Well I found a pretty amazing deal on a '89 Dakota 4x4, its a 3.9 w/ an auto trans. The owner says he was driving it and sometimes it wouldnt go into gear, he would have to shift back and forth through the gears to get it to take off. Well that only worked for him for a few days and it just stopped driving. I only saw the truck for just a few seconds and didnt have a chance to go through it all but he said he would take 100$ for it if I took it away soon so he had a place for his new truck. I figured even though I havent been able to tell exactly what it will take to fix it, it was worth at least a hundred bucks! I think the guy probably never checked the trans fluid and had been running it low, or it may have even gone down to empty. A high mileage used transmission is around 500$, to have the one in it rebuilt will be 475$ if i remove it and put it back in the truck myself. Just a rebuild kit for it is around 70$. I have a friend who has rebuilt a few transmissions before but never from a dodge. I would like to repair the truck for as cheap as possible because its just going to be used to haul wood, feed, and some other things around the farm.

So has anyone here ever rebuilt an A500 and have any tips for me?

Is there another transmission I can swap in that would be cheaper to buy than 500$?

Does the 6 cylinder have enough power to turn a little bit bigger of tires easily, such as some 31"s, or would I need to change the gearing?

Thanks for any help you might be able to give me! I tried searching for my answers but most of the replies I saw were just people posting trans rebuild manuals and I'm more looking for opinions of my options.

 

Not a bad deal. Yes check fluid level. Also it may be the shift linkage.
Yes the V6 can handle 31's.
Yes we do have the manual and that will give you everything you need to know about the rebuild.
The same transmission is going to be the cheepiest. You can try www.craigslist.org

 

do you know if it's a sport? if it is it probably will have 3.90 gears and handle the 31's with ease. if not you should still not have a problem.
you might want to think about lifting it 2 inches by turning up the torsion bars at the front and putting add-a-leafs on the rear to have good clearance for the tires. the added bonus is with the ad-a-leaf you can haul a heavier load.

 

I don't know if it is a sport or not, it doesn't say it is anywhere on the truck but I think its been repainted at some point so I have no clue, I'm going to try to pick it up tonight so I should have a little better of an idea of what it is, and whats wrong with it.

How tough are the A500 transmissions?

What year dakotas have the same transmissions? I was told at a salvage yard only 88-89 had the A500 and thats why they wanted so much for a used one. They said the A500s were hard to find.

I plan to crank the bars and put some left over 2" blocks i have on the back. I also have some 3" body lift blocks so later im going to slap those on also. I just need to pull one of the body bolts and find some longer ones.

It should turn out to be a pretty good DD/Beater so I can keep my other truck clean.

 

just my opinion but your better of adding leafs over the blocks. if it is a sport the rear leafs are pretty soft, think they went for a soft smooth ride over hauling on them or mine just might have been worn. either way extra leafs will allow you to haul a heavier load and unloaded it will stick to the road like glue around turns. the ride is not much different with them in (not rough).
as for the tranny the dodge 3 speed torqueflite was the best ever made, when they put O.D. in it it became pretty soft, your better off with a rebuild because you don't know what your getting at a junk yard.

 

Well I went to pick the truck up today and it runs good, and drove good for the first few miles and then the transmission just stopped hooking up in any gear. I was able to get it to drive again across the parking lot and when I stopped and put it in park I never could get it back in gear, it wouldnt even shift out of park, I had to take it out at the transfer case.

What would cause this? It seems like as soon as the trans warmed up and I took it out of gear it was a real pain to get it to do anything again.

I'm planning on rebuilding the whole thing but do I need to rebuild the overdrive unit? I'm not planning on ever needing overdrive and I heard there was a special tool needed for it so I wondered if I could get by without doing it.

 

Sounds like the shift linkage is miss adjusted.

 

That was also my first thought, I crawled underneath it and it looked to be shifting through all of the gears but from inside it just doesnt feel right at all. It is nearly impossible to tell what gear you are in and neutral seems to be mid way between where it should be and drive.

Whats the best way to adjust it? Just take it all loose and put it in park on both ends and retighten?

 

I'm thinking my linkage is also miss adjusted cause nutral is also bbetween where drive and netural is and it also won't shift into first

 

Well I've ruled out the shift linkage pretty much. I started the truck today and wanted to try to get it to shift into gear so i could pull it into my shop easier and I held the rpms up about 2500 and then let off and it just took off like normal. Obviously it is just slipping that bad that it seems like it isnt in gear but it seems really odd to me that all of a sudden sometimes it will just start going fine.