[ImperialCrown]

That should be the old conventional 42RE with the 3.9L or the 42RLE with the 3.7L.
The 42RLE was related to the LH transaxle which was based on the 41TE.

 

[PCRMike]

Seriously? It is a 3.7, but the trans is related to a FWD trans? 41TE was an improved A604, right? and this one is basically one of those put for RWD? Wow. Were they good trannies for transportation?

 

[ImperialCrown]

The '2' in the 42RLE was a bump up in torque capacity. It was closer to the LH transaxle (42LE) which was a step higher in torque rating than the 41TE.
The 'R' designated it as RWD.
It was a fairly good transmission and could handle the torque of the 3.7L. The guts were mostly the same as the transverse/longitudinal transaxles, but put into a RWD/4WD housing.
It cut the development time on a rear-drive fully electronic transmission and saved the company lots of money.

 

[PCRMike]

But it is a good trans, right?

 

[ImperialCrown]

They did OK. I did see some solenoid bracket screws rip out of the aluminum valve body a couple of times and you do want to use nothing but ATF+4 in these transmissions. Periodic filter and fluid maintenance is a good service. The TCM may have had a software update. Clutch and seal-wise, they were durable.

 

[PCRMike]

Cool. I changed the fluid with ATF+4 synthetic as per the manual. I know it drives a lot nicer than the 95 Ram (electric version of the A500) that we have. Thanks for the info. Puts my mind at ease.