Best place to buy trans parts(46re)

As title says
01 Durango with a 360.
Need the gov sensor and transducer.
Who's best?
Rostra? Sonnax? Best place to buy (bang for buck)

You try rock auto? Looks like they have Rosta. They usually have good pricing. If you need multiple items, just try to select items from same shipping location. Otherwise, that ruins the good prices. A 5 pct discount code is usually always active too.

Yeah I looked. Seems more expensive than last set I needed....

Try Tranz Depot, in Michigan.

transtar or Daaco.

I've used this place in the past for my A-518 transmission. They have a nice part lookup with diagrams.

https://www.wittrans.com/New_link_parts.php

Just ordered what I need from eBay, lotsa options, but couldn't believe how many show as being shipped straight out of China, I made sure to avoid them. I wanted the HD borg warner gov pressure sensor and the rostra HD gov pressure transducer. I found the transducer cheap but all the sensors were "std duty". And I need 00 and up, most were 96-99 versions.
Once I get past the problem I have I want to start beefing this thing up a bit. . But don't want to add any more things to the fire to potentially cause more problems before I get they the ones I have now.
I just swapped tranny's and this one works ok but doesn't shift like the old one did before it crapped out.

Start with the valvebody from the old trans, take it apart and clean out all the old fluid.

I was thinking about that, was also thinking about starting with the existing VB and pop the new solenoid and transducer in and see if it solves the problem with the computer wanting so much gov pressure once I exceed a certain speed.
I got a 3rd VB here, from a guy in another forum that he said was for my year but has the older style of governor sensor/transducer. Supposed to be a fresh rebuild with new solenoids but they won't work for 00 and up. (Mine is 01)

What problems are you having?

Also you refer to the computer wanting so much gov pressure. What do you mean here ?

When I plug in the scanner and watch it while someone else drives as soon as I hit 34 mph the "desired" governor pressure goes from close to the mph I'm driving, and jumps to 126 8 psi and stays there no matter what speed I am at as long as I'm in the gas in the least, even just maintaining speed. As soon as I let off the gas and coast the " desired" pressure follows the speed I am going. Then the trans tries to meet the "desired" pressure the computer wants to see.
If the actual actually crosses 100 psi then I get a CEL for "gov pressure high". It seems to drive fine though.
When I monitor the voltage of the governor pressure, it goes to 1.46v at 33 mph and jumps to 3.46 volts, skipping the "2.-xx" volt range completely.
I have another computer (actually the original one from this Durango) that I have had on the shelf for a while, I tried plugging it in as a "substitute known good part" step and it does exactly the same. I have likewise subbed in a known good TPS being that I can duplicate it very reliably just by driving and crossing 34 mph, and no change there either
.that "126.8" psi desired seems to be some kind of a default reading.

Now my 96 Dakota also has a 46re and does not act like that I drove that one and monitored the scanner just like I do in the Durango, just for comparison. Both are stone, dead stock, no mods. No chip, no performance tube or anything.

Replace your output speed sensor while you are under there , the one that screws into the driver side lower part of the rear extension housing. you wouldn't believe how many issues that can cause with pressure readings

What's weird is this problem with setting a high governor pressure started only after I had the whole dash out to replace the evaporator and the heater core. My original trans crapped out very shortly after I had the dash reassembled to which I blame on 311,000 miles of use
if I had to guess id say the overrunning clutch went bad by the way the trans was acting. It was actually fine once it got to 3rd and 4th, but shuddered terrible from takeoff, thru 2nd and until it hit 3rd. The fluid came out all glittery, but the weird part is though the replacement trans shifts fine, it still has that weirdness where the computer wants the same crazy gov pressure is the same as with the other trans.
The trans I put in gas been under my bench for 3-4 years, but it came from a u pull, out of an identical Durango that looked like it didn't belong in a junkyard. It (the trans) was very clean, and freshly painted "rebuilders gray". I have no doubt it was a very fresh overhaul, if I had to guess the customer couldn't pay the bill, so the shop got a "mechanic's lien" on it and scrapped it. But the u pull had a "sale" and the price was too good to pass on. I spent more for a case of ATF+4 than I did for the trans.
I have a tough time believing that these sensors and the old ones were all bad, but then again it was in a junkyard for some reason,
I had rebuilt the trans myself that croaked 65k before and I didn't replace the electronics in that trans either, I have no idea if whoever did the rebuild on this trans did while they had it apart either, so I basically want to put new ones in so I can eliminate it for sure and establish some sort of a baseline with it...

Oh really? I've replaced those a few times over the years (don't remember if I ever did this one) but i know I had to a few years ago on my Dakota, and when that one went it started shifting all sorts of weird. I wouldn't have suspected that sensor for the problem I'm now having.
I've also had (as weird as it sounds) a rear O2 screw with me before, but ive replaced it on this Durango and no change.
On the output speed sensor I had to replace one on another Dakota I used to have, after I caught something with a front tire in the road and it spit up and smacked the output sensor on that one.
I've had quite a few Dakotas with the 46re over the years.

I have been thru the dash 4 or 5 times to check all the wiring particularly the grounds, for tightness and cleanliness and have added a few redundant grounds from the existing ground lugs straight to the neg post of the battery just for the Hell of it to verify that the grounds are all secured.
I haven't yet installed it but I did go to the junkyard and found an identical Durango and pirates it's complete underhood wiring harness, as once I receive the gov sensor and transducer that would be all that would be left that I know of....

One thing that was weird was my original trans was bone dry on the outside but when I went to disconnect the wiring was that the inside of both the 8 wire plug and the 5 wire neutral switch were saturated with oil... I soaked the [censored] out of them with electric contact cleaner when I put this other trans in there.

And no, I didn't want to hunt and peck all that out again as I have in a couple of other forums and in a PM ea "Mopar trans expert" on another forum that I belong to.... but I'm tired of dead ends

Drive your Dakota again and let me know what the actual gov psi does once it gets in to third then OD .
I’m betting the gov pressure will rise quickly to 120+ in OD.

https://globaltransmissionparts.com...arts/a518-46rh-47rh-a618-46re-47re-48re/

https://www.transmissionpartsusa.com/Automatic_transmission_parts_s/1316.htm

[quote=A727Tflite

Drive your Dakota again and let me know what the actual gov psi does once it gets in to third then OD .
I’m betting the gov pressure will rise quickly to 120+ in OD.
[/quote]
I haven't had a chance to again, yet I will though.
don't remember exactly what the numbers were last time but they weren't what this Durango is doing. And it didn't skip the 2.something volt range. And it doesn't matter how much or little I'm in the gas the Durango always does this at exactly 34 mph unless I let off the gas and coast. The Dakota isn't setting high governor pressure codes like the Durango. And at 34 mph I'm not in OD yet, sometimes not even in 3rd yet if I'm in the gas heavy.

update time
The other day I got my "Rostra" gov sensor and my "HD Borg warner" solenoid in the mail, and my new ATSG book. Today I put it up on my lift, (yes I have my own) dropped the pan, and changed the filter (again) and those gov sensor and solenoid.
The "desired" pressure does just like it did. Jumps straight to 126.8 soon as I pass 34 mph.
The "actual" though does like the original, failed trans did before I swapped them. The "actual" gets to ~75-80 then levels off and falls back a few PSI. It doesn't try to "catch up with" the "desired" PSI like the replacement trans did with the original solenoids that were in it when I got it//. and even the wife noticed, it shifts just like it used to before the original one went bad.

so, I can confirm my beliefs that the trans failure was pure coincidence// and had nothing to do with having the dash out of it just a few days before. I had been pulling my hair out, rechecking grounds and every wiring plug to be sure they were snapped in as designed.

It's just weird the shudder in the original trans started 15 miles, after I had the dash out and back in. the fact that I have 312k miles on this rig, probably has nothing to do with it, huh?
well, the redundant grounds I ran, in trying to troubleshoot this, sure won't hurt anything. I had had much of the dash (back) apart more than once checking things. along with the wiring diagrams on Mitchell On'Demand that we have at work.

I have a few-years-old ATSG book on the 42/44re, and I didn't see much of anything in there about the governor, other than pix of the different sensors and solenoids used thru the years of the "RE series. I just got the "latest" 46-47-48RE book from them, and there it was in black n white. there is a section on governor operation that wasn't in the other book I have....

It never did start out in 2nd or 3rd and "stay there" though, as it said was the usual symptom of gov sensor/solenoid issues. but the new book did describe how the governor is supposed to work in a way that I "got" (understood). and it appears that part of what I was seeing was right, the only part of what I was seeing that wasn't, was the "actual" side of governor pressure. Now it shows on there (the scanner), as should be expected/ at least according to that book. I did head to town and threw a new output speed sensor on there "for good measure". the only thing that didn't get done, was that I bought a new spring for the 3-4 shift in the VB, when I bought the solenoid and sensor, and being we had "somewhere to be" I put it back together and forgot to swap that out. No, I never pulled the cover off, so nothing open, nothing loose in there. But I have found several of those particular springs busted in 1/2, over the years so I was "wanting to" replace it while I was in there,
though it was very obvious that this was a VERY recent overhaul, because I got it from a U pull, I have no idea who rebuilt it, or how extensively. but it works fine. the trans temp reading with the new solenoid and sensor is making more sense now than with the old set in there, as well.

I am gonna have to stock up on trans filters via Ebay, rock auto, etc, This was the 2nd time since I swapped that trans, that I had to pay an outrageous $28 at my local O'Wrongleys for a Wix trans filter.... and then $34 for that output sensor. of course I have 6 of the older, non plastic cased, 904/727/500/518 trans filters here already....
For a trans that I "just had to have" on a sale day at the U pull for $60 with converter (I think core was something like $28 then, besides) like 4 years ago, I spent $157 on the first case of ATF+4 and filter that went in the day i swapped it in, then $120 for the HD solenoids, then another $60 in fluid today and that 2nd filter (the one I bought today) and the output speed sensor, but I think I finally got it solved.

I had issues with the Borg warner governor pressure solenoid and replaced it with a Mopar one.

I found notes the other day from when I was doing diesel trans upgrades and I wrote down ROSTRA solenoid and gov. pressure sensor on it. I'm getting ready to redo my BUILT BY ME trans that was behind my hopped up Cummins it's been sitting for a decade in the backyard in my lawn ornament , and convert it from 4wd to 2wd with the 2wd OD unit I was able to finally find this past weekend. There's some good info shared here jogging my memory.

I don't use the plastic cased filters in my 47RE's , I switched to the old stlye ones mounted to a deep pan filter spacer as the plastic case is a restriction to flow, also stopped using ATF+4 after the first fluid change back in 2001.

I have plenty of the old style filters without the plastic housing. Thai 01 is the only thing I have ever had that takes the plastic cased filter. Where do I get this filter extension adapter? Is it something I can get from somebody like sonnax or rostra? So far so good, and I noticed that the trans temp readings in getting with the new parts in place are making more sense

"also stopped using ATF+4 after the first fluid change back in 2001" Why and what are you using now???

Yeah I'd like to know that too. I can't believe,nor can I afford, $11 per Quart.
I've since found places that have it for $8.something, which is still too high. . totally ridiculous.
Mines running good, occasionally hits 3rd a bit hard when I'm light on the gas

Only trans that really “needs” it are the 46/47/48 that see a lot of usage, especially towing.

The overdrive gearset will last a lot longer if run with 4.

Three speeds are one to one in 3rd so the planataries don’t see the same wear.

All the electronic transmissions - FWD 41/42 and RWD 45/545/RFE benefit from longer clutch and converter life because the clutches are not on/off clutches like the old transmissions.

As for flow on the plastic filters, the entrance to the filter is larger than the entrance in to the valve body.

believe it or not, i have used the common dexron fluid in my 99 caravan for all the years i have had it, and it is now at 175k with absolutely no problems whatsoever.
however, i don't do dragstrip starts or neutral drops.
it also has a transgo shift kit in it. that kit does not bark the tires at every shift, it just take care of the things that can cause problems with those transmissions[transaxles]

Well fu@k... I get to pull the replacement out and start all over again. I got about 1200-1500 miles out of that trans, and pulled my camper (<4000 lb, Durango os rates to pull something like 7100) about 140 miles, and after a day of driving around without the camper on the ball, I get back to the campsite yesterday and the trans is neutraling out every time I stop, whether in d or r. I know I'd be screwed if I tried to bring camper home like this so I made a mad dash for home to swap it out with my truck, and made it a little over halfway and it said "I'm done". Many stops and much time coasting on the shoulder to get that far, shut it off, let sit 2-3 minutes and it will engage again. Much of the 80 miles or so I made it was in 2nd gear at 35 mph. It would neutral out when it tried for 3rd. There was one stretch of 10-12 miles where it seemed fine, hit all 4 gears and l t me have 70 mph. But I probably coasted to a stop along US 41 hoping it would grab again when I restarted it, 25-30 times to make it to far.
It pulled my camper down here like it wasn't even there on Sunday. And was fine for around 100-125 miles after that Sunday after I dropped the camper and most of the day on Monday. When it started not wanting to pull I could really hear the front pump whining.... I checked fluid, no signs of a leak, level was fine.

I had to call my son and have him meet me with a trailer and bring me my 12 ram 1500, he trailered the Durango the rest of the way home.

I had a 727 do that and found the filter was plugging up and when it sat the fluid would drain back through the filter enough get sucked back through for a while until the filter clogged up again. I only had to sit 5 or 10 minutes to go again for a short while.

I had very similar symptoms on my 2001. Neutral out, stop, go again, repeat, including whine. On mine the converter valve retainer broke partially ejecting it from the valve body, which dropped the system pressure and totally burned out the rear clutches.

Thanks. Gives me an idea where to look
I have 2 of these now to go thru, I think the original one crapped it's overrunning clutch. Way different symptoms than this one. I'm gonna finish my campout first Durango is safely back home, I'll be using my newer pickup with it's (gasp)4.7 like I did earlier this camping season to get the camper home with. And I have a 3 day weekend to figure out where I go from here.
This Durango has to run again because I can't afford to replace it for 1-1/2 years when my '12 will be pd for unless an inheritance falls from the sky.
I'm glad I've been thru the innards of these tranny's before, but my mind is a bit foggy on the subject.