I have read many of the posts on year useage. I came up with a 46re from a 2002 dodge van 5.2 for my 2001 2500 5.9 Drove the van it is in and it seems to act right.
Does not have an id tag on it. These are the pictures I was sent. Is it a go? I'm a bit blind, see id tag behind lines.

 

If your truck is rear wheel drive, trans should work fine. If your truck is a 4x4, it won't work.

 

If the truck is a 4wd, wont the 2wd transmission work if you swap the overdrive (housing and all) and use the one of the 4wd, right? ...or if the overdrive on his original transmission is toast, can pick those up for reasonable money or have his rebuilt for not a lot of money... Heck, I have a spare 4x4 overdrive unit sitting here that was working when I pulled it out. Am I missing something?

 

I do believe you are correct. The housing on the O/D unit is essentially the only difference between 2 and 4 wheel drive transmissions. I am just real reluctant to put an O/D unit from a failed trans, onto another one, without rebuilding it first.

 

It appears that the 2002 trans has a different neutral switch set up as well as brackets. 2001 first one shown. And wiring. The 2002 is last pic shown.
Can the earlier neutral safety switch be swapped in?

 

affdesco suggested the sonax kit http://www.sonnax.com/parts/1821 to switch neutral saftey switches over.
any other gremlins to be ware of?

can the miller tool 8581 useage be worked around? how to get it apart without one?

 

This is one long slog. I installed the sonnex adapter kit, for the 3 pin neutral safety switch.

I went to start the truck. no starter noise. Starter does operate.

The neutral saftey switch provides a path for the reverse lights, which work, but no ground for the starting circuit.

Take a known good ground, plug it into the center of the female plug for the saftey switch, and see if it spins?

Is there more than one neutral safety switch that is 3 prong?

 

It appears that my failure to do so has resulted in the neutral saftey switch being inoperative. The rooster comb has to be changed as well as the valve body to work with the sonnex kit, according to a post by master tech.

 

So now that I have swapped rooster combs to mate with the three prong NSS I managed to get the reverse rod out of alignment. I cannot shift the lever past drive. Is there a trick to aligning the reverse rod?.