Rebuilding my 32RH transmission (fully successfully)

I'm generally slow to react on stuff like that, and in this case I knew literally all we did was tighten the valve body bolts and re-install the filter so the list of things it could've been inside the trans was pretty small. Was guessing I hadn't built up fluid pressure yet although I knew that wasn't true. Lies you tell yourself to keep from hurting things, for $500, Alex.

Now when I walked out the other day and found that puddle of fluid under the jeep on my rich friend's driveway....in the heat of the moment I told my wife I was selling it. And then even more annoyed that I just didn't tighten the stupid drain plug.

please let us know if you find any tricks for cleaning ATF off a driveway. I'm already gonna epoxy my garage floor but I'm tempted to seal my driveway before I move in.
 
please let us know if you find any tricks for cleaning ATF off a driveway. I'm already gonna epoxy my garage floor but I'm tempted to seal my driveway before I move in.

borax and/or other laundry detergent + power washer did a pretty good job on the street & driveway. Not perfect, at least not after one iteration anyway. My wife keeps saying we should epoxy the garage but (a) I'm cheap and (b) I'm even more lazy. I don't want to empty the garage out. But after the amount I've spilled on the floor, I wish I had done it.
 
borax and/or other laundry detergent + power washer did a pretty good job on the street & driveway. Not perfect, at least not after one iteration anyway. My wife keeps saying we should epoxy the garage but (a) I'm cheap and (b) I'm even more lazy. I don't want to empty the garage out. But after the amount I've spilled on the floor, I wish I had done it.

I've told myself I would epoxy the floors in the last 3 houses I've owned and haven't done it for precisely that reason. Moving ends up such a cluster that I don't have time to do it, and once I'm moved in there's a massive amount of stuff to move. I'm really gonna do it this time...before I move in.
 
Drove out to XJ buddy's house to start the install on his trans. It was 100F outside, and it's a good 20 minute drive. Some stretches of 50-65mph with a couple stoplights, including one light at the very end of the trip that usually takes 2-3 cycles to get through. Trans was a shade over 180 most of the way, got to 190 at that light but seemed to be holding.

The way home was a different story. It was only about 90 mins later so it hadn't really had time to get cool, I think it started off at around 160F. By the time I got to my house though it was at 205ish. One major difference is that heading home it was around 6pm and I was facing directly into the sun, vs the way there when the front of the jeep was essentially in the shade. So maybe that's a factor? I'm not trying to compete with the AZ crew, but that Texas sun is H-O-T y'all.

Also, it seems to be a trend that the last bit of every drive, which obviously ends through my neighborhood at low speed and then in my driveway, shows a fair amount of uptick in trans temperature. This time It was closing in on 220 when I turned it off. Engine temp was a shade over the usual 210 spot...I didn't think to put my reader on it to see but it could've been 220. So it's possible that the heat outside is not helping & the engine temp is bringing up the the trans temp, or maybe I have something causing excess heat inside the trans?

It sounds great, there is no slipping, lockup appears to be working. It's possible that the TV cable still isn't *perfect*, maybe its shifting a smidge too soon, so the engine might be lugging a little in the neighborhood, making it run hotter? We have a 3 day wheeling trip to Disney OK in 2 weeks....I don't want to have to think about an overheating trans. I'm gonna plumb the cooler in this week regardless, which by all accounts should bring temps way down.
 
  • Like
Reactions: LarryTJ
Drove out to XJ buddy's house to start the install on his trans. It was 100F outside, and it's a good 20 minute drive. Some stretches of 50-65mph with a couple stoplights, including one light at the very end of the trip that usually takes 2-3 cycles to get through. Trans was a shade over 180 most of the way, got to 190 at that light but seemed to be holding.

The way home was a different story. It was only about 90 mins later so it hadn't really had time to get cool, I think it started off at around 160F. By the time I got to my house though it was at 205ish. One major difference is that heading home it was around 6pm and I was facing directly into the sun, vs the way there when the front of the jeep was essentially in the shade. So maybe that's a factor? I'm not trying to compete with the AZ crew, but that Texas sun is H-O-T y'all.

Also, it seems to be a trend that the last bit of every drive, which obviously ends through my neighborhood at low speed and then in my driveway, shows a fair amount of uptick in trans temperature. This time It was closing in on 220 when I turned it off. Engine temp was a shade over the usual 210 spot...I didn't think to put my reader on it to see but it could've been 220. So it's possible that the heat outside is not helping & the engine temp is bringing up the the trans temp, or maybe I have something causing excess heat inside the trans?

It sounds great, there is no slipping, lockup appears to be working. It's possible that the TV cable still isn't *perfect*, maybe its shifting a smidge too soon, so the engine might be lugging a little in the neighborhood, making it run hotter? We have a 3 day wheeling trip to Disney OK in 2 weeks....I don't want to have to think about an overheating trans. I'm gonna plumb the cooler in this week regardless, which by all accounts should bring temps way down.

Are you running a transmission cooler?

I was off roading a month ago and it was 85-90 (no wind) moving along 5-15 mpg and the 42RLE (138K Miles on it - not sure if any PO overhauled it) shifting not as smooth as usual so I suspect it was a little over heated. So I'm probably going to install one of these Derale 20561 tranny coolers.

 
Are you running a transmission cooler?

I was off roading a month ago and it was 85-90 (no wind) moving along 5-15 mpg and the 42RLE (138K Miles on it - not sure if any PO overhauled it) shifting not as smooth as usual so I suspect it was a little over heated. So I'm probably going to install one of these Derale 20561 tranny coolers.


I have a Hayden installed in front of my radiator, but it has not been plumbed in yet. My plan was to get back to normal operation and only then get the cooler into the mix, as a way of controlling variables. I plan to take it out for a longer trip, maybe an hour or so on the highway just to see how it reacts. Our trip is a 5hr drive and she's gonna get there under her own power so I need to be certain my transmission work is up to the task.
 
  • Like
Reactions: LarryTJ
Hopefully you have it all on video to share with other in the future.


I completely forgot that I did video much of the reassembly process. It's my 10yr old boy doing the filming, and unfortunately my narration is only slightly better than the camerawork. I kept the videos to 6-7min each so they're pretty well focused on a specific assembly. I shared the valve body videos elsewhere in this thread or maybe the How To subform. These are just the major assemblies going back together. I missed lots of steps, but much of it is easily found elsewhere, like how to get the clutch packs out of the drums & reinstall. I wish I had video of the servo installs, but I captured that in photos earlier in this thread.

Drivetrain disassembly done in record time (ok probably not a world record but still)


Re-assembly:

Overrun clutch, low/reverse drum & band, planetary sets, driving shell


Clutches & front drum


Kickdown & low/reverse band setup


Valve body install


Looks like this is the last bit of video I captured, so no pump install and nothing from under the jeep. Sorry.
 
Seeing the thumbnail for Part 7 reminds me that my hard shift from N to D is because I have the accumulator piston in backwards. Mine didn't have the spring, which is a debated topic on the Mopar forums....lots of guys don't use the accumulator spring. But I bet most of them still put the piston in the right way. I'm gonna live with it as-is for a while, because I just can't drop that skid & reclaim the fluid one more time unless I absolutely have to.
 
  • Like
Reactions: freedom_in_4low
I completely forgot that I did video much of the reassembly process. It's my 10yr old boy doing the filming, and unfortunately my narration is only slightly better than the camerawork. I kept the videos to 6-7min each so they're pretty well focused on a specific assembly. I shared the valve body videos elsewhere in this thread or maybe the How To subform. These are just the major assemblies going back together. I missed lots of steps, but much of it is easily found elsewhere, like how to get the clutch packs out of the drums & reinstall. I wish I had video of the servo installs, but I captured that in photos earlier in this thread.

Drivetrain disassembly done in record time (ok probably not a world record but still)


Re-assembly:

Overrun clutch, low/reverse drum & band, planetary sets, driving shell


Clutches & front drum


Kickdown & low/reverse band setup


Valve body install


Looks like this is the last bit of video I captured, so no pump install and nothing from under the jeep. Sorry.

I thought your son did a great job filming, thanks for sharing! My son probably would have been entertaining himself filming everything else beside the transmission,
 
But I have no bung hole...
Here you go.

980134CB-25C7-471F-9412-3B7CDCCDBB57.png
 
Last time I drove it trans temp got up to nearly 220F, so I'm just gonna plumb it in and see where it puts me. Have a 5 drive up to Disney OK for a wheeling trip in 2 weeks so I need to know if it's gonna hold temp or what.

Meanwhile starting to close the book on the AW4 rebuild. I think I previously stated that we got it all back together, he got it mounted up over the weekend. The NSS has a very different mechanism with an external adjustment, but once he got that sorted it was smooth sailing. Ran great shifted great, kicked down great on the test drive. It does seems to have a small leak from the bell housing area, which I'm going to assume is the pump seal. I didn't make the mistake of not pre-lubing it up but some time passed between when we lubed it and when we mounted it, so maybe it ended up being dry after all. I see another seal replacement in our future, but that won't be the end of the world.

But the TL;DR here is that I took another transmission apart, overhauled it, and put it back together successfully. In completely unrelated news I'm going to tender my resignation to my boss later today and apply for a job at the local transmission shop. :)