The A500 is basically the old A904 tranny, whereas the A518 is basically teh
old A727 tranny. That being said, the A518 is a heavier-duty tranny, but
the A500 should be quicker in the quarter-mile, if that's of any interest to
you.
In later years, these trannies were renamed 4xRH (H for
hydraulically-controlled shifts), then later renamed 4xRE (E for
electrically-controlled shifts). The higher the x in 4x RE, the stronger
the tranny. So, in the big RAM trucks, you will see higher numbers than in
the Dakota.
At any rate, all small-block (currently the 5.2L and 5.9L engines - for some
reason, the V10 is considered a big-block, even though it is based on the
small-block, not sure what the V6 is considered, but I would think it would
bolt up also, as it is based on the small-block) auto trannys are
interchangeable. Note that the 360 (5.9L) is externally balanced, and may
require a different torque converter if swapping between a 5.9L and a 5.2L.
Also keep in mind that a professionally-installed high-quality shift kit
will probably make your A500 tranny stronger than the strongest 5.9L tranny
currently available. This is because the factory makes their auto trannies
shift softly to appease brain-dead owners and soccer moms, and soft shifts
really weaken an automatic transmission. A good shift kit will give you
hard, abrupt shifts, and contrary to your gut feeling, will actually greatly
strengthen your tranny and increase its lifespan (although you may go
through U-joints a little quicker). Of course, a 46RE w/ shift kit will be
stronger than a 42RE w/ shift kit.
-- Remove .your.underwear to reply -- ""Mark"" <Gilpin.MCKnospam@lycos.com> wrote in message news:9umnq3$j14$1@bent.twistedbits.net... > Hi all, > I have a 98 5.2 4x4 Dak with the A500 42RE, and I'm looking for information > on heavy duty options. Does anyone know if the A518 46RE is a swap-in in > place of the 42RE? I know there is a "Heavy Duty" option available for the > Dakota, but I can't find out what it was (A500 44RE?) I would like to > rebuild and swap in the strongest tranny I can, but finding interchange and > dimensional info is like trying to get the truth out of Clinton. Any info on > rebuild and spec manuals, exchange information, etc. would be greatly > appreciated, due to the fact that I have no info now. > > Thanks, > Mark > > As a side note, Never use a TCI shift kit in an A500. These people don't > know anything about this tranny. I was putting mine in and an extra check > ball fell out that was not in the instructions, and I didn't see where it > came from. I called them and they said they didn't know anything about an > extra check ball, "so just leave it out"! Hello?, it was in there to start > with, don't you think it may be important?. "I doubt it" was the answer. > After cleaning and checking for an hour, I finally found the passage with > the "ball tracking" in it from the ball moving from port to port, and > reinstalled it. Put it all back together, the shift kit still sucks. 1-2 > shifts are a little better, everything else feels exactly the same. Called > TCI and told the guy I talked to that I found where it came from, he said > "that's good, can you E-mail us a drawing showing where it goes, our > engineers would be very interested in knowing that". I told him I would as > soon as my refund check cleared the bank. Needless to say, I bet they still > don't know. > >
This archive was generated by hypermail 2b29 : Fri Jun 20 2003 - 12:03:40 EDT