OK, I am in need of some help. I've tried finding specifics on this and there's very little "hard" evidence. I guess transmission shops like to keep this stuff to themselves?

Anyway, the trans in my '99 Ram went out at the start of the month. I decided to rebuild it, and like everything I do, if I can "overdo" it...why not, right? I *thought* I'd found the information I needed, but as I go to put this thing together I am running into parts interchangeability issues where I didn't anticipate them. Funny enough I stumble across a thread from 2 years ago that *kinda* answered my question, but I really need to know if I need to buy another hard part or not.

The issue is this: I am attempting to install the 48RE 6-pinion geartrain in my 46RE (both underdrive and overdrive). I have the planetaries, thrust plates/washers, sun gear, sun shell, and the rear ring gear is coming. I need to know: do I need the front ring gear as well, and which one!? The 03-up units seem to have more teeth for the frictions than the older units, but what I really need to know is are the thicknesses the same between the older and newer unit? If so, I am golden. If not, I need to figure out what I am going to do because I don't have the correct frictions to work with the updated gear. At that point I am going to probably have to modify something, which sucks.

I really want to try and get this dumb thing back together this weekend...hopefully that ring gear gets here faster than expected. I need my truck back!