how tough is a A518

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crazy 340

crazy 340

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Im about to buy a RAM van 2500 1994
with an automatic trans that the owner said its A518

dont have the cash to buy a gear vendors
but maybe an od trans could help
 
It's a 727 with overdrive. It's tough.
 
46RH ....727 with overdrive....has lockup converter also

I am sure someone will make you a converter for that..
 
crazy 340 said:
Im about to buy a RAM van 2500 1994
with an automatic trans that the owner said its A518

dont have the cash to buy a gear vendors
but maybe an od trans could help
Click to expand...

Good stout transmissions.
These Mopar OD transmissions are made and used mostly for vans and trucks and when you put one in a classic car you have to feel pretty comfortable about it handling it.
In the trucks the trans is tow rated for thousands of pounds more than my car will ever need by itself and the car is a thousand or two less pounds than some of the trucks they were in.
 
TrailBeast said:
Good stout transmissions.
These Mopar OD transmissions are made and used mostly for vans and trucks and when you put one in a classic car you have to feel pretty comfortable about it handling it.
In the trucks the trans is tow rated for thousands of pounds more than my car will ever need by itself and the car is a thousand or two less pounds than some of the trucks they were in.
Click to expand...
how much h.p. will they handle ?
 
The only issue, if you remember that era, is that no one seemed to be able to build a trans that lasted the entire warranty period.

Those 90's and early 00's trans are famous for needing rebuilt prior to 100K.

All brands.
 
Depends who you ask. Biased folks will tell you it is great. Unbiased folks will hand you a parts list that will make turn and run. I asked a buddy who owns a very busy trans shop about it. He just laughed at me...
 
How much HP you want it to hold? It can be built to handle alot. Don't believe the hype, they are pretty tough transmissions.

4500 stall, you'll have to call around. That's pretty high and to retain the lockup feature.
 
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FredS said:
How much HP you want it to hold? It can be built to handle alot. Don't believe the hype, they are pretty tough transmissions.
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my ex partner and his son build mopar trans., he said they weren`t strong enough for 6-700 h.p.
 
famous bob said:
my ex partner and his son build mopar trans., he said they weren`t strong enough for 6-700 h.p.
Click to expand...

How many people do we know that drive a 6-700 hp car that needs OD?
99% of those cars are straight up race cars trailered to the track.
The thing with 80's and mid 90's Mopar Transmissions is that they are easy and inexpensive to make stronger if needed.
Like I said above, they are rated for duty in trucks and vans with some pretty high tow and load ratings so in a car they should be pretty tough.
The 200R4 GM trans that people use takes a lot more upgrades to handle power than a Mopar OD does, and you don't need any expensive adapters.
 
These transmissions can be built to hold a whole bunch of power, and high stall converters are not an issue. The diesel boys have been using these transmissions with their engines pumping out very high horsepower(easily 700 HP ++) and of course a ton of torque. Horsepower doesn't come cheap and neither does keeping the drive train alive with all that extra horsepower/torque.
 
with the vin number it end up being a 46 rh

so will take a look of who is making a high stall converter for it
 
They were the weak links in the trucks but they're are a few small tricks (I've heard) that makes em better
 
75slant6 said:
They were the weak links in the trucks but they're are a few small tricks (I've heard) that makes em better
Click to expand...
yeah, around here the word was, don`t buy a dodge , the trans will go out w/in 70,000 miles back then. our warehouse man where I worked at the time had his go out at 60,000. they have a bad rap around here.
 
My parents bought two new dodge trucks, one in 98, and one in 2001. Both were 5.9s with 46re transmissions. The 98 they got rid of before it had 30k on it, and the 2001's trans gave up at 49k miles in California. Truck had a 50k mile warranty and Chrysler refused to cover the trans, last brand new Dodge my parents bought.

That being said, with how many transmissions floating around I am going to be using the 46RE's little brother (42Re/rh) in my 65 Dart convertible project. If you have someone that knows these transmissions and can go through them, they can handle a lot.
 
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Rockerdude, stop by, you can see my 42rh(A500) in process going into my 71.
 
No argument about the Chrysler OD series of transmissions and their problems. I sold a lot of parts for these. Oh yeah, also sold a ton of parts for the Ford series of OD transmissions, and also, the Allison that GM uses has issues also. The common thing we found in the parts/converter industry is what these vehicles were being forced to do. Horsepower & torque is not hard to find in a diesel. The owners were upgrading the horsepower/toque in their MOPAR/FORD/GM diesels and then wondering why the drive train was failing.
Any of you that have actually worked in the transmission industry as a builder, shop owner or in the replacement parts business know what I'm saying. If you want to go and see what has been produced for the diesel owner with an automatic transmission take a look at www.tcsproducts.com and see what they build to help keep these transmissions alive, and they aren't the only one building these HD parts. These companies don't spend a lot of cash in research and equipment because they thought they might sell one or two of the failing parts.
The early design planetary in the overdrive was also a problem area, but once changed to the later design the problems virtually disappeared.

These transmissions fail no more or no less than any other transmission.
I'd like to have a dollar for every 700R4 & 2004R that were swapped out for a TH350 over the years. I'd be a multi-millionaire.
 
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