1991 Dodge ram 250 - Transmission Rebuilt!

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Now with 100% more carnage:

I bought a press, and cobbled together what I needed out of scrap and other crap to release the snap rings.
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Then I got out the direct clutch frictions and steels:
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They aren't too bad, slightly overheated, but w/e, I'm replacing them anyway.

Now, the real explanation for the issues with the transmission:
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And various pieces of steel that came out too:
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So, looks like it's going to be a little bit longer before I can get Waylon back on the road.
 
And the sun-gear and planetary are seized together... There's no separating them.

EDIT: I lied. Finally got 'em apart.

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Well, it just means the scope broadened a little on the transmission rebuild. I already bought a replacement planetary gear set and a new sun gear, but this one has five planetaries instead of four. That'll help bulletproof it. I wasn't expecting carnage like this, but it makes sense given the symptoms.

The clutches are going to all be +1 or +2 from the stock, meaning I'll slip an extra friction and steel plate or two into the assembly to reduce the opportunity for failure there.

The gear sprag, or one-way-clutch is in good shape, so I'm going g to clean, inspect, and probably reuse that. The rest of the transmission is going g to get inspected Sunday, and I'll see what else is chewed up.

Basically: this part added $75 and about eight days to the rebuild plan.
 
Friday I got the rest of the transmission buttoned up.
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Then, Saturday, I got a couple crazy friends together, and we got the transmission in.
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I have to hand it to @GSRCRXsi because this is Dodge 4x4 transmission number three that he's helped me put in.

Now, I just have to get the front driveshaft in, dipstick tube, fill the transmission with ATF, change the engine oil, put a new filter in, and re-time the engine, then I'm good, and it should run.

Unfortunately, it appears as though the transfer case has developed a leak, so, yeah. I may need to figure that out at some point. I might just spray some carb cleaner on it, and hit it with more RTV for the time being.
 
I just sold the rear roll bar. $100 and about $300 of work to my house, getting an additional 3/4" conduit laid in the ground from the house to the garage.

The rear of the truck sits about 1-2" higher now, lol.
 
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Waylon is now back on the ground.

The exhaust header bolts I got are about 1/2" too short, so there's only one on each manifold outlet right now. I'll probably pick some up this week. I need another coupling to get the y-pipe/header to the 2-foot piece of flex-pipe I have going to the Catalytic converter to connect. I think I'm going to use another one of those compression band type fittings, since the one I put on the RamCharger was so easy to deal with.

Exhaust is going to be a turn-down pipe right at the exit of the muffler, because it's getting cold and I want to start putting the broken RamCharger in the garage.

Roof still isn't done, nor is the windshield.

I got the transmission filled with about three gallons of ATF, and I'm going to start it and check fluid levels as soon as I get the battery charged enough to crank it, and replace the horrible battery terminals with something halfway decent.


I'm also becoming proficient at swabbing Dodge Rust out of my eyes with a q-tip.
 
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I finally got around to finishing up the exhaust, it's now a complete system, shy of four bolts to get the y-pipe to the manifolds. When I stop by lowes to get other stuff for the house, I'll pick up some bolts, and then the exhaust will be complete. It's got a turn-down right after the muffler, slightly angled away from the fuel tank. If that turns out to be a problem due to heat under the bed or heating the fuel, then I'll have to do some more exhaust welding, I think I have some tubing to make it a side-exit, or a stock location exit.

After the exhaust is fixed, I'll get the front axle back in... It doesn't make sense to try to get the exhaust bolted up with that in the way.

I tried starting it to do the timing, but learned that the battery in it, despite being on a charger since all this started, is totally pooched. Soooooo, today I'm going to "recycle" three batteries to get some money off a new one.

The roof still is untouched, hopefully tomorrow after it starts raining, I can get some time to get into the garage and cut out the rusted parts of the roof, and get the donor roof marked up to cut out the new pieces. I'm doing it this way so I can see how bad the rust under the first layer is, before I commit to chopping up the donor roof, in case I have to do a whole roof swap.
 
Well... Productive day today. I got the exhaust bolted up. Put fresh oil in it. Put another almost gallon of ATF in it. Got the timing set, road tested him, and checked for leaks.

I traded three batteries and $20 of AutoZone rewards to get a Marine Deep-Cycle/Starting battery for $51. The kid at the counter asked "What's this going in?" and asked if I knew it was a marine battery. When I told him that it's for a truck that I don't drive much, he had an "ahh ha" moment, and said that he'd never heard of anyone doing that before. It's got 650CCA, and like 150Ah of reserve, so it'll work for the warranty period of it, lol.

I got it started, set timing to 10-deg BDC, and then it ran a little better. Got down the road, and decided it needed more ATF, so turned around at the 1/4 mile mark, and came home, added more ATF, and tried it again. Ran perfectly, shifted perfectly, and has some nice pickup. (Pun intended.) Got it back to the house, parked it, and let it idle in D with parking brake on so I could check for leaks.

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I'm going to check torque on everything, check fluid levels again, and get some fuel in it tomorrow. The gas gauge isn't broken, just the needle is broken off, and it really is almost on E.
 
Ian and I don't hang out often, couple times a month I guess?


Finally got around to cutting some sheet metal out.

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I started by masking off areas where I figured the steel was fine, then cutting out the damaged metal. I then moved on to slicing out the outer metal, and got pissed off at how rotten it was inside. I left it that way for a week or two.

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I finally got around to poking a little deeper, and got most of the rust cut out.

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Now I just have to find my wire brush cup for the angle grinder, tear down the surface of the rusted middle-sheet, then figure out if I can use some rust converter or if I have to replace the middle sheet too.
 
I haven't done anything on this since the last post, aside from moving it in and out of the garage a few times. Having a kid does that, I guess.

Maybe tonight I'll try to get the surface rust knocked off and then finish cutting the donor roof sections to get it marked up to slice and weld.

Then the windshield goes in.

Then I can actually drive it on the road without a helmet, lol.
 
I work mostly at night lol

My son is a really light sleeper so its hard to.

My shop/garage is a ways away from the house, but if I use a cutting wheel the noise can be heard inside the house. The biggest reason I do little work at night is in case I get hurt.

Today I finished up removing the roof and prepping for welding.

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In that photo it's slipped under the truck's roof and I dusted it with black paint so I can get a nice clean line when I finally buy an air nipper this week to make a nice clean edge.

Everything takes 2x as long as I figure it will. Just that took an hour and a half. Nipping it Down to total dimension will probably take two hours, then tack welding it will probably take two more if I have enough argon left. :(

So, maybe by winter I'll have this truck finished up? I hope so.
 
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