Hey I was wanting some reccomendations for a tranny. I have gone through three 4l60s and am fed up. I have a 98 purple trans am with 50000 miles awesome ported polished heads a medium sized cam and a 75 dry shot (approx. 485 rwhp) and am debating on what to do. My options are a built th400 with an after market gear vendors overdrive or a built 4l80. I want overdrive no matter what cause I have a 3.73 gear and I drive the car everyday what would be the easiest most reliable choice for me to do. I now have a yank 4000 stall converter but plan on going to about 2500 or 2600 since it is my daily driver.

 

You builder must suck because 60e's can be built to handle that.......

 

ya well I think more then anything it was the around town driving on an extremely loose 4000 stall just builds alot of heat due to constantly slipping when taking off and not locking out

 

fwiw, a properly built 4l60e w/ a 4k stall should be able to handle 485whp no sweat, if it's setup correctly... Especially with 3.73 gears! There are plenty setups out there puttin more power thru the a4 than you with no troubles. Search around you will see.

 

Well it is actually 530 with the spray not that it matters but my converter is very loose. Where would I find a good 4l60 made to handle guesstimate 600 flywheel horse on the spray. Every shop I talked to admits that's the very top of a 60 capacity and actually a little above and that's coming from some really great builders. It's just confusing I haven't seen any rated at that hp. Any recommendations? I plan on a procharger someday and wanna do this once and never agin. Any help is greatly appreciated and considered

 

i got the same problem you do 3rd time with the 4l60e i got a build 10 bolt with 4:10 gears and a procharger pushin 7psi, and im getting fed up with this trans even after a rebuild and everything brand new in the trans. im switching to either a 700r4 or th400. and id do tht if i were you. i think there more reliable and can take a ton of abuse.

 

Did you look at any of the sponsors 4l60's? performabilt, flt, apf, all offer 700hp+ transmissions.

Here is a link to performabuilts site.

http://www.performabuilt.com/

 

I love my performabuilt I am not putting down the power you are but this thing is rock solid I drive like a maniac and it shows takes it like a champ.

 

You do realize that a 700r4 and a 4l60e are basically the same thing on the inside correct?

The 4l60e can be built to handle that if your builder knows what he is doing. There is a few secrets to get them to hold really well and shift hard. 3-4 pack is the worst and you can either run a Z-pak or some red clutches. I pre-fer a Z-pak on my personal unit. Kevlar band and a couple red clutches in the Overdrive just for *****. Add a Beast Sunshell and some mods to the acuumulator to make it shift harder and it should be ready for some action..

 

Funny thing is I have a zpac and Kevlar bands a sonnax billet servo all the goodies. I have visited all of those sites the performabuilt level three looks nice but the simple truh is the 60 can be built strong but they will never last forever you can only do so much with the physical characteristis of the transmission. And ya bro 700 is basically the non electric precursor to the 60 I replaced three in my truck also. I think it's just me. I'm cursed. I do love the 950 refreshment warranty offered by performabuilt though.

 

Basically it's my style of driving. I drive too nice and win that loose converter it is constantly in the slip zone Whig creates friction an everyone knows friction builds heat. That thing has to get to like 1400 degrees because on my last rebuild my converter was originally bright orange the last time it was a dark brow. The color had been baked. And that is powdercoat!!!!!!

 

Yea Im sure you get plenty hot and yes your right heat does kill these tranny's. However my builder has built some with people who have very loose converters and have driving carecteristics similar to yours. with a decent cooler they are fine.

I need a little more info to see if i can get any more ideas

How long does the tranny usually last
Do you still have the stock tranny setting in your pcm (i.e. Torque mngmt, line pressure, etc)
What tranny fluid do you use
what size is your cooler

 

About 4 to 6 months. Torque management off gm fluid and no tranny cooler. Just the radiator

 

THERE is your answer, you should never run a stall on a 4l60e with no transmission cooler, they are only 50-100 bucks. It saves your transmission.

 

Yep No tranny cooler will eat the tranny with a big loose stall....get one and get her back on the road..

 

That is the plan. Where is the best place to mount a cooler an actually get airflow I have an ftra so I cans mount it where he bottom air dam is

 

why the hell are you not running a cooler lmao? All the money wasted on tranny rebuilds over a 50.00 cooler?

 

basically...cause im retarded. i dont really know a good mounting location

 

i run 2 external coolers bypassed the radiator...mounted up front by the radiator.

 

cooler cooler cooler, and bypass the the radiator. FTL , and Proforma have some great trans with warrenty's. plus are you putting a shift kit in the trans?