the tranny weighs a ton, so a jack would be very beneficial to have. don't forget to fill the TC with ATF

 

THANKS A BUNCH FELLAS!!!!!!!! Looks like this thread has helped more than just myself (the whole purpose of our great board here) PLUS sold a few more Yanks!!! HEY YANK GUYS< HOW ABOUT A FREEBIE HERE???? LMFAO!!!!! Yeah, right! Well ,it seems like I have plenty of tools, but you know how "buddies" are when work is involved on YOUR stuff!! NO problem though, I can handle this myself with some ramps and a jack. I do plan on installing some servos and a transgo at the same time. Do ya'll recommend the vette servos over the illet ones or are they pretty much the same? What about price differences? I'll do some searching on the transgo installations whenever I get ready to do this deal, prolly be late Spring or SUmmer before I get this far and get the cash built up!! Ain't money a bitch, never enough "mod money" stashed away!!

 

First... glad we brainwashed ya into a stall converter. See below for my usual pretyped copy+paste on them...

The 'Vette one only replaces the intermediate apply. Give better shifts than the stocker. The billet one is like 35% more apply area than the 'Vette one (so I'd say 40-50% more than stock). I think myself and Chingon are the only peeps that have both billets.

Also you can only get a billet OD servo...that increases capacity by 50%! talk about your firm 3-4 shift, there it is.

Billets are like $150/pair. 'Vette is like $12 or so at cost. I'd do the billets again in a heartbeat, they make a huge difference.

HERE (hasn't been updated in a while but the idea is still there):

"Converters are the "black holes" and "voodoo" of cars and trucks. They are strange, complicated, and misunderstood.

First, stall is based on input torque and vehicle weight. I.e. an anemic, low compression 350 may be able to stall a converter to about 2000 rpm. A hot, higher compression with good heads 350 may be able to get that stall up to 2600 rpm due to making more torque. That is with the same converter. It really depends on your motor.

Stall also is in different forms. There is flash stall, brake stall, and actual stall.

Flash stall is, with no traction problems, the peak RPM or the quick jump of the engine RPM's on with the converter. This isn't the best way to measure stall. Insane amounts of torque can make a 3000rpm stall to 4200rpm+
Brake stall is, holding down your brake and gassing the ride with the other foot. That doesn't work too well either b/c you will generally begin to light up the rear tires.
Actual stall is if you had a line lock on your trans (holds R+D together) so you don't move and your RPM's rise to your stall speed. If you have a 3000rpm stall, that is what your engine should rev to with the line lock on. You would launch off of that.

Softness depends on the stall and size you go with. High stall, small converters are "loose" converters if you will. Larger diameter usually help keep the looseness away and keep the factory towing up. These act more stock with higher stall. The softness is more likely to be with the part-throttle shift than the WOT ones.

Looseness is hard to explain. Like you'd have to give the vehicle a bit more gas to get moving and depending on diameter. Generally your part throttle putting around rpms are about 2000-2200rpm."

 

HItmanx, nice info, thanks for taking the time. ONe more ? could you put the intermediate vette servo in with a billet outboard servo? Or do the billets only come as sets? ANy problems you forsee with doing this or is it not recommended? That vette servo is damn cheap, why do they not have an outboard servo and our trucks do? Or do they not come stock with an outboard servo and that's the deal? Excuse my ignorance, but you guys did this to me!!! LMAO

BTW, what's the model of my tranny? 4L60E???? It's a 4x4 z71, 03 gmc a4 3.73 ls thanks!

 

I assume your shopping at trnny shops for servos. Most tranny shops are ignorant when it comes to stuff like this believe it or not. To them, they are just things 'that make it shift harder'. One guy told me he had the vette servos in his truck and it'll bark 1-2 everytime as though it was the vette servos that was making it do it. I have only the vette servo on the intermediate right now. I would do the billets in a heartbeat if I were to do it over again. In fact if money weren't so tight, I'd go with the billets now and trash the vette servo in there.

The intermediate servo comes in 2 pieces. There is the piston, which is what actually applies the band and then there is the housing which goes over the piston. The piston looks kinda like a mushroom with a fat stem coming out of the top. The housing goes over the 'stem' part and rests on top of the dome. The intermediate is a different servo all together. It just rides on top of the intermediate assembly. So ..... to answer your question, yes, you can get the vette intermediate and the billet OD servo and they will work together. I would get both billets if it were me though. You don't want your band slipping!

When you get closer to the shiftkit install, let us know .. there is something in there that you need to be aware of. It will be easier to explain if you have the instructions in front of you.

 

[/QUOTE]
When you get closer to the shiftkit install, let us know .. there is something in there that you need to be aware of. It will be easier to explain if you have the instructions in front of you.[/QUOTE]


Flyer, no I'm doing my shopping online through our forums and sponsors as usual, plus a little ebaying! Thansk for the info, but based on what everyone says, f'the vette servo and go with both billets. IN my opinion, do it right the first time, although I don't always and I get in a hurry and buy whatever I don't have to wait on, so that's why I'm planning so far ahead.

Are you referring to the ball bearings in the valve body? or the springs? I know a little (heard horror stories) about both of those happening!!

 

I was actually talking about the spacers in the servo assembly. They are evil bad and there is no explanation onf them in the instructions other than use them. They left out the fact they should only be used in old *** trannys with a stretched band or collapsed drum.

 

I'd also hold out until you can do both billet servos. Setting band clearance is a PITA and something you'd want to do once. Flyer's talking about these big shims that are for old trannies...why you'd install that TransGo in a trans in that shape is beyond me but TransGo includes them.

You have the 4L60E. All vehicles with the 700R4/4L60E have two apply pistons on the passanger side of the case. One's for the 1-2 shift. the other for the 3-4. Most don't consider that 3-4 too necessary but if you do any towing it's a great piece. The 'Vette one is just for the 1-2 shift. It's better than the crap one but still a factory piece

 

CAre to elaborate on that subject Flyer, or can you point me to a site with installation directions, or a post or something? HAte to burn you up on this, but I always print out good info and put it in files for when I do the mods!! That way I don't forget and I usually have several different ways to do it along with multiple "ticks and tips" along the way!

Thansk bro, and to you HMX, you guys know your ****.
HMX, yeah, there's no way I'd yank the tranny and only do it half ***; I'm gonna do it all at once and do it right the first time...when that time comes!

 

I don't have anything written up about what I was talking about, but I can describe it to you a little better.

As an exampl, get a tin 1pound coffee can and a 25ton ratchet strap. The coffee can would represent the drum and the strap the band. The 25ton strap would just be more like the width of the band more to scale than the smaller straps. Take that strap and wrap it around the can. Once it gets tight, pull a few more clicks. The can will start to get an hourglass shape to it. In older trannies, this happens a lot and causes the band to start slipping. Those spacers will push the band in a little further to take up the slack from the hourglass shaped drum.

The servo assembly has a pin that runs through the middle of it (there is a nice illustration about how the servo assembly is put together in the instructions). The tip of that pin is what engages the drum. Thos spacers will push the tip of the pin further in to take up any slack that is there, from worn material from the band or an hourglass shaped drum.

So .... in the newer tranies, with not that many miles on them, those spacers will not ever let the band entirely disengage. I found this out the third day I was troubleshooting a funky 4-3 shift problem and the 4th tech support call to TransGo. They were damn near laughing by this time. My friends dad and his trannie guru buddy told me that they were suprised that the band didn't get burnt up in this process since I took it to Hallsville the day after we did the shift kit. I think keeping it out of 4th until I had gotten it fixed is what saved me.

Everytime, they would have me take the servo cover off. It was a major pain in the *** since there was next to no movement in the thing. I have scars on my fingers from the results of that!