I have a 96 Dodge Ram 2500 van with a very strong 5.2. Only has 110,000 on it, I used it to tow my racecar last weekend and the thing pulled like nothing, but on the way home the trans gasket started leaking slowly, it still had enough fluid in it so its not like I ran it out of fluid. So during the week I put a new trans gasket, and filter on it and put new trans fluid in it. I was headed to the track yesterday with it and it was pulling and running fine like it was last week, and then I took off from a stop sign, it shifted into second and then I heard like a slight rattle so I let off a little and then eased back into it and there was nothing, just revved, so I pulled over to the side of the road. There's no drive first or second. When I put it in drive there's nothing but I can hear stuff rattling around in the trans, but it still has reverse. Since I was about 20 miles from home I had my buddy come pull the van and trailer back home. We just took back roads going slow with the van in neutral and every once it in a while it would make loud noises coming from the trans and it would somewhat grab so it was slowing us down and then it would be fine then it would grab again, so now its definitely messed up. What could have went wrong for it to brake in the first place? There was absolutely no signs of the trans going before I left all I did was put a new trans gasket on and fluid.
So now I have to get a new trans for it. It had the 46RE trans in it. is that the only trans that will work, what other trans will work with the 5.2 motor, I don't know to much about trans so I need a little help on what trans would work. Also if there are different ones I can get, is there one that would be a little better for towing?