I think the weak link could be the OD unit. I have popped my A-500 twice
since I bought the truck. I didn't fix it last time and I been driving without
the OD working now for about 2 years. My tranny is fine, just the OD. If I
have the OD on it will work for about 5 minutes and then downshift back into
third. At this point it won't shift back into OD until the truck has been
parked for a while. At first, the guy at the tranny shop thought it may be an
electrical problem but couldn't pull any codes with the computer he hooked up
to it. So he dropped the pan and found a piece of a snap ring sitting in the
bottom of the pan. I had always complained about how hard the truck shifted
into OD. What we think happened is the inner snap ring in the OD drum, broke.
This allows the clutches the push out to the outer snap ring when under fluid
pressure. The clutches start to slip and it down shifts. After it's been
parked for a while the fluid pressure diminishes, the big spring in the drum
pushes the plates back into place. I haven't bothered to fix it because I
eventually plan to do a motor swap and plan on swapping to another tranny at
that time.
Walter_Felix@MSN.COM
Truck: 88 Dodge Dakota Sport 4x4.
Color: Flash Red
Motor: 3.9 V6
Tranny: A-500 Auto with NVP231 Transfer Case
Factory Accessories: AC, Cruise, Tilt, PW, PD, Rear Slider, Light Bar, Fog
Lamps & Covers
Aftermarket Accessories: Lund Interceptor, Lund Moon Visor, Sony
AM/FM/Cassette w/10 Disk Changer, ventguards, custom bed mat, black Dee-Zee
tailgate protector, Lund head-lamp blackouts, 4 Dick Cepek lamps with custom
covers, cowl style hood scoop, 3" TrailMaster body lift, 31x10.50x15 Dunlop
Radial Mud Rovers on 15x10 AR Type 26 rims, X-Tang railed tonneau cover (cut
and fitted to bed bar), Lund TailMate, Rancho RS-5000 Shocks, FlowMaster 3"
in/2 2-1/2" outlets, BushWacker fender flares, Taylor 8mm wires (Red), "FABM",
"DDBC".
http://www.geocities.com/MotorCity/Downs/9219
-----Original Message-----
From: owner-dakota-truck@buffnet4.buffnet.net On Behalf Of am14@chrysler.com
Sent: Thursday, February 19, 1998 5:33 PM
To: dakota-truck@buffnet.net
Subject: DML: WEAK tranny
Some one wrote: >> Your transmission is extremely weak, in design, so
a soft shift is very desireable to extend transmission life. I would
definately not attempt to crisp the shifts, as this will just blow the
transmission that much more quickly.
I can't believe this is quite true. The A518 is basically a 727 with
an OD attached and the A500 is basically a 904 with OD attached. The
426 hemi came equipped with a 727 and the 340 came equipped with a
904. They stood up very well I believe, and the current Magnums are
not any stronger than the Two engines I just mentioned.
Azie
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