Originally Posted by Guitar Jones
Originally Posted by poorboy
Originally Posted by Transman
With the Chia pet for a magnet, it’s time to get it apart.

Likely the OD unit is failing. Just a guess at thins point but likely one of the large needle bearing units or a planetary starting to fail.
The most common failure we saw in the Reman program was the bearing on the back of the main case - the OD thrust bearing.
And when it fails you lose the required travel to apply the OD clutch and disengage the Direct clutch.



So, um... If that is what actually made the OD not function, and a guy kept driving it without the functioning OD, is it more costly to rebuild the trans then if it was pulled and rebuilt right after the OD quit working?

I blew a trans cooler line but didn't know it until ran it out of fluid and I coasted into a parking lot. I repaired the cooler line, added 8 quarts of ATF 4 (96 46RE 4x4 trans with 44K miles). The trans seemed to work OK except the OD didn't work. After nearly a year of using the trans, it doesn't seem quite right when leaving a stop light (I might be getting paranoid). Once its moving it seems OK, except the no OD. It shifts very smoothly from 2nd to 3rd.

I'm expecting to have to rebuild the trans (I'm hoping to make it to spring). I could drop the pan if you think it would be helpful, but at this point I suspect the damage is done and a fluid, filter, and maybe a few parts won't help long term. I'm probably going to run it until it fails, or spring, whichever comes 1st, unless you think a new filter and fluid will help. Should I plan on rebuilding a different trans, or is this one going to be OK to rebuild?

No telling until you get it out. Is this the same trans that had water in it? If so just yank it.


Nope. The one that got the water in it got replaced, I bought a brand new 2010 Mopar trans from a guy that bought it to put into a project he didn't use, it was sitting on a shelf and still had the factory caps on it I bought it for about the same money used transmissions were going for. Got that put in the truck and sold the truck.

This one is in my 49 on the Dakota 4x4 chassis. Had 44K miles on it when the truck was built. I've driven it about 3500 miles before the Dakota radiator started leaking between the aluminum core and the plastic tank last Dec. I bought an aftermarket radiator (that fit in this truck much better). I watched for any issues for a couple weeks, but about a month later while going across town, one of the cooler hoses blew off and ran it out of fluid. I had no idea why it started slipping about a block from where I could get off the road. As soon as I opened the door I knew what was going on. There was an auto parts store right across the street from where I stopped. I was able to put the cooler line back on, and then added 8 quarts of AFT+4. The drive home seemed fine, but a couple days later I noticed the OD wasn't working on the highway. A few weeks later I noticed it seemed a bit sluggish leaving a traffic light, but seemed to up shift 2-3 (very smooth) OK, the truck spends most of its time in town, so it wasn't a big deal not having the OD, at the time. I've considered dropping the pan adjusting the bands, change the filter, and give it a look over inside, but I'm concerned about what I might find inside the pan. It would be a major issue pulling it to rebuild it right now. No hoist available, I'd be doing it on jack stands on my back. I'm not sure I can get the truck high enough to get that heavy pig out from under the truck. The hoist is suppose to be available in the spring. The only trans rebuild shop I'd begin to trust has a 2 month backlog. Thoughts or suggestions?