THE Dodge Dynasty Website
Tranny Swaps
The 3.0 can take differnt trannys, including a 4-speed overdrive
automatic (the BAD A604), the 5-speed manual, and a 3-speed auto.
The A604 uses a TCM and requires specific electrical connections in
order to operate correctly (remeber, the A604 is computer-assist
shifting). However, the other two trannys lack such specifications and
can be swaped into the car.
Since no Dynasty came with a manual tranny, swaping the 5-speed on
the 3.0 would require finding a way to put a clutch pedal in and a
shifter.
For the most part, all of the tranny's are typically well made, with
the exception of the A604 which tends to have problems, but only
if/when it has not been kept up (debatiable, the differential pin
problems can occur under even the best kept conditions). Remeber,
Chrysler says in the owners manual that the A604 should have a filter
and fluid change every 15,000 miles if it is being used under hard
conditions (i.e. fleet service). So if your A604 goes bad and you have
high mileage and few or no filter changes, then it isn't entirely the
fault of the tranny design.
The easiest way to do a trans swap on a 3.0 car, is to get a parts
car with the trans you want, that way you can make sure everything is
setup correctly, in the case of a 5speed, you'll want a car with the
trans, shifter, etc all intact still. Considering how cheap it is to
obtain parts cars for these models, this should not be a major problem.
