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1993 chrysler town & country trans....fwd work in a awd????

7K views 10 replies 8 participants last post by  Special Edy 
#1 ·
Hello,
hew to the site. My tranny went in my 1993 chrsyler town and country AWD :nut: imagine that....lol. Ive heard from some people that you can put a FWD trans in there and the AWD unit will bolt up to it. Is this true or do i need an AWD tranny only?
thanks
kyle
central wisconsin
 
#2 ·
Not sure off the top of my head, but I do belive the AWD transmission has stronger internals to handle the additional load, but it's pretty much the same transmission aside from the extension housing.
 
#3 ·
Sounds about right to me, but the fwd transmission (41TE) will bolt right up, just won't be able to use the awd like the awd transmssion (41AE)
 
#4 ·
If the extension housing can just bolt up to adapt it, I would at least swap in the differential from the old trans to be certain that the front and rear gear ratios are the same. If the new trans came from anything other than a 3.8L or has ever been rebuilt, it may have different gears in it which would destroy the awd drivetrain.
 
#5 ·
The AWD diffs are very different than the FWD. The trans case is the same for AWD/FWD (MY to MY case diferences need to be taken into consideration). The transfer gears may have a different ratio rather than the diff, not sure where they got the different gearing for the smaller/larger engines. Pretty sure the internals were the same if the trans was for a V6, AWD or not. The 4 cyl may have some differences (lighter duty) depending on the Model Year built. You can convert to FWD only, just bolt in a FWD trans and get the correct pass side halfshaft.

Bottom line, if you want to keep AWD you need to at least change the diff if you find a FWD trans to put in. The transfer gearing difference wont affect the AWD, just the speedo and accel rate of the van.
 
#8 ·
The 3.3L has two differences from the 3.8L transmission.

The Transfer gearset in the driver side wheel well is different. The 3.3L uses a 47:49 tooth transfer gear, the 3.8L(FWD/AWD) uses a 46:50 tooth transfer gear

The differential final drive gearset is different. I believe the 3.8L FWD/AWD uses a 59 tooth ring gear and 17 tooth pinion gear. The 3.3L FWD uses a 60 tooth ring gear and 16 tooth pinion. The ring gear is easy to swap, the pinion/transfer gear sucks to swap because you need a special tool to remove the snap ring.
 
#9 ·
^^You got transfer gear ratios backwards, otherwise correct. 3.3 is geared lower (transfer gears) than the 3.8. There may or may not be different pinion/ring gear ratios depending on year. I was writing them all down once somewhere, and my notes are lost in a pile.

Another difference is what years are we talking about? Because the range sensor plug changed between early and later transmissions (pin vs. blade type terminals) inside the bulk connector. I would guess that would be between 2003 and 2004, when the major wiring and computers changed. To change the range sensor, you have to tear the transmission apart (drop pan, valve body/springs/balls/confusion! and shift shaft, then range sensor). Might be easier to cut/splice wires with proper soldering and shrink tubing to add the corresponding plug to the van's harness?

The 3.3 trans would give you some acceleration, allowing you to run larger tires to compensate if you wished. The shuddering could just be old fluid needing to be changed. I'd do a few transmission fluid changes/pan drop and filter first before condemning the transmission. Mine will shudder sometimes in reverse up my driveway if I go too slow, so I roll back down and try it again with more speed/throttle and brake. Then it's okay.

Don't neglect changing the other AWD fluids while you're at it. The PTU takes about a quart of gear oil, and needs to be pumped out of the fill hole and refilled. Because of the hassle of pumping out/refilling, it is often overlooked and the reason PTU's fail.
 
#10 ·
Is the 3.8L transfer gear just the 2.0L Cloud Car gearset backwards?
I just pulled a transfer gearset out of a 2.0L Plymouth Breeze, it has a 46 tooth on the transmission output and a 50 tooth on the differential pinion transfer shaft.
If the 3.3L gearset is 47/49, then is the 3.8L just the 50/46?
60245


The differential Ring and pinion are definitely different. All 41TE have a 16 tooth pinion turning a 60 tooth ring gear, except the 41AE and 3.8L 41TE have a 17 tooth pinion turning a 56 tooth ring gear?

I've thought about it more, and I'm not sure it matters for AWD. Since the AWD is fed off the differential carrier, it probably doesn't matter what the ring and pinion gearset is...
60246

EGH is 3.8L, EGA is 3.3L

60247
 
#11 ·
I found this nifty chart. Not sure which particular platform it's for, but it is for our 41TE transmission.
So many gear combinations...

60258
 
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