46RE Rebuild Guide: Known Wear Points and Upgrades

The 46RE is an A518 — a 727 with an overdrive unit bolted on the back and an electronically controlled governor in place of the mechanical one. The hard parts are famously tough. ATRA's own assessment of the family is that the hard parts stand up to heavy abuse even with tuner kits adding horsepower and torque, and that the common area of concern is the valve body. That matches what comes across the bench: most 46REs arrive with a sound gear train and a unit full of wear that a banner kit does not touch.

So this is not a step-by-step teardown. It is a wear map — the specific things on a 46RE that are worn or cracked when you pull it apart, what each one causes, and the part numbers that actually fix them. If you order a master kit and put it back together without checking this list, you build in the comeback.

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Recommended 46RE parts

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46RE Valve Body 2002-Up (Push-In NS) - Sonnax Updated, Dyno-Tested

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46RE Remanufactured Complete Valve Body 1995-2003

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46RE Valve Body 2000-2001 - Sonnax Updated, Dyno-Tested

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Assess at Teardown, Not at Assembly

ATRA makes this point directly in their RE valve body write-up and it applies to the whole unit: assessing at the teardown stage prepares you for the worst case, where you are better off sourcing a different core than repairing the one on the bench. A 46RE that has already been through two overhauls can have a valve body with four worn bores, a scored reverse drum, and a cracked retainer. Individually each has a fix. Added up, they cost more than a good used unit.

Lay the parts out in the order they came off and inspect in the order below. Everything here assumes the unit is apart and clean.

1. The Overdrive Piston Retainer and the Lube Circuit

This is the failure that kills the back half of a 46RE and gets misdiagnosed as a bad planet. The overdrive piston retainer (the rear support) has to seal against the case and pilot the intermediate shaft. Sonnax states plainly that many OE supports in 46RH/RE, 47RH/RE and 48RE units do not seal well against the case, which reduces lube flow to the gear train and consumes pump volume. Excessive clearance between the retainer and the intermediate shaft does the same thing.

What you find downstream of that is burnt overdrive planet pinions, a scored reverse drum, a failed overdrive roller clutch, and bearing noise — all of it lube starvation, none of it the planet's fault. Sonnax lists the symptom set for its retainer kits as loss of lubrication oil to the planetaries and reverse drum, retainer and planet failure.

Part	Sonnax No.	When to use it
Piston Retainer Kit	22754N-01K	Standard diameter. Drum bore is good.
Oversized Piston Retainer Kit	22754N-02K	Damaged drum. Requires turning the drum I.D. on a lathe.
Oversized Overdrive Sprag Pilot Bushing	12509-01	'88-later. Cures OD roller clutch failure; fixes housings where aftermarket bushings fit poorly.
Inner Overdrive Bearing	12738	2.168" I.D. x 3.218" O.D. x 0.190" wide, enclosed.

The oversized kit is the one that saves an otherwise scrap reverse drum: Sonnax's design uses two sets of repositioned I.D. and O.D. grooves at the key load areas to improve oil delivery, plus an O-ring that seals the support to the case. If you have a drum with a wear ring you can catch with a fingernail, that is a lathe job plus 22754N-02K, not a clean-it-up-and-send-it.

2. The Forward (Rear) Clutch Retainer Cracks

OE forward clutch retainers in the 46RH/RE, 47RH/RE and 48RE are cast, and per Transmission Digest they commonly fail from cracks and wear — especially in applications with increased power or towing loads. That describes most 46REs behind a 5.9 in a Ram, or a Durango that has spent its life pulling a trailer.

Inspect the retainer with the clutches out, under good light, at the base of the drum and around the snap ring groove. Hairline cracks there make it a scrap part, not a polish-and-reuse part. The OE number is 52854149AA. Sonnax's replacement, 22554-HD, is machined from 4140 steel rather than cast, is a direct swap for that OE number, and can also be fitted to older applications.

If the truck tows or has any kind of tune on it, this is the one upgrade I would not skip. A cracked retainer takes the forward clutch with it, and by the time it does, you are pulling the unit again on your own dime.

3. The Direct Clutch Drum Inner Seal Groove

Here is a defect that looks like a clutch problem and is really a machining problem. Transmission Digest reported that on 1989-and-later A518, 46RE and 47RE units, some direct clutch drums had the inner seal groove cut too deeply. The lip seal gets swallowed into the groove, the drum will not retain fluid, and the complaint that shows up is a late or no shift into third under varying temperature conditions, often paired with a delayed engagement into reverse when the unit is hot.

The fix is not a thicker clutch pack. It is a lip seal with a wider radial base that will not disappear into the deep groove — TransTec/Freudenberg-NOK and Precision International both produce one. Polish the drum in the outer lip seal contact area and replace that seal at the same time. Sonnax also lists a Viton rear (forward) clutch inner lip seal, 3647-01, at 0.180" height and 0.515" width for the forward drum, which cures delayed forward, delayed engagement and burnt forward clutch complaints from the same root cause: a seal that will not stay put.

Measure the groove depth on the direct drum before you assume the seals were simply worn out. If the groove is deep, standard-base seals will fail again no matter how good the rest of the build is.

4. Servos, Bands and the Kickdown Band Strut

The RE family breaks band struts. Sonnax's Sure Cure kit for the 46RE/47RE explicitly lists kickdown band strut breakage among the chronic issues it addresses, and ships a kickdown band strut in the kit for that reason. There is also an extended-length strut, 22900-10, that is 0.100" longer than OE and is aimed at no-reverse and soft-reverse complaints where the band has run out of adjustment.

Component	Sonnax No.	Complaint it addresses
Front Servo Piston Cover Kit	22827-01	2-3 long slide, direct clutch failure
Heavy Duty Kickdown Band Strut	22825-01	Strut breakage under load
Extended Length Band Strut (+0.100")	22900-10	No reverse, soft reverse
Rear Servo Piston	22912 (22912B for '94–'96)	Burnt bands, no reverse, rear servo piston sticking or breaking
2nd Gear Super Hold Servo Kit	22301B-01K	Increased kickdown band apply area
Reverse Servo Piston Plug Kit	in SC-46-47RHE-OS	Reverse servo piston plug wear and breakage

Two practical notes. First, a broken rear servo piston or a worn reverse servo plug reads to a customer as "no reverse" and gets blamed on the rear band or the drum — check the servo bore and the plug before you condemn either. Second, band adjustment specs differ by model year and by band on this family. Pull the adjustment torque and back-off turns for your exact year out of the factory service manual for that application rather than a number you half-remember; getting the rear band wrong is how you burn a fresh band on the first road test.

5. End Play, Shims and Bushings

Excess total end play is a listed complaint on this unit for a reason: Sonnax notes there are not enough OE washers available to properly set end clearance, which is why they sell shim kits for it. If you are setting end play with whatever washers came out of the core, you are guessing.

• Overdrive Shim Kit 12783-01K — steel shims for setting overdrive-section clearance where the OE washer thicknesses run out.
• Rear Planet Endplay Shim 22700-Z — 0.010" thick, 2.520" I.D. x 3.406" O.D., six outer notches; fits both the 3-tang and 4-tang OE thrust washer designs. The Sure Cure kit ships two of them.
• Heavy Duty Planetary Rear Thrust Washer 22700ET-01 — PTFE-coated, 4-tab, 2.250" I.D. x 3.400" O.D. x 0.060" thick.
• Output Pilot Bushing 12510-01 — '90-later, steel-backed bimetal precision bushing, 0.601" shaft diameter, 0.746" housing bore, 0.480" length. Cures bushing wear and bushing failure.
• Bearing & Plate Kit 12860-01K — overdrive sungear to planet, for bearing noise and bearing failure.
• Case Repair Bearing 22556-BRG — hardened steel, 2.500" I.D. x 3.384" O.D. x 0.150", for a case worn in the output and planet area.

Set end play with the correct shims and write the number down. On a unit where the reverse drum was turned for an oversized retainer, re-check it — the machining changes the stack.

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6. The Valve Body: Four Bores Do Most of the Damage

ATRA's framing of the RE valve body is the correct mental model: the valve body is the nerve center of these units, there are no hydraulic control circuits outside of it, and pressure, converter charge, converter clutch control, lubrication and cooling all depend on its health. On top of that, the RE units were engineered without valve body gaskets, so they have what ATRA calls a natural, built-in calibrated leak.

ATRA identifies four bores that wear the most:

1. Throttle valve. The classic tell is a 46RE with a throttle cable you cannot dial in — loosen it and you are in third at 25 mph with no kickdown, tighten it slightly and the 1-2 holds out to 25 mph. That is throttle control oil leaking past a worn bore. Sonnax addresses it with 22771-03K, or oversized 22771-04K with tool F-22771-TL.
2. Governor plugs. The 1-2 and 2-3 governor plugs get tested together. Wear gives you a 1-2 shuttle, an oversensitive 2-3 and 3-2, early upshifts, and difficulty adjusting shift timing with the TV linkage. Sonnax Governor Bore Plug Kit 22771-14K.
3. Switch valve. ATRA's position is that past 100k miles all bets are off on the factory 4-spool switch valve, and that the spring end of the valve may be worn or mushroomed. Symptoms: overheated converter, lockup shudder, TCC applying at idle, TCC slipping or no apply, low cooler flow. Sonnax 22771A-01 (improved design, '93-later), OE-design 22771A-43, or oversized 22771A-13 with tool 22771A-TL13.
4. Line pressure plug and sleeve. ATRA calls this one easily overlooked and says to make pulling and inspecting it part of the teardown routine. Wear produces delayed engagement, reverse slip, poor converter and cooler charge, soft or slipping TCC apply, and unstable line pressure. Sonnax 22229-01K for the 0.200" plug diameter, 22229-04K for the 0.264".

Two more bores are worth vacuum testing while you are in there: the pressure regulator valve (delayed engagement, PR buzz, converter drain-back, lube failures, converter bushing failure — 22771A-02K, or oversized 22771A-07K with tool F-22771A-TL7) and the lockup boost valve ('94-later with the boost oil delivery tube — TCC slip under load, no line rise on TCC apply in 4th, loss of lube oil, TCC cycling, high line pressure with no indication of boost — 22771-19K).

Sonnax's free vacuum test guide for the 46RE/46RH/47RE/47RH shows every one of these test locations on both halves of the valve body along with the OE exploded views. The upper valve body numbering runs 101 (2-3 shift valve) through 114 (2-3 governor plug), including 106 lockup boost valve, 108 4-spool switch valve, 109 pressure regulator valve and 111 manual valve. The lower body is 201 through 205: 3-4 quick fill, 3-4 timing, 3-4 shift, torque converter clutch apply and torque converter clutch timing valves. Print it and keep it on the bench.

On the test itself, Sonnax's guidance is that shops should record readings, calculate an average for each bore, and set their own minimum pass/fail standard based on their customers and warranty requirements rather than chasing one universal number. That is honest advice. What matters is that a low reading on a bore is quantitative, repeatable evidence of wear — not a judgment call about how loose a valve feels between your fingers.

Flat sand every surface

ATRA's closing recommendation on the RE valve body is one of the cheapest improvements on the whole build: flat sand every flat surface on the valve body — truing stones, or 600-grit wet-and-dry on a piece of glass. Since the unit runs without valve body gaskets, the flatness of those mating faces is the seal. It makes a real difference in overall pressure management and it costs you twenty minutes.

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Which Upgrades Actually Earn Their Place

You can spend unlimited money on an RE. These are the ones that pay for themselves on a street or tow truck:

Upgrade	Sonnax No.	Why
Heavy Duty Forward (Rear) Clutch Retainer	22554-HD	4140 steel replaces the cast OE 52854149AA that cracks under towing and added torque
Heavy Duty Input Shaft	22121B-01	1994-later units with the 1.245" sealing ring
Reinforced Front Clutch Piston	22965A-01	Front clutch piston strength
Sure Cure Kit	SC-46-47RHE-OS	Seals the main line, converter clutch, throttle and lube circuits in one package
Shift Lever Case Bore Repair Sleeve	22179-02	Leaking manual shaft case seal, a common oil leak on high-mile cases
Heavy Duty Throttle Valve Kit	22771-HDK3	Fits all Chrysler RWD models, including '05-later units with motorized linkage

On the Sure Cure kit specifically: Sonnax describes it as targeting the root cause of multiple concerns by sealing critical circuit pressure losses in the valve body, with many valve components oversized to address significant wear from high mileage — which is why it calls for tool kits 22771A-TL13, 22771-TL12, F-22771A-TL7, F-22771-TL and VB-FIX. Beyond valves, the kit includes updated hard parts for unit end play, 2-3 shift complaints, direct clutch failure, kickdown band strut breakage and reverse complaints. Contents include the lube regulated pressure regulator valve, 4-spool switch valve, manual valve, throttle valve kit, boost valve spring retainer, ten checkballs, front servo piston cover kit, kickdown band strut, reverse servo piston plug kit, line pressure plug and sleeve kit, detent ball and sleeve kit, intermediate shaft pilot and end plug kit, output pilot bushing, two rear planet end play shims, 3-4 accumulator spring and piston seals, and two turbine shaft seals.

If you are not buying the whole kit, buy the tooling for the bores you actually intend to ream. Oversized valves without the matching reamer kit are scrap.

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Fluid and Final Assembly

The 46RE takes ATF+4, Chrysler material standard MS-9602. Chrysler moved from Dexron to type 7176 and then type 9602 — ATF+3 and then ATF+4 — specifically because the friction requirements changed. As Transmission Digest puts it, if an incorrect fluid is used the outcome can be disastrous: the unit may shift and lock up acceptably at first, then apply progressively worse to the point of failure, and the failure then gets blamed on something else. On an RE, where the converter clutch and both bands lean on the fluid's friction modifiers, a generic multi-vehicle ATF will produce a lockup shudder that no amount of valve body work will cure.

Fill capacity varies by application and by whether the converter and cooler were drained, so take that number from the factory service manual for the specific vehicle rather than a forum post. Check level hot, engine idling, in Park, on level ground — and flush or replace the cooler before the unit goes back in. Every wear point above puts debris into the cooler circuit, and a cooler you did not clean is the fastest way to kill a fresh build.

Before it leaves: verify line pressure with a gauge, confirm the band adjustments against the manual for that year, and record the end play you set. Those three numbers are your defense if it ever comes back.

Related reading: our 46RE / 47RE / 48RE family guide covers applications and failure history across the family, 47RE harsh or delayed shifts walks the pressure diagnosis before you pull the unit, and valve body cleaning and inspection covers the bench procedure in detail.