I'm just a small time builder that does stuff on the side out of my shop. I work full time as an engineer and one thing I'm always chasing, both at work and at play, is cost savings. I've started to get more and more transmissions coming through my door and I don't want to see anything coming back. So, I started looking into the Sonnax Vacuum test kit for valvebodies. But WOW were they expensive for what I thought you really got.

I looked into them a little closer and determined I could make my own fairly cheaply. Less than $100 ready to rock as a matter of fact! Here's how to make your own at home if you are just a small time builder like me that wants some of the luxuries of the big time guys.

Things you'll need (everything is 1/8th NPT unless otherwise listed) :
2 Brass Tee's
2 Brass Needle valves (i got mine for like $8 a piece on amazon)
2 Brass straight Union-I got one long and one short but it doesn't matter
1 compression fitting (1/4 tube to 1/8th NPT)
1 vacuum gauge (0 to 30 inHg)
1 brass barb 1/8th hose

1 brass barb 10-32 thread, 1/8th barb (you don't need a tap or anything...just drill an 11/64 hole in the acrylic and the little barb will cut it's own threads no problem)

1 Brass end plug---drill a .035" hole (#65 drill bit) for calibration
2" x 3" clear plastic--I used 1/4" thick. Either pick up a square foot sheet from lowes or try to steal one of your wife's clear cutting boards and use a hacksaw/tablesaw to bring it down to size.

thin clear silicone mat. A placemat from any cooking supply store works great and is super cheap

Some copper tubing to connect the brass fittings to the pump

vacuum pump obviously. I picked mine up on amazon for 48 bucks. had decent reviews. has worked great so far...just eats a little more oil than a top dollar one

Assemble as shown in the pics. The needle valve closest to the pump I'll refer to as "main" and the one closest to the barb (the one pointed to the sky in the pics) I'll call the "bleed"

To calibrate, put the plug with the hole drilled where the barb goes. Turn on the pump. Adjust the main needle valve until your gauge reads 5".

Then plug the hole with your finger and adjust the bleed until the gauge shows 25"

You can lock them both down with the jamb nut on them so you don't have to calibrate them as often. I still check at the start of each valve body just because it's so quick to do. You'll want to look for readings above 15"...much below that and the bore is worn...if it's significantly lower (say 10 or less) the bore is severely worn and either should be reamed and repaired, or just replaced. A leak this large in the bore can cause some serious issues.

The silicone pad lines up with the acrylic and seals the bore. Sonnax has a couple videos on their site that shows you how to use their rig...this will function exactly the same but it won't cost a fortune. They also have PDF's that show you which bores are critical to test for a multitude of valve bodies.

I hope this helps someone else keep some rebuilds from ever coming back!! All in all I'm in this thing less than 100 bucks including the cost of the pump.

 

Nice write up. This should be stickied!

Thanks for sharing this with us. I saw the Sonnax price as well and the thought extremely briefly crossed my mind that I could make it cheaper. This is a great reference for when I build mine.

 

I've used this on a few different valve bodies now and it works perfect.

I can tell you it saved my *** on the last one I did. Just a run of the mill 4l60e in a 4.8L 2008 truck. Single cab work truck that never tows anything...didn't even have a hitch! Yet it was flaring the 2-3 shift and acting funny on the highway (customer explanation was odd but it sounded like constant lock/unlock of the converter)

So I tore it apart and all the seals looked good everywere, the 3/4's were a little cooked but definitely not ruined. Band looked fine etc

Tear apart the valve body and clean every part, inspect all the valves...nothing sticky, nothing excessively worn or scored etc. Vacuum test the 3/4 shift valve and its making little to no vacuum. Same story with the TCC regulator valve...BIG LEAKS...I had some Sonnax o-ringed end plugs laying around, so I tossed one of those in each of the leakers...and now they are up to over 20 inHg!!

Once I have the valve body together it takes maybe 10 minutes for me to check every bore and mark the results on my sheet...that's 10 minutes I'll gladly spend with every trans that I get through the shop.

 

About the middle of this page is Sonnax Test sheets as .pdf's that tell you which bores to check for all kinds of trans. Gives the valve body and pump diagrams as well.
https://www.sonnax.com/vacuum_testing

I've started to print these out, and write down each bore's vacuum reading (Mainly so I don't forget to check a bore). I staple this sheet to the parts receipt and the invoice just in case the trans ever were to come back, I could use it as another resource for troubleshooting.

 

The TCC Isolator valve is a known wear point in the valve body. You should not ever put a used valve body back in to service without repairing this bore in the 4L60E valve body. It's NOT the valve that wears, it is the bore itself. Sonnax makes an over-sized valve that requires reaming the bore to allow the bigger valve to fit in. This is the fastest way, and EVERY valve body that leaves my shop has this modification done. We bought the Sonnax Vacuum test stand and it makes fast work of testing this valve/bore. I have had an 80K mile valve body read as low as 5 in. of vacuum.. Not kidding. Most 150-200K mile valve bodies will test in the 10-15 range.. NONE of them ever pass this test. NONE of them. EVER.

The other valve(s) we see most often with issues are the Actuator Feed Limit valve, and the 1-2 accumulator valve and sleeve. Often times, if there is a moderate, or higher, amount of metal in the fluid, you will not even be able to remove the 1-2 accumulator valve & sleeve to service it. Torque converter failures, and planetary set failures, often result in valve bodies that must be thrown away and replaced. We NEVER attempt to re-use a VB from a vehicle that has had excessive metal contamination. You are just asking for come backs if you do so.

The vacuum test stand has really made it a much faster process to separate the good, from the bad. We use it on the TCC regulator valve in the pumps, the main line pressure regulator valve in the pump, and also for the boost valves, and also the 2-3 ball capsule in the case behind the 2/4 servo. I think once you start using it more, it will elevate you as a builder above your peers who do not use one. Walk into ANY Aamco, Mr. Transmission, or many of the other "commercial" rebuilders and ask to see their test stands.. You will be hard pressed to find ANY commercial shop that has one. It's eye opening. It proves to me that many companies are in the rebuilding business ONLY to make $$ and building the best unit is very low on the priority list.. The black eye this industry has is duly earned by glorified parts replacers and shop managers who think a 4L60E should cost $2-3,000 to rebuild.

 

This is a great thread...!!!

This is working smarter/efficiently

It elevates you to R&D status, it gives much deeper insight on failures (I hate fixing something without pinpointing the cause of failure.

 

Thanks Joe! I hope someone can get some use out of it!

 

thanks heaps for making this post, I am trying to make it up myself.

just wondering why you used the copper tubing and so many tee adaptors? Could you not just use one tee adaptor and hook that straight to the pump, with the guage and a needle adaptor on the other ends of the 'tee' adaptor?

TIA.

edit: its making more sense to me now, i need the needle valves to adjust the pressure. I might skip the brass tubing though.

 

You need 3 tees.

One for the first needle valve
One for the gauge
One for the 2nd needle valve.

I used the copper tube to connect it to the pump because I had it laying around the shop.

The needle valves are critical to the function of the vacuum tester. Without them to adjust your min and max pressure zones, you have no reference to go off to test your valve body against.

This is the exact same design as the sonnax vacuum tester block...it just costs 1/3 of the price

 

Excellent thanks for clarifying! Just waiting for my chinese pump to arrive

 

Nice work ! I wonder if a compressed air powered vacuum source could be used in place of the pump ? Something like what this co makes :
http://www.airvacpumps.com/

I dont have a vac pump but have a good air compressor.

 

Those are just venturi type vacuum pumps. Typically they use a shitload of compressor volume and don't perform well under load.
I recommend just buying the $50 amazon vacuum pump. But if you want to guinea pig your setup, I'd be very interested to see your results posted here!

 

Nice info. I need to add this to my tool arsenal. thx

 

just get a vacuum pump as they can help you do a lot! Pull proper vacuum on AC system on car or home and you can even use it with some ingenuity to make a neat liquid recovery device.

 

I am bringing this back from the dead as this is a GREAT "how to" thread for a critical tool that most (including myself) have shy'd away from buying because of the price.

Cant thank you enough MaroonMonsterLS1 for all your insight and professional information for this community.

 

Great thread hands down

 

if you buy a cheap AC pump, buy a long section of 1/4" semi truck air brake line and put that thing outside. they rattle like hell and belch mineral oil vapor. or at least mine does.

the vac tester is a money saver. I was buying reman VB's .....at 200 a pop even the sonnax one pays for itself very quickly.

 

Another awsome article for anyone to follow!!!
DIYers, Start-Ups, and professionals!

Another great one Maroon Monster!

I am curious, just how many here went and tried this out!?!?
It is very simple, very inexpensive, and honestly a crucial part of today's transmission rebuilding!

And if any of you guys do this type of work and have not worked on units with problematic valve-bodies and pumps, I would still recommend trying this...
as it is great for most any "valve in bore unit"; and it becomes a huge time saver, when going through a unit tear-down/ inspection.

One question for Maroon Monster; what have you found works well as the gasket between the acrylic vacuum plate and the valve-body/ pump, etc.
Some type of kitchen counter silicone mats?
Could you kindly elaborate on material and dimensions?

 

Wow thanks for putting this together! I was just planning on doing this for an air check using my air compressor and rubber tip:

An old post of yours and yes.....if you or @vorteciroc wrote tech anywhere on here about a 4L80E, I have it saved lol..

But with the vacuum test on the valve body, I'm assuming if you purchase a transbrake from a reputable shop, there is no need to do any checking because it's already done. Just drop it in and send it so to speak. It's only a stock core on a rebuild where I should be concerned about doing a vacuum check or a future tear down as I understand it?

Someone was on facebook arguing about using a transgo valve vs a sonnax valve and the consensus was that you don't need to purchase the expensive reaming tool required for the sonnax valve, and that the cheaper transgo option and reaming tool that comes with it works perfectly fine.

Another dumb question... is it only the stator bushings, sun gear shaft bushings and center support bushings that require a press to install the bushing and that it's perfectly fine using the hammer method/bushing install kit tool to install the other bushings? That being said is there any press at harbor freight worth a damn for installing these bushings? I was just planning on having my local machine shop pop these in for a few beers lol, but if I ever tear it down in the future it would make sense to invest in a press. I just can't justify the expense of an arbor press given the fact that I'm not a builder. Then again I have spent about a grand on tools already for this 4L80E build attempt, none of which are the kent moore tools. Mostly stuff that can be used on other projects. Gotta start somewhere lol.

 

I use this Harbor Freight press quite a bit. Wheel bearings, transmission bushings, removing and installing input shafts ect.