Ok guys thanks for the reply's i did buy the truck from a friend who is in the military so i do have some background on the truck. it is a plow truck and has 204000 on it and he said it had blown the transmission cooler lines that go to the radiator and i looked and yes they are broken but he had fixed them with ruber hose and clamps. also some other odd things that i had noticed is that there were a bunch of bottles of empty of half empty atf in the bed and cab which makes me think that he had been having problems with it for a while right? so i was told that it could be a torque converter problem so i rounded up a couple buddies and we dropped the transmission out and in the process we noticed a couple things.
1. when draining the pan there were roughly 4 quarts of atf that came out
2. there was a electrical connection or sensor of some sort that was not connected ( ya i know probly should have tried to plug it in before taking the tranny out my mistake didnt think much of it. not even sure there is a spot to plug it in)
3. about 2 quarts or so came out of the tranny itself (tail housing,and torque converter)
4. i marked the input shaft when it was out of the truck and put the torque converter back on and tried to spin it. now the converter spun but the input shaft didnt move at all.
Thank you guys for your patience with a teenager trying to do something that hes never done before i have complete faith that we will get this dodge back on the road once again before i leave for basic training at ft. sill oklahoma! (63b light wheeled vehicle mechanics!)

 

and yes i did pick up a haynes repair manual off ebay for like 5 bucks!

 

input shaft is turned by a turbine inside the t/c, that turbine is turned by fluid being pump thru it, by the outside part of the t/c. If there is no fluid, there is no connection, and the input shaft doesn't turn.

Sounds like you got the right amount of fluid out...... I don't think the additional electrical connector would have completely immobilized your truck though..... 1-3 are all hydraulically controlled.....

While you have it out, rebuild it.

 

I agree rebuild it and the electrical sensor had no effect but that was not nearly enough fluid. 6 quarts is about half of the total amount that should be in a tranny when fully drained.

 

Not sure he has it fully drained yet...... If he doesn't find much more though... that would definitely be a problem.

 

update: i put the torque converter back on because i wasnt sure if i had it seated on both sets of splines properly and it did spin the input shaft if that makes any difference. how much would it cost to rebuild it myself?what specialty tools would i need? i am definitly mechanically inclined but have never rebuilt a transmssion before? is it possible for me to do it myself?

 

Look in the faq section, at the transmission thread by J415. Lots of good links in there.

 

does anyone think that it would be worth it to get a used transmission from a junkyard to put into the very used truck? there is a chain of junkyards in my area called pull a part they sell parts for real cheap but you have to pull them out yourself. transmission with the t/c is $56 no way really to tell if it works or not kinda a gamble but you get a warranty on parts so if i doesnt work i can take it back and get another. any thoughts?

 

for 56 bucks? Hell YEAH! Go for it. Even if you have to pull a couple, it is more than worth it, and if you get to keep your dead one, you can rebuild it at your leisure, and then put a known good one in.

Where are you at?? I would LOVE another trans for 56 bucks.

 

im located outside of cleaveland in th country and there are 4 pull a parts in my area here is a link to there website which has all the locations in the us and the part pricing. i think the most expensive part is a 4x4 transfer case at about $90 really is a good deal. i take that back whole engines are around $130 only thing that matters is you gotta pull the part yourself. and i think you had a good idea maybe i will get a transmission from pull a part and rebuild mine at my liesure.

http://pullapart.com/