Well I finally got my 47rh lockup tranny in my truck this last weekend after about a year of gathering parts and money to get it built. I finally retired the ol stock A518 that I had put through heck since day one of when I got the truck. That little tranny has impressed me though. I had this 47rh built by a newer and smaller local diesel shop that I deal with a lot called Outlaw Diesel. The Owner/builder has built many trannys, some holding over 1000hp, including his own p pumped 24 valve. I got his stage 3 build with a billet input shaft, billet triple disk 2100 stall converter (has a company build them for him, but unsure of the name) billet flexplate (my stock one was cracked, and I needed a 2nd gen one anyway), and other billet internal goodies. His own custom valve body with added/upgraded clutches, 5 pinion steel planetary instead of 3 pinion aluminum one, and something about a different accumulator, and I'm sure there is some more that I'm not 100% sure about. I just know he knows his stuff and does a crazy mean build.

I figured while I had the truck down I might as well do some preventive maintenance and some small fixes so i went through my NP205 transfer case and put in new bearings and seals. Everything seemed to look good and normal inside but I did have a few questionable bearings.
I also changed my leaking rear main seal while I had it all apart as well, and it was a good thing as the old seal was falling apart. I also cleaned everything up and added some paint.

We got the new trans all mounted up with the 2nd gen adapter plate and starter


but since the adapter plate moves everything back about another inch, we had to get the torch out to notch the trans mount holes in the crossmember.

also added some poly trans mount bushings while I had it apart, my old ones were rotting out.

The rear driveshaft was barely short enough on my reg cab, and i haven't hooked the front driveshaft up or even tried to but I've heard it may be too short.

I used my stock cooler lines, and pulled the shifter linakage and tv cable piece off my 518 and put it on the rh.
Wired up my lockup switch on the trans and boy does it move now. Night and day difference between this 47rh and the ol 518. I can lock it up 2nd through OD and it pulls extremely hard when I lock it up if I have my boost/rpms up. I'm super happy with the swap and would recommend it to anyone.

All you need is:
2nd gen starter
2nd gen adapter plate
2nd gen flexplate
47rh transmission (94-95 auto trans)
a little patience, and something to cut a notch in the crossmember.

I used advice and the previous threads on converting to a 47rh in the stickys and found them helpful, but its fairly straight forward.

I'm really curious what my dyno numbers are now or what they will be after I get a bigger turbo, injectors, and my 14mm pump I just finished building on. Its crazy how big of a difference this trans really made, I now believe why people say tranny work will make the biggest difference in these trucks.

 

Congrats! I bet it's a handful now. I remember riding in archer's truck with the sloppy 518 then he took me for a ride with the 47RH and the difference was incredible.

If i had to guess, I'd say he is having Precision make his converters. That's who most tranny shops use, and they sell a 3 disc converter for like $700 or something

 

Yea they are great. How do you have the lockup controlled?

 

The more I drive it the more I love it. The whole truck even sounds different now. I'm pushing 50 lbs out of the lil he351 now when it used to only get 40 with the ol trans. I don't think its a precision converter, it was $1200 and he said a local shop in salt lake I think builds them. He wouldn't tell me who though, he's pretty secretive.

For the lockup switch I just have a wire coming off the plug on the transmission to a switch mounted on my dash then to ground.

 

Hmmm how much hp will this hold up to?

 

did it make any difference with the rpm on the highway? I have 4:10 gears and curious if this will be a better option than replacing my gears.

 

Yes it would. Lock up basically is a clutch in the torque converter. Once engaged, it is like have a 5spd.

It will bring the highway rpms down quite a few hundred RPM depending on how sloppy your torque converter is now.

 

good to see you got it done-even better that it performs so well- now i really want a built a/t. are you gonna pull in logan ?

 

interesting... so maybe there is hope for my axles

 

he says it will easily hold over 800hp, then I'll need to upgrade intermediate and output shafts. So in other words, as long as I stick with the VE, I shouldn't ever outgrow this transmission haha

yes its night and day difference, I lock it up in overdrive while crusing down the highway and it will drop my rpms 300 or so. I'm hopin to see some better mileage once the excitement wears off, which it should.

Yes Terry it sure is a hoot now, let me know if you still want my ol 518, it was still goin when i pulled it and I was told by the guy that built this rh that all you gotta do is change the valve body and input shaft to make a lockup converter work with it so it'd basically be a 47rh if you wanted to go that route.

I need to find some time to get a video of the ol truck. A lot of people that rode in my truck before and have now ask if my lockup switch is my nos switch from the difference it made

 

i know that feeling, once my third gen would lock up it would suddenly turn into a rocket!

 

And a reaction shaft, and a 2nd Gen adapter plate... A lot more to it than those 2 things.

 

Well yeah,everything that you still have to use to convert to a 47rh. I was just saying you can convert a 518 to a 47rh from what he said

 

Then your also lacking the better planitary set that the 47rh has. But it is good to know you can converft them to lock up trannies. I read somewhere it's not possible to make a 518 lockup. B.S.

 

HAHA! ask BC how thats working out . Seriously tho, sounds awesome, wish I`d have had the $$$ to go lockup when I did mine.