redracer

So out of nowhere the transmission starts running up to 2800 before it shifts to 2nd. That happened three or four times on the drive home. Next morning (today) I swapped the fluid and filter. Fire it up and it slips into 2nd and wont go into fourth. Eat some lunch at the burger place and then have to drive home in 1st because she wont shift. Awesome! Added some royal purple and no dice. Any advice on other simple trouble shooting or do I just need to bite the bullet and get a full on rebuild? Any advice would be greatly appreciated. Thanks in advance.

Barndog8341

Sounds like a tranny rebuild is what you need. The good news, an auto tranny rebuild is/can be a bit cheaper than a rebuild for a standard. I know guys that had to rebuild the six-speeds, paid 4-6 thousand. For an auto, you can usually get a decent rebuild for 3 thousand.

Advice: Do your homework and shop around a lot. Decide on how much you want to pay, and how long you want it to last.

Gatorama

Do a search on this forum for 47RE and you will be amazed at the vast amount of information available. Your problem could be as simple as a sensor, as it sounds like the problem happened all of a sudden. This is assuming that the transmission was in decent shape beforehand and you weren't pulling a sled when it happened. Good luck with it.

cdennyb

I think I would drop the VB and have a shop take care of it or buy the kit myself and do the rebuild on my bench. Assuming you haven't trashed the clutch frictions on the freewind upshifts you describe, you could easily get away with a $300-500 cost to fix your issues. You might end up dropping the trans and sliding out the pump and front and forward clutch drums and seeing if the clutches and steels are toast, replacing the lip seals in the apply pistons and o-rings where applicable. I think most of the items in yours are the same as my 48RE. The biggest difference is the planetary gear carrier inside. It has less gears in it. 5 in the 48 and only 3 in the 47. If you're half way competitent in the mechanics dept and can follow instructions, it really ain't that bad of a rebuild if you have a couple of days to do it yourself. If not, maybe one of your buddies could be bribed. I'm not entirely sure you have a 47RE, If you have a 1 ton truck, chances are really good you have the beefier 48RE so you have a good unit to work with already. The major overhaul kits are only $150 and they have the clutches and steels in addition to the other necessary seals and bushings. If you wanted to use Koleen steels (thinner) and the red disks, you can get a couple more in the two drums which increase the square inch area of them which holds the loads better when towing. You have to order a kit without those components and order them seperate. Best to get all the stuff together, and then drop it out and disassemble. I used Mineral Spirits to solvent clean everything inside and out as well as clean the units, both VB and other parts assemblies. Can't keep it TOO clean. The overdrive unit on the end is the hardest part to go through. It takes a good stout hydraulic press to compress the spring loaded drum in there. (Has over 750 lbs of force!) Don't even think you can do it by hand, you'll hurt yourself.
Good luck and don't be scared, just read up on it and follow the bouncing ball.

redracer

THanks for the responses. Cdennyb-thank you for the help. Im pretty sure that I am going to take this one on myself. I am not by any means a mechanic but I do just about all of my own repairs with alittle help from the tech articles and posts on this forum. I think I can get her done. In your (obviously more qualified than mine) opinion to build a stronger tranny that will be better suited for towing, what parts should I order outside of the standard rebuild kit? Thanks again everyone.

I just checked and she has the 48RE transmission

cdennyb

http://www.transmissionsone.com/

These guys have just about EVERY part you could change in a dodge 48RE trans.

good luck, hope you're not done with the rebuild yet... otherwise, disregard my post... been working and couldn't reply any sooner.