i think im going to get it. mainly based of your wisdom and the stories ive read.

here is one, scroll down to the 4th comment i think - http://www.pacificp.com/forum/viewto...f7f2f4a7a4f5db

and then i found this one - https://www.silveradosierra.com/tran...00-t20536.html

and a "just answer" post where someone did it too - https://www.justanswer.com/chevy/7kc...97-1500-i.html - vbut it looks like the transmission was having problems with the 3/4 clutches and was not anything to do with the function of the tranny

edit: i also found this as well - https://www.gmt400.com/threads/truth...into-96.42104/ - they said there were no modifications except the transmission lines. oh and it was a 99 to 96 swap from a '96 one solid cast case to a 99' two piece with removable bell housing.

so i think im going to go ahead and grab it. its 250 bucks and 45 mins away. atleast it will get the truck running. i will try my best to take it easy on the tranny because i am not sure about the rating of the s-10/blazer 4l60e. ive read that there are less friction/clutches in the and ive read they were all identical on the inside. im pretty sure myself that there is no physical differences. im betting money that the reason they had less clutches/frictions or whatever is because it was an older style 4l60 or 700r4 or turbo 350 or 400. but with all the conflicting information, there is no telling haha

edit: also i am not a transmission guy but will the 4.3L torque converter be like a performance boost or something? or am i way of on that?

 

First, I'm super impressed by how much you have learned since your first post on this thread!
You have confirmed what we have been advising and have even already figured out that most of the "I swapped a different year and it didn't work" claims was because the swapped trans was defective, likely with worn out clutches.
I look forward to your progress report on the swap. You are certainly learning quickly enough to tackle rebuilding your current trans when ready.

 

i got the windshield replaced today. i may take tomorrow off from work and put this "good" 4l60e into my truck. dont have a lift or any ramps. i guess ill just drop it with a jack and get it on the ground and then jack up the side of the truck and slide it out from under.

 

you reckon i should go ahead and replace the rear main seal while i am in there? i would swap and get a new flex plate/fly wheel but im running low on my budget already. i barely have enough for the rear main seal and a new filter. one other thing is, i wonder if i should put new seals in the front/rear of this 4l60e? any thoughts on this? this transmission will eventually be coming back out, most likely within the next 20-30 thousand miles or less.

so close to having this thing running. just dont want to be shooting myself in the foot.

 

Hopefully one of the pro builders like @MaroonMonsterLS1 or @Kfxguy can give you advice on replacing the seals. It might depend upon whether you can see obvious leakage in those areas.

 

Front seal of trans isn't a cakewalk with the pump in the trans.
Rear seal of trans is easy to change anytime.
I would replace the front if it looks bad or has any nicks/tears.
I'd leave the rear alone

And for the rear main on the engine...I'd never put a trans in without changing it if the vehicle has over 100k. So that would be getting changed if it were mine


This is all hypothetical because I'd never install a used transmission like this. You're asking for issues and heartache. But it money is tight, everybody knows how that goes. And I hope it works out for ya!

 

ok im here to update. swapped rear main seal without any problems. i decided not to replace any seals in the transmission. i put a new filter and gasket on it though. the transmission went in pretty smoothly considering i was doing it all by myself with no tranny jack. i thought the exhaust pipe under the transmission was going to be a problem because this new one is a 360 degree bell housing. but i jacked it up and it went right past the exhaust pipe and bolted up nicely to the engine. torque converter/flywheel would not move at all even with a flat head screw driver. when i bought this "new" tranny" they had the torque converter bolts in the torque converter and i forgot to take them out. so i had to take it all back out. remove the torque converter bolts and then inspect for any damage. there was no damage that i could see to the torque converter or flywheel.

so thursday, up i go again with the transmission and get it in place. got all the bell housing bolts in and the troque converter was about 1/4" or less away from the fly wheel and it spun freely. no noise or any kind of binding. got the cross member in and went ahead and put the carrier bearing and drive shafts (two piece) back in.

friday it was a cold rainy day and i didnt do anything.

today i am going to be climbiung back under to figure out what i need to do with the tranny cooler lines. im also going to be hooking up all the electronics as well. so far i have a good feeling about it. i just hope to get 5 or 6 thousand miles from this transmission. that will buy me enough time to rebuild the **** out of the original one.

i will post an update later to let people know the end result. im doing this by myself without any kind of jack stands or anything. there is just barely enough room for me to climb under it and work on it. when i was trying to get the bell housing mated up, i was layed with my feet towards the bell housing and i had the tailshaft in my hands. i was pushing the bell housing with my feet while wiggling it with my hands. worked pretty damn good and must have had it at the right angle because it went past the exhaust and fell right on the guide pins lol. it was a miracle i tell ya!

anyways, thanks to everyone who has helped an inputted on this. i will update everyone shortly with a resolution. thanks again

 

well i got the cooler lines and the electronics hooked up. the cooler lines required a slight bend but it was managable. i poured about 4 quarts of fluid in it and fired up the truck. everything sounded good.

this is where i start to loose my mind because i checked the tranny fluid and it showed as correct. jumped in the truck, put it in gear (D) and didnt hear it kick into gear. gave it a little gas and felt it slipping and trying to pull so i stuck it in reverse and same story. so i checked the fluid again and it wasnt even registering. went ahead and poured the other quart i had in it and it made a slight difference. so i went to dollar general and bought some of the dex merc for dex3 trannys. i poured one quart in it so far and now when i put it in gear it seems to lug down like it usually does. reverse felt alot better as well.

what i am stuck on is the dipstick really isnt designed well imo. its hard to read, atleast for me anyway. when i put it in there the other few times and pulled it back out it would be dry on one side and have tranny fluid on the other.

so i must ask, what is the proper way to check the fluid? pour a quart in, wait 5 mins and check the level of fluid? when i try to check it right after pouring it i get fluid all over the dip stick. then i see one side dry and the other with carious amounts of fluid on it. i just want to make sure i am doing this the right way and i dont want to bugger it up because i am just about flat broke and need this truck running to make more money. any insight on what i should be looking for when filling it properly would be appreciated

 

ok well it looks like everything has worked out. i ended up adding about another 2 quarts of fluid to it and now you can hear it actually kick down into gear when selecting reverse or drive (or any other gear).

however, one thing i am not positive on is it seems like i barely has to get into the gas for it to gear down into passing gear. other than that, over drive seems to do fine. were about to take it on a little trip to see how it does. someone will be following me just incase.

i will update this thread in around a week to let everyone know the outcome and see if this transmission is a good one and we can add it to the compatibility thread (if there is one) lol

edit: topped up the fluid and it seems to be shifting and doing great now. even kicking it into passing gear seems good now as well. looks like this 98 4.3 2WD chevy blazer 2 piece (bell housing comes off) 4l60e fit right into my 97 gmc sierra c1500 and my original 4l60e is a solid casted bellhousing with dust cover on the bottom. there is a spot where the flywheel/torque converter is exposed but a person could fabricate some kind of shield or something for it and i might in the future. but i didnt have to take any exhaust loose, i did take two o2 sensors out just to have clearance for doing the cooler lines and such. but it went smoothly besides a few hiccups here and there
, which is expected.
one thing i did have to do was move the cross member back one bolt hole. but the hole was already there and it wasnt a problem to have to do at all.

 

Honestly, I did not read through every word of this thread and I am exhausted...
So, I apologize.

But from the sound of things... You most likely had air trapped in the transmission passages.
It is normal.

Any time a fixed volume container is drained of a fluid...
Air must enter that empty space created as the fluid exits...
Otherwise the container will implode; like a Gatorade sports bottle when you suck the beverage out of the bottle faster than air can enter it.

When filling a transmission... once the full level is reached...
The gear selector should be moved into reverse and then back to park.

Recheck the level (it should have dropped as fluid filled those clutch packs) add fluid till full again...
The gear selector should be moved into Over-drive and then back to park.

Repeat this process for all of the gear ranges so that every clutch assembly can be filled with fluid.
This should get you 95% full or more.

The fluid should be checked last when everything is up to operating temperature with the gear selector in park.
Finalize your fluid level and turn the engine off.

You can recheck the level the next day after the vehicle gets up to operating temperature again.

 

I know that I remembered that compatibility was possible but not guaranteed.
I have been looking through my stock-pile for a long time and found the 2 types of cases to compare.

The 1-piece case transmissions for a Gen I and II SBC (which have the TCC circuit seal protruding outward) that look like this:



The 1-piece case transmissions are indeed ever so slightly different from the 2-piece case transmissions for a Gen III and IV SBC.

The 2-piece case transmissions for Gen I and II appear to have the same dimensions as the 1-piece case transmissions.

The 2-piece case transmissions for Gen III and IV differ in the bell-housing depth...
The stator-support is 0.255" longer and puts the turbine shaft forwards 0.255" further than the 1-piece type.
Different Flex-plates and torque-converters are used to accommodate these changes.

 

as far as i knew the bell housing depth didnt change till LS model transmissions were introduced. everything from the year before they started putting ls style trannys in should be the same/ there are lt style two piece and one piece and i thought the bell housing depth didnt change till the LS model 2 piece 4l60e? please correct me if im wrong.

also. this transmission is still working great. shifting good. but there is also another problem i am having i think with the rear end, maybe the ring/pinion or carrier bearings are going bad. its developed a whine under acceleration that goes away when i let off the gas. i think this will need a new thread because this one is already done! lol

 

You are correct that the bell housing depth didn't change (increase by about 1/4") until the LS style 4L60E was introduced in 1998 and these are all 2-piece.
Great to hear that the swapped trans is working! If it hadn't fit I would have owed you a BIG apology.

Yes, a whine from the differential indicates that the pinion/ring mesh isn't perfect. Rebuilding these is a real pain and required a bearing press. In many cases a differential will still run a long time even if whining.(For years like a whining kid.)

 

Good luck!

EDIT by mrvedit: Thanks for noticing the confusing typo. I corrected the typo in those previous posts and quotes.

 

well its been about a week and the tranny is still doing fine. though my catalytic converter has developed a pretty loud rattle. i am pretty sure it is the heat sheild that is around it. i can crank up the truck from a cold start and jump under the truck and take my hand and push up on the catalytic converter and the noise goes away. i think a sawzall and a piece of pipe and some exhaust clamps and adapters are in order.

do yall happen to know what size the exhaust pipe is near the cat?

i also think i have a rear wheel bearing on its way out. guess ill spend a day doing all of this and hopefully i can get it sorted out. the rear end whine so far hasnt effected the drivability of the truck, though it has 190,000 miles on it. not bad for a 305. still has ok power, and boy that transmission sure does shift out great!

thanks all for your help. i learned alot just by changing the tranny. i have the old tranny sitting on a palette wraped in a tarp. soon i will be draining it and once fully drained it is coming in the house to my "work bench" (aka living room floor haha just kidding). i have a big *** work table i used for repairing these flat screen tv's, i think ill line it with a few layers of cardboard and rebuild the tranny on it. so i will be back as soon as i get up 200-300 bucks. i want to go through that thing and make sure its going to be heavy duty enough to last for a long time.

EDIT: one thing i forgot to mention is my speedometer is off by about 10 mph. i wonder if that is because of differences in the tailshaft housing or or differences in the mechanisms used in the speed sensor area to read the current speed. i cannot swap tail shafts but maybe i can swap that sensor? didnt even think about swapping the sensor until just now.

EDIT 2: **** i just had a thought, i would have to change the tail shaft because the speedometer gear is on the tailshaft. please correct me if im wrong

 

just an update. transmission still going strong. i do have another issue with another 2002 4l60e but im going to make another thread for it. thanks all who helped

 

Great to hear. Curious how you dealt with the 10% speedometer error? Found a solution or just living with it?

We will be happy to help with your other 4L60E.