First time transmission rebuild.

Mkay, so, my father-in-laws tranny in his truck went kaput around, oh, three or four years ago. (Dodge ram, big suprise) and I've heard they can be rebuilt stronger for not too much. I've never rebuilt one, but I'm feeling like a challenge, so has anyone here ever rebuilt a ram truck transmission? I don't know exactly which one it is, but the truck is a 97 model, 2wd with the 5.2 liter.

His son is approaching driving age, and they can't really afford to buy another vehicle, this one is already here, already paid for (they bought it new) and is already pretty rough, so its perfect for a 16 year old kid (who really wants a DSM, trying to talk him out of it.)

If I can get this going, I plan to buy a sort of transmission building for dummies book or something of that nature. I've put the bottom end of an engine or two together, and I've seen transmissions taken apart, but doing it yourself is a whole nother task.

As for my skill level, I'm a DIY'r who worked in Monster trucks for a little bit, and went to UTI for 4 months before I had to drop out, I'm no master tech, but I think I could pull this off.

The specialty tools are what kill you. Now, a 46re isn't hard to rebuild, but you need a foot or vise mounted spring press to get the springs and pistons out of the drums to put in new seals, plus some specialty pliers.

I basically rebuilt a 727 in my garage, plus some washer and foot press time while at work. I think I had $150 in it, including one master kit less steels, one paper and rubber kit (different year break), and a valve body.

Now, the OD unit is a bugger. Chrysler used some funky ideas putting it together to reuse what they already had been producing.