I think my tranny is getting weak on me. I'm gonna try and have this local guy rebuild/replace parts for me. He works at a local dealership, but he alos works on the side on a bunch of the f-body transmissions.

I want high-performance parts, but nothing real harsh. Just parts that will hold up strong and won't make the shifts to much harder than they are now w/ the billet servo. I had the tq management deleted about 4 months ago.

How much are the parts for a tranny rebuild/where can I find them the cheapest?

What are the weakest parts in our transmissions?

Thanks.

 

um if you go cheap its not gonna hold up. if you want it to last your gonna have to go all out.
this next one im getting is all out performance parts. nothing skipped on.
I'm hoping not for the $2800 price tag. the last one cost me $2000, and it went to **** real quick. iI havnt even had it for 5months and I am already having it rebuilt somewhere else.
just make sure you double check who is going to rebuild your trans. get second opinions.
HITMAN should be able to supply a list of parts that you will need, you can either pm him or wait for him to respond.

the sun gear and sun shield are the weak links, get these two items up graded. also the Transgo shift kit( the high dollar one) fixes alot of the problems that GM has neglected to fix. you will need a hardened out put shaft. among other things.
see if you can get a hold of HITMAN. or wait till i get mine redone and i will tell you want parts went into mine.
Later,
Daniel

 

$2800 price tag!!! Have you thought about getting a transmission from FLP? Thanks for the info.

 

yeah i have thought about the FLP, but if i break that one i would have to have someone service it and pay for that. if i go with this guy i get a warranty on it. labor and parts.
just seems like a better deal to me.
i have heard other guys breaking these FLP's also, they are not bullit proof either.
they are just as likely to go out as any other built trans is.

 

Combination Motorsports. Not to toote there horn, but I have been impressed with what I have seen. They say that they specialize in building the 4l60e's to specifically handle heavyweight vehicles. There is also a computer programming trick that they do at there shop, that they say is essential. Seth completely explained it to me, but I have no hope in explaining it properly. It has something to do, with the transmission monitoring the motor, and if you have pretty good moded motor that is running well above stock, it throws the tranny for a loop since it can't understand higher imputs than the stock programming, which causes the transmission to sit there and say duh!! thus causing the tranny to blow. The tranny sees that something isn't right with the motor, so it tries to detune or soften the shift to protect itself, but actually it causes itself to detonate. They do something with Edit programming that does not let the tranny read the motor, and it shifts then just by the computer programming.

They hafe two 96 Impallas that put over 650hp to the rear tires, and are hella quick, that they run here at the speedway, that have 4l60e's. I have seen these cars run, and lift the front tire off the ground and blast down the track. They weigh more than a standard cab 2wheel drive truck. I think that they probably know what the hell they are doing, cause from everything I have heard, these 4l60e's are taking it!

Now, I have read and seen 700R4's that are basically right in line with 4l60e's, same size and wheight, and similar dimensions that can handle 800hp aplications. So it is somewhat resonable to think that the 4l60e's can probably handle some real power.

Look at some of the turbo 400s that are put behind 1000hp vehicles, and those are pretty small transmisions also!

 

You rang? LOL The 4L60E is based of the ol' 700R4... NEVER made to be a high performance transmission. As Daniel said the the Sun Gear bits are prolly the weakest, followed by the the input drum, then the input shaft/output shafts, then I'd think the front and rear planets. The internals are typically made of aluminum NOT smart with cast steel shafts. The input shaft has feed holes too large which allows them to fatigue then break...aside from being cast. The 4L65E is a long, long overdue update. I am about 98% sure I know what these 700R4/4L60Es need to take some mad power but I just don't have the capital or resources at my disposal at this point to do anything about it.

Be that as it may, once you get the slightly better internals available on the aftermarket then it comes down to shift times and fluid flow problems. Almost always people smoke the 3-4 clutch pack. Why? Lack of fluid flow under increased torque loads. Like racing a car with 3 qts of oil type deal. Also internal shift times are slow...causing heat buildup...causing death. The TransGo PSK or HD kits will pretty much alleviate all valve body/flow problems. Remember you don't want tire barking shifts at low throttle, that's just bad news.

Once you have that stuff done, then it comes down to the builder. Some like tight clearances for less slop, others like looser for less drag. Really depends. I'd shoot for the medium range on them. I haven't built one to have it blow up so I can't say what would work better in what scenario. Tight may be better for HO apps and looser for towing. If the internals hold you will most likely lose the 3-4 pack or blow the anchor from the 2-4 band. If you want to use the really wide 2-4 band, you need the larger drum for it to ride on too. I don't recall any smoked forward clutches, low/reverse clutches, or the overruns either. I think the overruns are unnecessary but need to research more on them but I haven't seen any other auto w/ them...