I have a 98 Durango slt 5.9 litre 4 wheel drive and the transmission is out. Is there any way to tell visually if another transmission will work. I found a transmission but unsure what it came out of and want to make sure it'll work for my needs

 

Without knowing what it came out of there is no way to look at the outside and determine the inside is the same. There must be casting numbers somewhere on the cases, start there and if you're lucky you can trace it back to something.

 

A Durango with a 5.9 only came with the 46RE. So you should need another 46RE. But yes check ID stamps.

 

There must be casting numbers somewhere on the cases

 

You can tell a 44re from a 46re by the shape of the pan. The 44re pan is pretty much just a square with a corner cut off. The 46 pan is almost the same, but has that goofy "appendage" in one corner.