Transmission help! A-518 46rh swap

[Wackers Rodshop]

I am thinking of doing a swap to a 46rh in one of my LA powered rides. There is very little and confusing information on the internet about what years and vehicles the 46rh came in. Anyone have a list of Dodge years/models the A-518-46rh came in?

 

[Kendog 170]

Good question.

 

[Professor Fate]

Introduced in 1990 in some trucks and vans, and was used until the 46RE was introduced in 1996. There were also lockup-only (no overdrive) variants of the 727 produced at the same time, so be aware of that- they're pretty obvious due to the lack of an overdrive tail housing, yet still having the lockup (not splined on the last 1/2" or so) input shaft.
This is fairly accurate:
TorqueFlite - Dodge Wiki

 

[autopar3000]

The professor is correct, they ran for 6 years from the 1990 to 1995 model years. They are basically a 727 with an electrically activated overdrive unit bolted on. Don't count out the A500 / 42rh transmissions, which were produced at the same time, and are basically a 904 with the same overdrive unit as the 46rh. You can build a 904 to handle big power, so there's no reason why you can't do the same to a 42rh.

Watch out for the earlier years transmissions that came without a lockup torque converter. I don't exactly know which years didn't have lockup, but 1994 and 1995 definitely did. An overdrive-only transmission will have a 2 pin connector, just behind the throttle valve lever. The OD + lockup transmissions will have 3 pin connector.