48RE Performance Transmission Rebuild

This is a start to finish performance rebuild of a stock 48re transmission for a 2006 Dodge Ram 2500 Megacab Cummins.

It's going to take a couple weeks to complete in spare time in the evenings but the plan is to take pictures of many of the main components and upgrades during the build.

Step One: Tear-down and disassemble the whole transmission. The owner reported that this transmission had approx 120,000 miles of street use and abuse with an otherwise stock truck with the exception of a Bully Dog tuner set to extreme (for the best fuel economy) :hehe:


Fluid looks a little dark, I wonder what we'll find inside:





Removed the overdrive housing 7/16" bolts and lifted the complete overdrive assembly off from the main transmission case.





Removed the pan and take a look inside.... nasty scorched fluid!




Removed the two torx T-25 screws and removed the filter.



Picture of the line pressure adjustment screw and TV lever stop screw.



Before laying down the tranny, I unbolted the electronic TV controller (2) 1/2" bolts and the neutral safety switch (2) T-25 torx screws, and removed the shift lever (1) 1/2" pinch nut/bolt.

Next, lay the tranny on its back and prop the rear with a block of wood.



Remove the 7/16" valvebody bolts and lift the valvebody up off the main case using your other hand to help the shifter shaft and electronic connector to pull through the case and come up with the valvebody.



Valvebody





Place a rag or towel inside to front bell to help catch the 1/4 quart of fluid that will come out of the pump assembly during removal.



Remove the 1/2" bolts on the pump, then install a larger bolt on either side in the two holes with the larger tapped/threaded bore. Use a slide hammer or eyebolt and a hammer to work the pump forward out of the main case.





Grab the input shaft and lift/pull the shaft and hub assembly out of the main case.



Some scoring and wear on the 3rd gear direct drum from the worn 2nd gear band that rides on the outside of the drum.



100% smoked 2nd gear band, never seen on this bad! All of the clutch lining is gone, and metal rivets are even worn off!





I spoke too soon, this band is 99% gone, there is still a trace amount of clutch lining left. :hehe:

Normally the 3rd gear direct drum will easily lift off of the input shaft, this one is stuck for some reason.



This is not a magic trick, the drum should fall off when tipped like this.



Here's why, the 3rd gear clutch teeth have mysteriously worn through the input shaft hub. This destroyed input shaft is now a wall decoration.







Remove the drum, snap ring, and clutch pack assembly. Blued steel is great for gun barrels, not for clutch pack steel plates.





The friction lining is completely worn away on this 3rd gear clutch plate, in fact, the plate's inner steel core is worn through in places and several teeth are missing. I've never seen one quite this bad, ever!





Coned clutches are bad, bare metal is bad, this 3rd gear clutch pack is completely shot, no wonder the truck would barely move!



Moving back to the overdrive housing, remove the small diameter wire snap ring and the overdrive brake clutch pack.

This clutch is well worn and near failure as well, steel showing on the friction plate is not a good sign.







After removing the two lowest snap rings at the bottom of the clutch pack, (1) waved and (1) flat, remove the outer T-25 torx screws on the side of the OD case to access the retaining snap ring. Open the snap ring and remove the whole assembly. Next using a press or home-made contraption, compress the 820# spring and remove two snap rings to complete disassembly of the overdrive components.





This build will incorporate a billet output shaft so the stock shaft was removed.





All torn down:

Watching this

ouch

I really enjoy threads like this, but how on earth do you find time to take this many pictures and still get something done?

Sub'd

Sent from my SCH-I545 using Tapatalk 4

Subscribed!

Subscribed! Great step by step!

Damn that looks like diesel oil! Gonna enjoy this! Please give ample instruction on Extra friction use and set up! Amazing how tuff these tranny's really are! Down to steel eating hard parts and probably still moved! Putting a billet input I hope!

Nice

Interesting I have been through several TV motor 48RE's and the 2nd gear band has been shot. Rest of the trans looked ok....

zstroken said:

Interesting I have been through several TV motor 48RE's and the 2nd gear band has been shot. Rest of the trans looked ok....

Click to expand...

That is interesting the 06 48re I bought was the same way. Drum was also destroyed.

what kind of parts are you throwing into this bad boy?

I wonder how that thing even got that bad, the first time I tore into mine the truck wouldn't move at all and didn't look near that bad. Great pictures of the teardown.

Thanks for taking pics along the way. I know I have no patience to wipe my hands off and snap a pic every 10 minutes in a job like this :hehe:

Definitely going to be keeping an eye on this! Thanks :Cheer:

cmann250 said:

Thanks for taking pics along the way. I know I have no patience to wipe my hands off and snap a pic every 10 minutes in a job like this :hehe:

Click to expand...

THIS^^

I tried to do a trans "how to" but it takes forever unless you dont mind your camera/phone being covered in ATF. lol

That ones in pretty bad shape, I'd say they got their moneys worth out of it. :rockwoot:

Wow! Surprised it even moved.

Maybe someone should put a warning on the band adjustment thread!
"WARNING IF AFTER ADJUSTING FRONT BAND NO THREADS SHOW STOP AND TEAR DOWN TRANNY!"

I would not even think about tearing down with the trans on the floor.
I would tear it down on my tailgate before that...Pretty motivated though, and thanx for taking the time for the pictures, that has to be the worst part of this particular job.