Finally received the transmission repairkit to start the planned rebuild of the A500/42RH transmission I had bought earlier.
The A500 (or also known as 42RH) transmission is based on Chrysler’s ‘904’-smallblock transmission. The A500 has an overdrive-unit added to its housing, and a stall convertor lock-up function. The overdrive increases the output-shaft of the transmission by 0.69.
In ’42RH’, the ‘H’ stands for Hydraulic operated, as opposed to the later transmissions, which are the 42RE type, where the ‘E’ stands for Electric. The Electric version is much more complicated and requires a electronic management unit to control the transmission and its shift-points.
Along with a TransGo TFOD-HD2 Reprogramming Repair-kit, I will be overhauling the transmission and use Alto Red clutch-plates and Kolene steel-plates in the build. I additionally ordered new drum bands and needle bearings.
Having only partly rebuilt a 727 transmission before, this will be a new experience of doing a full rebuild.
The previous owner mentioned me the transmission didn’t shift to 2nd gear.
After a quick check I noticed a very wide adjustment on a drum band, which mostlikely was the cause. But to rule out any other damage in the transmission I decided to go ahead with the rebuild and install updated parts in the process, since the transmission will be used behind the 11.3:1cr 360ci soon.
In the process of disassembling the transmission’s internals, until now I’ve only encountered a few very small burn-spots on some of the steels in a clutch pack.
The clutches themselves hardly show any wear and would by no means necessitate a rebuild.
