904? 46RH? 727? Opinions?

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Christian1

Christian1

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Alright, I finally got into my (just rebuilt) 46rh transmission that's currently in my '91 Dakota and of course it ate itself alive. All my clutches are in the pan. My converter lockup was stuck so I thought I was gonna be swapping the solenoids and low and behold... well.. you get the idea. Point is, I'm not sure where I wanna go from here. The truck was swapped with a 360 LA motor and it's a little hopped up. Nothing crazy I'd bet around 300-350Hp, very mild, I want to keep the 4WD but I'm sick of this transmission.. what are yall thinking? I'd prefer something I can use this transfer case on since I unfortunately haven't won the lottery yet, but if there's something out there for around $500 or less that would come with the right Tcase I'd do it. Just want to here what yall suggest. I'm not so transmission savvy so I'd like something I can just throw in and not worry about for the next 50-150k miles at least...
Thanks yall,
Christian
 
That's usually a pretty good transmission I'm wondering why it was so short lived
 
volaredon said:
That's usually a pretty good transmission I'm wondering why it was so short lived
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Me too, your guess is as good as mine. Never even hit the road just drove around the farm a bit. Probably 10-15 miles on it before it started acting up..
 
Ice never had that short of life out of one, had a junkyard pull that didn't last much longer though, once. The one in my Dakota I rebuilt myself 84k ago. And still going.
The one in my Durango "only" went 58k before it went out but it's only got 314k on it total from new. I freshened it up when I put the junkyard 360 in it at 258k only because I didn't know the history on it prior to buying it at 210k...
This time I'm finding ba bunch of little problems inside. Things like scuffed valves, scuffed pistons, broken 3-4 accumulator spring (again)
Plus I'm adding some beef to it while I'm in there this time
 
volaredon said:
Ice never had that short of life out of one, had a junkyard pull that didn't last much longer though, once. The one in my Dakota I rebuilt myself 84k ago. And still going.
The one in my Durango "only" went 58k before it went out but it's only got 314k on it total from new. I freshened it up when I put the junkyard 360 in it at 258k only because I didn't know the history on it prior to buying it at 210k...
This time I'm finding ba bunch of little problems inside. Things like scuffed valves, scuffed pistons, broken 3-4 accumulator spring (again)
Plus I'm adding some beef to it while I'm in there this time
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Sounds like our trucks have a lot in common lol, both my Dakota and your Durango are 360 swapped and we both apparently need beefier trannys... almost wonder if the 360 is just too much for the Trans or something...
 
Not quite. My Durango came factory stock with the 360 ("5.9")
 
volaredon said:
Not quite. My Durango came factory stock with the 360 ("5.9")
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Well, I suppose it probably wouldn't be an over powered Trans from the factory.. I guess that rules out the easy cause lol. Not that I honestly thought my mild ~300Hp would be that much anyway. Almost wonder if I could find a 727 or 904 with a Tcase for a decent price though. Probably be better since the truck was wired by high-school shop kids in the 90s... I already got a lot to fix, be a nice option to have less to hook up.
 
What are you putting the transmission in? Back in your Dakota or in an A-body?
 
Who built the 46RH? They can handle a lot more that 300 HP when built correctly... Even bone stock they would handle 300 HP for a heck of a lot longer than 15 miles.... Find a better builder & keep the 46 RH....
 
Since you have 4 wheel drive I would just put another 46RH in it. Spend your $500 and rebuild it some some quality clutches. It should live fine and you won't have to reinvent the wheel trying to get something else to fit.

Tom

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str12-340 said:
What are you putting the transmission in? Back in your Dakota or in an A-body?
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Back in the Dakota.. used this forum because out of A bodies, B bodies, and C bodies, none of them are "Dakotas only" lol. Plus these forums are structured best. Hopefully it's not too wrong of me, still a Mopar underneath..
 
PROSTOCKTOM said:
Since you have 4 wheel drive I would just put another 46RH in it. Spend your $500 and rebuild it some some quality clutches. It should live fine and you won't have to reinvent the wheel trying to get something else to fit.

Tom

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Yeah, I'll just have to find a way to bypass the TCC and OD or I guess I could make them switched on and off.. it's just a little inconvenient having the transmission need some sort of electrical signal with hardly any good electrical left since the 90s.. I'll figure it out though. Sounds like I got options lol
 
volaredon said:
I wouldn't bypass either of those.
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Well, there's no TCM left because the motor was swapped by high-school shop kids back in the 90s.. they just butchered the wiring.. looks like they took bolt cutters to the harness and cut it all off.. sucks but it's what they did so now I gotta fix it.. not even sure what would've told those solenoids when to close in the first place, being a 91 It'd have been a really early computer I assume.
 
Oh well in that case that would be a little different. Id still be looking at one of the kits from PATC or wiring to toggle switches to keep at least the OD working.
They do make converters that match your spline on the input without the lockup where they "forget" to put the lockup back in on rebuild.
I seen them in the catalog when I got mine.
 
I also have a 96 318, 4wd club cab Dakota (first year for the "RE" version of that trans)
Bought it cheap 9-10 years ago with the trans and transfer case in the bed, I rebuilt the trans and been driving it ever since. My wife usually drives the Durango.
For the way I use it they don't do much for me but it's the first Dakota I've had (of probably 7-8 over the years) that's not only 4wd but also has 3.91 gears vs the most common 3.55. unfortunately rust is starting to get the best of it, not sure how much longer I'm gonna be able to keep it because of that rust but with this combo it would at worst make a great parts truck for someone when I do finally let it go. I hate to thou, it's been a great dependable truck.
Last weekend I just put all new everything on the front brakes, calipers rotors and all. I use it as my "goin mowin" truck this time of year and my winter beater with the heater" because I drive 70 miles a day to and from work mostly 2 lane country roads. And my other truck is 2wd.
 
Christian1 said:
Well, there's no TCM left because the motor was swapped by high-school shop kids back in the 90s.. they just butchered the wiring.. looks like they took bolt cutters to the harness and cut it all off.. sucks but it's what they did so now I gotta fix it.. not even sure what would've told those solenoids when to close in the first place, being a 91 It'd have been a really early computer I assume.
Click to expand...

I have a 42RH in my dart that shifts OD and lockup fully automatically by using pressure switches off the governor port of the trans.

The switches are even adjustable so you can set your preferred shift speeds.
Or turn both off to simulate a standard 904.
Same can be done with the 46RH and neither need a computer.

The switches are so you could disable either OD or lockup, but in the auto position it will shift 1-2-3-OD-Lockup all on its own.

ShifterArt.jpeg
 
volaredon said:
I also have a 96 318, 4wd club cab Dakota (first year for the "RE" version of that trans)
Bought it cheap 9-10 years ago with the trans and transfer case in the bed, I rebuilt the trans and been driving it ever since. My wife usually drives the Durango.
For the way I use it they don't do much for me but it's the first Dakota I've had (of probably 7-8 over the years) that's not only 4wd but also has 3.91 gears vs the most common 3.55. unfortunately rust is starting to get the best of it, not sure how much longer I'm gonna be able to keep it because of that rust but with this combo it would at worst make a great parts truck for someone when I do finally let it go. I hate to thou, it's been a great dependable truck.
Last weekend I just put all new everything on the front brakes, calipers rotors and all. I use it as my "goin mowin" truck this time of year and my winter beater with the heater" because I drive 70 miles a day to and from work mostly 2 lane country roads. And my other truck is 2wd.
Click to expand...
Yeah mine has all new everything everywhere in the brakes lol, it sat in a field for 15 years before I got it so it needed a lot. Just unsure where to go with the Trans. Sounding like I may be in for another rebuild and some toggle switches for now though.. thanks for all the help and advice, I appreciate it!
 
TrailBeast said:
I have a 42RH in my dart that shifts OD and lockup fully automatically by using pressure switches off the governor port of the trans.

The switches are even adjustable so you can set your preferred shift speeds.
Or turn both off to simulate a standard 904.
Same can be done with the 46RH and neither need a computer.

The switches are so you could disable either OD or lockup, but in the auto position it will shift 1-2-3-OD-Lockup all on its own.

View attachment 1716251253
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Now that it's been mentioned I do remember seeing kits for all that. I may get one down the line but for now I think I'll just use some toggles. Thank you though, that seems like a really nice kit, might try to find that one honestly.
 
Christian1 said:
Now that it's been mentioned I do remember seeing kits for all that. I may get one down the line but for now I think I'll just use some toggles. Thank you though, that seems like a really nice kit, might try to find that one honestly.
Click to expand...

When I did mine they only made a kit without any speed adjustments, so I built this setup myself.
 
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