got-a-ls1

iTrader: (12)

So the intermediate clutches were completely cooked even coned out... i did find that the lip seal in the intermediate piston was blown out in like 2 or 3 spots....

so my question is when reinstalling this lip seal i notice the center seal of that piston goes in first and the outer seal falls in 2nd. IF the clutches were to wear out for whatever reason (assuming the lip seal didnt fail first) would that piston push out enough to infact cause this lip seal to fail and blow or would the snap ring keep the piston in enough (think stack height of burnt out/coned out frictions). basically i want to be sure this doesnt happen again and want to make sure im not missing some other potential cause.

believe it or not even with the lip seal destroyed it still pressure tested fine in 2nd gear maybe slightly lower then all the other gears but hardly much

got-a-ls1

iTrader: (12)

also i should state that when the lip seal did fail it was stuck sticking out between the piston and the center support i wonder if that would hold the piston out enough cause the clutches to drag

JRENIGAR

iTrader: (37)

I believe the snap ring is to keep the pressure from pushing the actual mechanical assy into the lip seal and distorting it. I believe the seal was leaking and not allowing the clutches to make proper contact and that's what fried them. How its reading good now is anybody guess though. Maybe since they are toast and the piston is able to move slightly farther than it was when they had material is why its now holding better pressure due to the lip of the seal on new metal. Is there any groove on the seal contact area? Maybe a piece of trash got under it and caused a leak. G.L. and let us know what you find.

got-a-ls1

iTrader: (12)

well i found the intermediate pressure plate was coned out about ~.050 or more. that coupled with zero material left on the clutches leads me to believe the piston over traveled and either blew the seal or got stuck and ripped on the way back into the bore. being torn in 3 spots its really the only expantion. i think the coned pressure plate is what led to the clutch pack burning down.

SnIpEz

iTrader: (4)

The pressure plate was coned?

The piston is unlikely to overtravel unless you just had extreme slop in the clutches on assembly. The return spring assembly on the center support would also provide some limited form of protection, although the seals can still be blown if you were to apply air directly into the center support with nothing to prevent the piston from full travel.

How far did you drive it after install? I just rebuilt an 80E ~a month ago if not less where the customer had done the build himself but had installed the center seal of the center support piston upside down. He didn't go very far before he burned up the intermediates.

I could see how the clutches burning up would give the necessary clearance for the piston to overtravel after the damage was done, but by that point I'd assume you already realized something was wrong with the trans?