Look what I did tonight...............

Thanks Joel!!! Had a great time..............

Nice! Full rebuild? Fix a broken part? Stock? Upgrades? Difficulty? Problems?

WE WANT MORE!

Pics, too. I'm a visual learner.

That WOULD be cool.

I can rebuild car and bike engines and manual transmissions without too many issues but automatic transmissions
still scare the crap out of me.All those special tools and voodoo spells along with the animal sacrifices just make me nervous.
Seriously more pics along with descriptions would be great!
Good Job
Flasheroo

Sorry guys, one have 2 pictures. I just did what I was told. A learning session for me!

Tim had some business up in my neck of the woods so he arranged to stop by and build up his spare 4L60E's geartrain and do an inspection while he were here. New clutches and 2-4 band, upgraded sunshell, stamped steel apply pistons in the input housing, and a heavy duty pump spring in the pump. Everything else looked great. He'll do the rest of the shift kit install in the valvebody once he gets home. The trans only had 80k on it and had had regular fluid changes so it was real clean inside.

In the picture there, Tim is putting the reverse input drum back on top of the input housing, then we'll drop the whole shebang back into the transmission using a highly precision process of wiggling the living daylights out of everything to get the clutches and splines to seat down properly. Just ask Tim.

You don't need any special tools to reclutch a 4L60E but we did use a universal spring compressor to change out the apply pistons. That's around $125 but you can sell it on ebay for almost as much as you bought it for when you're done.

What he said.................

Joel is a wealth of knowledge and amazingly generous to open his home and mind to help a friend.

I cannot say thanks enough.....

I've gotten to watch one rebuild and it didn't look too aweful bad. I watched Shane Cobb do a full dissassemble/repair in a parking lot via maglight in 08 for a guy that broke his trans at ISSCA nats. Shane told him that it was just a replacement of broken parts that'd be good enough to get him home where he could get an actual rebuild, and to behave himself. People saw him drag racing the next day.

The funny part was that the car belonged to an old white guy in his 50's that showed up with a little asian boy toy in his 20's who was billed as his "mechanic." The kid was clearly NOT his mechanic. Nobody cared an ounce about what the dynamic of their relationship actually was, but it was funny that when the car broke down "the mechanic" had brought ZERO tools and didn't lift a finger to help ANYBODY do ANYTHING. Not even helping the women pick up the tools from people doing a RnR of his trans in the parking lot.

When I asked him what the heck kind of a "mechanic" sat around with his thumb up his fanny watching women he didn't know worked on his car for him, he stammered out a "well, uh, I actually do more, like, stereo installs, and, you know, uh, stuff like that."

The guy never offered Shane a dime for his time or expertise. He never offered even a BEER to the crew of guys that removed and reinstalled his transmission in a hotel parking lot. And neither him or his boy toy accessory of a "mechanic" ever lifted a finger to even hold a damn flashlight or to help in ANY way imaginable of the job that at least 10 people busted their butts so that he could get home. I've never seen anyone so ungrateful in my life.

Why do I tell you all this?

1. It's transmission related.

2. If you ever meet Dave Campbell from Ontario, who calls himself "Souperman" (Campbells soup - souperman - get it - ha ha ha) and he happens to be down - you'll know not to waste your time helping that unappreciative turd.

Him and boy toy are the types to wheel the hotel luggage cart out to the middle of the parking lot, load up the car, and then just leave without returning the luggage cart. I sawum do that too.


SO - wouldn't it be cool if at next year's NY Wagonfest, there was a trans rebuild demo/workshop?

I'm here to help,
John

Fred and I tried that a few years ago and there was just no interest.

Sneaky 4L60E tip #1: Go to the local thrift store, and buy an old dining room chair for $5. Cut a 2.5" hole in the center of the seat. Take the tailshaft housing off, then set the trans down onto the chair. This keeps the geartrain vertical so you can remove and install things easily. Put some cardboard and a drip pan under the chair to catch the inevitable fluid drips.

PS, if your son comes in and sits on the chair between the time you drilled the hole in the seat and the time the transmission gets put on it, and he asks you what the hole is for, the correct answer is to look at him with a perfectly straight face and ask "do you need to make a 'scuse me?"

John,

I love you man.... but you really need to stop the profanity on the forum. If I have to be embarrassed for my kids to see a post I should not be reading it myself. I believe the rules ask us to refrain. I for one would appreciate it.

Your friend ( I hope ),

Tim

BigBlackBeaSSt wrote:

John,

I love you man.... but you really need to stop the profanity on the forum. If I have to be embarrassed for my kids to see a post I should not be reading it myself. I believe the rules ask us to refrain. I for one would appreciate it.

Your friend ( I hope ),

Tim

My apologies. You got it bud.

Bewber wrote:

The guy never offered Shane a dime for his time or expertise. He never offered even a BEER to the crew of guys that removed and reinstalled his transmission in a hotel parking lot. And neither him or his boy toy accessory of a "mechanic" ever lifted a finger to even hold a damn flashlight or to help in ANY way imaginable of the job that at least 10 people busted their butts so that he could get home. I've never seen anyone so ungrateful in my life.

Sounds like a guy that use to come to my house when he needed "help" doing something to his Impala. That help would of course be me doing the work while he watched and occasionally turned a wrench. I'm still finding tools in the yard from the couple times he did something on his own.

Well now that you all have hijacked this thread...

Doing a 4L60E is not that hard, just like building a motor. Take your time, work one section at a time, and it'll come together. Best tip I can give is to make friends or work a deal with someone who knows what they're doing on these things and they will be your reference as you work through it. Example: Tim winced a bit as I stuck a prybar inside the transmission in a few places and popped the pump loose in a matter of a minute, but otherwise he would have been there for hours trying to get it out. Likewise the trick to use a long screwdriver to pop the 2-4 band pin boss off the anchor to relax the band, and then just lift the whole input assembly out.

If somebody wants to show up at my place early before WF11 and beef up their spare transmission, contact me and let's talk.

i got one that won't lock up,. any idea's??

Nick

There's a guy near you with a lot of experience you should look up. I think he's the one that bought the palamino.