My 47RE in my 2001 Ram lasted 129k miles & then started making a growling/whirring noise when in OD. I pulled the OD & tore it down & found that the plastic roller separator in the big rear bearing had come out & was flopping around in the case. Since I had it apart, I rebuilt it using all new bearings, thrusts, bushings Alto power pack clutches, etc. The end clearance was checked & within spec.

All was fine.

Flash forward to 158K miles, growling noises again. Pulled the OD, removed the guts from the case & found one of the large rear bearing snap ring ears broken off, the plastic ball separators to both the big main bearing & the rear 207 bearing completely out of the bearings. ***** migrating freely around the races. No apparent damage or trash anywhere.

What could be causing this? I noticed when I pulled the OD that the intermediate shaft in the main trans moves freely in & out about 1/4 inch, is this normal? Is something in the main trans causing this failure?

Do I need to tighten up the OD to minimum end-play?

I am running a Transgo shift kit & my engine has been remapped using a Hypertech programmer set on Stage 3, maybe 535-550 lbs torque.

I'd like to find some bearings with steel separators but I need to solve the cause of this problem first.

On the same subject, is there a metal-caged bearing that interchanges with the plastic caged BB1-1022 bearing in the overdrive? A 6014 appears to be the same size but is there something special about the OEM bearing?

 

Is there any signs of heat? Driveshaft balance?

 

No heat issues, output bushing and u-joints replaced when I rebuilt OD first time. Thanks for the input.

 

Does the yoke slip as it should or is there some binding?
Also, did you check the planetary in the OD unit and the overrunning clutch?
The snap ring ears being broken off sound like you manage to **** the output shaft out of alignment or to push it in a good distance. Maybe you can see some marks on the case where the snap ring ears got to and get some hints out of this.
Do you have the factory service manual?

HTH

AlpineRAM

 

Yoke/u-joints are fine, yoke moves freely. I checked planet & replaced all of the bushings/thrusts/clutches at 129k the first time it did this, all were fine then. I have the tools, I can tear it completely down again. Snap ring did not move out of the case groove. yes I do have factory manual. thanks

I'm beginning to think that the "hit" when the converter locks may be stressing things when I'm at max torque. The higher line pressure of transgo kit seems to result in a pretty brutal converter lockup unless I "pedal" it at 45mph.

 

Further inspection revealed that the bearing installed in case with snap ring can walk front to rear .034 cold. Bearing bore is loose enough cold that it can kock slightly when I wiggle it & it will only get worse when hot. looks like OD case is shot. probable combo of Tuner+shift kit+159K miles was too much for it.

Anyone know which OD cases interchange with this one?

 

OK just an update, got her on the road again. The folks at PATC have an .055 thick shim that fits behind the big bearing. Worked like a champ, took out all of the play between the case and the snap ring. Not cheap at $38, but a deal when compared $380 for a new case. Installing the shim moved everything forward .040, so I had to change the OD piston shim & the intermediate shaft spacer with thinner ones. I used Nachi 6014NR and MRC 207 Abec1 (metal separator) bearings to replace the cheesy "plastic" factory bearings, & changed the PR and accumulator springs back to stock. Shifts are nowhere near as firm, I'll check line pressure & see if I can bump it up a bit. Guess the trade-off is faster friction wear for less hammering of the hard-parts.