R U Jimmy Ray

I read something in Hot Rod magazine in the 70's, entitled "How do you tell if you over-revved your engine?". I think it applies here;

1. You can loosely fit all your engine (trans) parts in a small bucket.

2. Severe and localized pain around the left hip pocket!

2002_Z28_Six_Speed

iTrader: (20)

I got a 408 and am wondering about lifespan. I only got about 4k miles on it yet.

Is the oil consumption due to PCV or because of piston rock?

darkirish63

iTrader: (5)

I'm impressed that it lasted more than a week behind a 408 in that heavy sled. I killed mine in a stepside behind a 383 (twice).

darkirish63

iTrader: (5)

What pistons are you running?

megabuddys

The sonnax is the way to go, with it being rollerized, it is also Balanced. After 100 Beast sunshells I have installed, I finally got one that was way out of balance. I hear its not uncommon, I must have been lucky. 1/100. The Sonnax is much higer quality, and its only 25 bucks more than the beast. I have pushed 900 and never broken a beast so they are a proven piece as well.

megabuddys

Not properly Built and or driven correctly. I have put 900+ through a 60e in a 4500lb rig and it only failed when the Rear end grenaded.

megabuddys

To the OP, I doubt your 2-1 shift was the issue, I would say it was the 1-2. Too hard of a shift with a stockish size converter, plus heavy weight can and will cause everything that happened to you. I have been there, done that. I do not know your converter size, but you need to tone the shift down, put some torque management back in it, make sure that the converter is sized right. The 4 pinion planets have been proven in applications that make twice as much power as you. In 2wd on a hard shift the tires will spin taking up the hard shift, in 4wd with a heavy rig you put all of that stress on the internal trans hard parts, yep they go boom. I would put a 4l60e behind a 408 any day, its all in the setup and tune. Its the weight that really kills a 60e though FYI

arthursc2

iTrader: (5)

megabuddys

You can choose to believe what you want. Rarely do you hear of the Success, because many are afraid to say so mostly because of stupid comments like yours above. It can be built to handle a lot, every combo and everyones situation is different. Even with a built unit, you still have to drive it smart. Nobody said it was a heavy duty trans. You're comparing factory failures with poor parts to a properly built one? Wow. Those failures hardly outnumber the # of units that made it 200+ k miles. You see nothing but failures, some of us see job security, and a means to make something work better.

arthursc2

iTrader: (5)