I own a transmission shop that does a lot of work on pickup transmissions. A lot of these guys are giving you great advice.
Id stay away from the remans. The ones that are built right with the right HD updates are way over priced. Mopar remans aren't built well and are also way too expensive. All will have a good warranty on paper, but may not in reality.
Find a reputable shop in your area and take the whole truck there.
The way a 48RE works is mechanically identical to how the 47RE/H, 46RE/H, 42RE/H have worked. The 48RE has more clutch capacity and heavier planetary sets. They are all 3 spd transmissions that are virtually identical to the old torqueflights of the 60s-80s. Dodge built an overdrive unit in the tailhousing behind them that simply runs in direct in 1-3, then overdrives a planetary for 4th. This really is a solid theory. They also added a lockup torque converter.
This is almost always where the trouble starts. Your converter charge oil and lube oil are the same oil circuit. When a converter clutch starts to fail, it piles the cooler full of clutch debris, then the chain reaction meltdown is on.
The biggest mistake I see in here is a guy puts a different transmission in his truck, runs a little bit of gas, solvent, air or whatever through the cooler lines and calls it good. a lot of dealerships even do it this way. Unless you have some form of a hot flushing system and can verify cooler flow, you need to replace the radiator and cooler with the transmission. If that cooler is restricted, the best transmission in the world is still a time bomb.
In my opinion, here are the crucial updates your transmission needs.
Quality billet cover converter-The billet cover dissipates heat much better and faster than the stock stamped steel cover and because of how the cover is designed you get a bigger lockup clutch(increased clamp load)
Shift kit- There are different brands that seem to be OK, I prefer Sonnax as they are the most in depth and I have the machining fixtures and tools to take care of problem wear areas. Transgo kits are OK too. The thing needs some lube flow updates, lockup pressure update, and a manual valve that charges the converter in park.
Coolers- Hot flush and verify flow, or replace. Once a kit has been installed with the right manual valve, there is an inline check valve in the cooler line that needs to be removed, because it is not necessary anymore. This greatly opens up cooler flow and is a huge must.
The rest of the stuff- All new clutches, bands and electrical. Borg Warner builds a better governor solenoid that is the same price or cheaper than OEM. I only use transtec overhaul kits and mostly Borg Warner clutches and bands. Raybestos builds a great intermediate band.
The stuff that I think is overkill- Triple disc converter, hardened input shaft, hardened output shaft, other miscellaneous billet goodies sold on the internet for ridiculous prices. Some of this stuff has its place for guys with big power additions on their trucks, but really does nothing for durability for the guy who pulls a lot. I feel your money is better spent on the problem areas, then on the chance you might snap a shaft when you bounce the truck at the county fair truck pull.
Find a good shop and ask questions, a good one can easily tell you what they do, and how they do it. They also should be able to get you a very close estimate range before they even start. Being a rebuild shop, it is very easy to hand you an itemized parts list and show you all the parts that were replaced when the job is done. For comparison, Im in central MN, and Im rural. My labor rate is $60hr and I run close to a 40% parts mark-up. That job would be in the 3k-3500 range with everything said and done. Where you are at labor may be higher, or they may run a little higher markup. At least it gives you an idea.
Sorry this post is long, but I am pretty passionate about the fact that built right, these are a great transmission that can take a beating. BW
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