Cracked A518 OD housing

[lucky91]

Well I finally found the leak... I had to jack the truck up and inspect the transmission while running to notice fluid bubbling from a vertical crack in the flange of the overdrive housing on the passenger side. Apparently this is cause by the weight of the transfer case and insufficient support for which an upgrade is available.

I know nothing about transmissions.

I need to replace the housing and Im hoping the pros could tell me my options. I wouldnt mind throwing some money at the internal components, or buying a built OD unit outrite. Could/should the OD unit be upgraded soley while leaving the rest of the transmission stock?

The truck is a 91 W350 cab chassis that weighs 11,700 all the time. Pretty much stock with mild pump tweaks and planning to upgrade injectors/turbo eventually.

Thanks.

[cmann250]

I'm no pro, but I don't see why any 4wd O/D housing from a 518 (46RH) or a 47RH (618) wouldn't work. A 47RE or 48RE won't work as they won't accommodate a governor. The 47RH should have different internal parts in it that would allow more direct and O/D frictions which is an upgrade in my opinion.

While I believe that it is possible to slide the O/D section off while in the truck, it's a good time to rebuild the transmission. Especially at that weight, I think a trans rebuild with an aftermarket converter would make it feel like a different truck.

[DodgeFreak]

If you want to get by cheap slide the od housing off, with out pulling the trans. I done that to my cab and chassis. the OD gasket on the truck was one piece and the one i put in was two piece. so you just have to cut out the center on the one piece because there is a snap ring on the inside of the od piston retainer and it won't come out. As for upgrading, I'm really not sure, I've ran the single fiber discs (where only one side has fiber the other is steel) in the direct clutch pack, which work fine but not sure it was worth it.