as much salt, brine, and road crud
as possible. AND, to make matters worse, they can't run lines straight from
the ABS pump to the flex hoses... no... they need to use three (yep, one
for each line) distribution blocks mounted right on the frame - so that
means 6 lines to replace, not 3. Freakin' wonderful.... I don't exactly
have an artist's touch when it comes to making double-flares, so this should
be really fun.

Notice that no where above did I ever use the phrase "MY vehicle"? Yeah....
me too.

hope ya didnt hit the same problem i had last time i had what i
thought was a front seal leak, turned out to be a bad weld on the
converter hub. It was a new converter not a rebuild too. anyways, good
luck

I am very happy I have a 6 speed manual. Out of curiosity, how many miles
before the failure?
Steve

80K on the original... about 60K on this one.

Yeah, me too. We're going to have to pull the transmission back out. I
stuck a drain pan under the truck, and after a day, there was probably 1/3
of a quart in the pan. That's quite a bit more than I had when I had a
leaking input seal.

That would be just perfect.... buy new valve body, it comes with a dead
sensor. Buy a new converter - it comes with a leak.

Maybe shoving an NV4500 in there isn't such a bad idea.

Tom,
That's really poor. It doesn't say much for the quality does it? I
understand the new automatic for the ***mins is of industrial quality, is
that also your opinion?
Steve

Well, it doesn't speak well for the guys that did the first rebuild. I
found a bunch of little things that made me question their attention to
detail. On the first rebuild, I forget the specifics, but it was something
wrong in the O/D section. He didn't want to have the vehicle down for the
time it would have taken us to pull the OD unit, tear it down/have it
repaired, and re-install, so he just found a place to do a quick rebuild.
As for why it went in the first place, well, he was your typical "owner with
a blown 46RE", a person who towed a lot, and was very lax on maintenance.

The 48RE, introduced in late '03 for the diesels, has had a much better
track record. Dodge re-did the overdrive unit, going to a massive 23-disc
direct clutch pack, and improving the fluid flow into the OD unit. That
significantly "patched up" the only real problem area with the overall
design.

While I haven't seen the 68RFE, from what I understand, it was designed from
the ground up as a 6 speed, rather than adapted from an initial 3-speed
design. As such, there's no "add-on" overdrive unit, and I'm sure
everything is built to take the abuse of 650+ ft.lbs.

<snip>

well your story on the rebuild reinforces my opinion on how to handle
transmission trouble. my 97 1500 4x4 had to have a new tranny at 215k. of
course it deserved a new transmission. a life of pulling campers, trailers
and being loaded doing work stuff. i would say that it carrying at least a
800 to 3,000 pound load more days than it didn't. at least once a month its
a trip to the aggregate plant to pick up 3k of sandblast sand. twice a week
to the lumber store to pick up a load of pressure treated lumber. move
equipment back and forth, haul the camper occassionally for the wife, etc.
all this with a propensity not to do regular service. i only changed the
tranny fluid twice before it died.

when it died i ordered a new tranny in a crate from mopar. we installed it
with a new torque converter, radiator and all new cooling lines. nothing
got reused to contaminate the new transmission. in fact, i was told that if
you didn't do it this way the moco wouldn't warranty the thing. job went
snooth with all new factory parts, drove it for a week and overdrive started
flipping out. since it was all brand new and covered by the warranty i took
it to my local dodge dealer. since i had done the swap myself they tried to
hem and haw. when i showed them the reciepts where i bought every component
brand new from them for the swap they rolled it back into the shop. they
made some adjustments and i went on my way. a couple of three days later it
started flipping out again and i took it back. they replaced a sensor and
the tranny has worked flawlessly for 80k. i hope to not replace the
transmission in this truck again until it is ready for the scrap yard. my
plan is to keep it serviced and then retire it at 400k. that is enough
service life for a 1/2 ton gas burner.

the transmission in my 2001 3/4 ton diesel has just started the overdrive
flutter as i refer to it. the truck has 190k on it and if you forget to
lock out the overdrive for city driving it will start shifting back and
forth between OD and third rapidly until you remember to lock the OD. i
know this is the first sign. i will continue to drive the thing until just
locking the OD out for low speed driving doesn't help anymore and if it is
like the '97 first gear will be getting weak by this time. i expect this to
be somewhere between 210k and 250k. when it finally gets bad enough to do
something about, i will buy a new radiator, cooling lines, torque converter,
tranny and all related parts. we will shoehorn all these factory moco items
in and go back to dragging heavy stuff around with a factory warranty.

personally, i don't believe in rebuilding transmissions. i don't do it
every day so i am not qualified. if you take it to a transmission shop you
are at the mercy of the mechanic of the week way too often. the price
difference and potential down time is not worth the few dollars saved. by
the time my trucks reach the 200k+ mark it just makes sense to replace the
radiator and any external coolers anyway. so that is my preferred method
for handling transmission trouble. right or wrong it works for me. we seem
to get an average of a quarter million miles per tranny and that is decent
enough for me. i have two dakota's that are still on their original
transmissions. one is at 250k and the other is at 277k.

i know a guy locally that has replaced the transmission on his 1/2 ton gmc
truck four times. he is only getting about 40k to 50k per replacement. he
reuses the torque converter, coolers, radiators and lines. he says he
fluses everything well but i believe his problem is that he can't or isn't
getting all the gunk out and is contaminating his brand new tranny right out
of the box. it is just too easy and not that much more expensive to go all
the way. down time costs me more money than the parts.

b.t.w. i have two factory NOS short tail shaft 727 transmissions that are
1970's vintage units that i picked up a year ago. they are dead solid
perfect and i can lay my hands on one more. they came out of an airforce
warehouse and were sold at auction. if anyone needs a NOS 727 i could let
one of mine go and lay my hands on the other available unit. my buddy and i
bought a total of five. we have sold one with no complaints. we each plan
on using one a piece in projects and that leaves two more to sell.
michael

If it works for you, it's hard to argue against it. There's a lot of merit
to the argument that it's better to pay a little more, get all new stuff,
and save downtime. In our case, we're not under the gun, so we can wait for
parts, spend time on labor (though it ****s to have to re-do things several
times), while not laying out lots of cash.

If this were my truck, a daily driver, I'd most likely just pay a shop to
swap in a new, performance-built transmission - for the exact reason that if
anything went wrong, it would be on them to fix it.


You can't flush out a torque converter, nor can you replace the clutch
lining of the lockup clutch. Re-using a TC on a trans rebuild is just
begging for trouble - as his experience proves.