I bought a 98 4x4 ram about a month ago. The first thing I do when I buy a vehicle is a complete fluid change. I found a broken up ring about 5" in diameter on the magnet in the transmission pan. Also the trans fluid was dark brown and burnt. What can it be from?

 

LOKKS LIKE THE O/D DIRECT WAVED SNAP RING DOES YOUR OD WORK FIX IT BEFORE YOU LOSE YOUR OD SECTION. sorry for the caps work requires caps

 

Is that something I can do with it still in truck? If so how? Is there a write up? Shifts perfectly.

 

congrats that is working fine thats odd but it WILL destroy the unit. No it needs to be pulled i would take it to a rep shop and have it done.

 

WOW, ive never seen on that bad before. Sorry bud your trans needs to come out, you will be losing o/d shortly if you havent already.

 

I've seen that ring in both my 46RE pans, and both 46REs were toast.

 

Def the OD direct clutch wave snap ring. Month ago same thing happened to me. You can do just ring without pulling whole trans. You remove transfer case then remove OD extension housing. My torque converter was shot so I went with a full rebuild. PATC trans. shop says that ring always breaks and they offer a stronger one for 3 dollars.

 

So I can just replace that ring by removing the extension housing?? MonteC says it has to come out. The guy I bought it from says it has 30000miles on rebuild (believe him or not I dont know)
MonteC what you think?

 

Pay the man now, or pay the man later. Its your choice. Pull the inspection cover and see if the converter was replaced if so then you can probably get by with just pulling the o/d housing. If it has the stock converter just pull the trans and go through it.

 

When you pull it, I would add a clutch and steel and toss the wave snap ring. You have to have a specific clearance,which I can't remember at the moment,but that's how mine is after I did the PATC package. It gives you a firmer shift,and less clutch wear and no wave ring to break.

If you have the tail housing off,I would upgrade the direct drive clutch and steel pack, along with the spring and OD clutch and steels.