Extra parts in the trans pan. what broke? Trans guys, HELP!

I have a 500 auto trans out of a 91 Dakota. The truck was wrecked, but the guy drive it home, and then I drove it home. couldn't get over 45mph because of the truck's body condition, but the trans shifted well and didn't display any problems.

Now that trans is being installed into another Dakota. Dropped the pan to install a fresh filter & fluid and we discover what looks like a chunk of a broken piston ring. The fluid looked great, the trans has about 118,000 miles, and there wasn't an unusual amount of stuff in the pan. The chunk of ring, looks almost out of place.

So, I expect the "ring chunk" is something that was a result of the crash, the truck frame was bent pretty good. The truck nose struck a Jersey barrier, and the rear came around and struck the barrier as well. The frame took on a "C" shape with the front frame nose up a bit. Everything in the drive train as still intact, including the radiator.

What part in an auto trans would look like a piston ring, and is it something I can, or need to change? And, does the trans need to come out to change the part? Gene

snap ring that holds one of the clutch packs together.have seen a lot of pieces of them in pans over the years,just hope the rest of it dosen"t break.

If it looks just like a piston ring it is a Seal rings from a shaft or piston. The future is not promising for this trans.

Its usually one of the snap rings in the overdrive unit as I have seen it break alot. Ron

Probably the direct clutch snap ring in the overdrive unit. Very common.

http://www.jeepforum.com/forum/f310/42re-snap-ring-repair-write-up-pics-part-numbers-1406765/

Not the worst thing to do. If you've got a press and an alignment tool it's a fairly simple job for the most part.

Mine was broke for a long time before it finally gave me problems one day and wouldn't go into reverse. That was after being aware of it for a long time though. Replacing the snap ring actually wouldn't have taken all that long but mine was in a 1-Ton 4x4 and I decided to go through the entire transmission at the same time. Waiting may have escalated the problem to be truthful though.

Welcome to the club.