Ok, I did something rather stupid to the dodge in my sig and broke the park pin off in the transmission. Now the shifter won't come out of park and there is no park holding it. In addition the torque converter was already on it's way out.

I have been thinking of fixing it myself this winter, and am wondering how fixing the park and replacing the torque converter would compare to swapping in a manual labour and price wise.

I also dislike automatics and the lack of overdrive in this transmission is a pain, which give added weight to my thought of putting a manual in.

Any thoughts you guys have would be appreciated.

 

I think it depends on whether or not you can do the tranny swap yourself and can find a donor truck. There's lots of miscellaneous bits you're going to need (pedals, brackets, etc.) that would be a RPITA to round up seperately, but if you could find a wreck to scavenge from would be easy to get. As far as cost, if you're comparing swapping it yourself to having a shop redo your 727, I think it'll be a wash if you don't count your time. If you're doing it all yourself, the auto will be cheaper by a bunch. The other thing to consider is how bad you need the truck. If you rely on this truck to get you around, you can't have it laid up while you chase parts for the swap.

 

I would rebuild the 727, it will be dimes to a dollars cheaper than fooling with the conversion, unless you get a good donor truck for mighty cheap. Go to http://www.dieseltrans.com/ and price their upgraded friction rebuild kit. The 727 is pretty easy to work on, and a reasonably skilled home mechanic can do the rebuild if they take their time and are very careful about dirt. A beefed 727 is also much tougher than the 5 speed Getrag! I used a 727 behind a 426 hemi fueler for years, and loved it, you would never do that with a Getrag!

 

Yep, what RCW said, if you want to take it a little further, two or three enlarged holes in the VB plate and you have some nice tight shifts also.

 

I would fix the 727 it would be cheaper. The 727 is a good trans, and when beefed up can take a lot. The weak link would be the torque converter. The stock one's are not very good if you BOMB the truck much, or tow heavy a lot. Good aftermarket converters are not cheap.

Paul

 

I am considering either job as a winter project. The truck is just a backup so there is no rush to get it back and working. (I actually wrecked it in august '02, and it has just been parked since then. On a side note, when I went to start it this fall to tow it out of the way, it started right up without boosting the battery or anything, even though it had sat untouched for over a year. )

I agree that the Getrag leaves something to be desired. (back in the mid 90s we had a 92 dodge CTD 5 speed. It was an awesome truck, except that the OD went out twice in the two years that we owned it.) I was actually thinking about putting in a ZF 4500 or NV 4500.

I might do better, though, to just keep things simple(er) and fix the transmission that it has.

The truck will only do moderate towing, but it has a 11' 6" steel deck which I think was made by the previous owner (it was a welding truck). He built it like a brick ####house. It also has a steel 145 galon fuel tank and tool box bolted on the back, so it is a fairly heavy beast on its own. (It sits permanantly on the overloads)

What is a VB plate?

 

VB plate is the thin steel plate that bolts between the two halfs of the valve body and is between the lower half and the trans case. It meters some oil passages which can be opened up for faster flow.

 

Thanks for the explanation.