Built 4l60E done by toy shop transmissions in Pomona Ca.
Exactly at the header says it will not shift into second gear at all, will bounce off the rev limiter if I go WOT. I believe 3-4 still works. Holds first until I let off possibly just skipping second into third.
when I down shift manually it seems to go into each gear, but will NOT UPSHIFT , no matter what I try for the 1-2. What should I do get rid of the 4l60e and go Th400?

 

TH400 or built powerglide FTW

 

Was this a case of something that worked for a few months/years then stopped working?
Or a fresh build that failed?


Regardless...what is your setup and how do you use your car?
400hp car that sees the street as much as the track...stick with a 60e and just find someone to do it better
800hp car that sees the street as much as the track...4l80e
800+hp car that sees the track more than the street...400 or glide

 

Trans has had its fair share of abuse over the course of 2 years so I’d say it has served its purpose.

It’s a FBO Cam/Nitrous and definitely wanna push the boundaries for this forged LS1. I was planning on a Th400 stage 3 rated for 900hp. Since I’m planning on making at least 700 on a shot of nitrous. Not sure what build would cost more ... part for part is a stage 3 80 same as a 400 build ?

 

Skip the 4l60 if your using nitrous. nitrous is way to hard on parts, and you wont easily find someone skilled to build it to hold up to that.

 

sounds like you would enjoy an 80e or a 400

400 will be the cheaper swap

80e will be more expensive but much more street friendly.

Take your pick

 

I personally build plenty of 4L60E units for up to 800ish HP (Normally aspirated, super-charger, or progressive controlled nitrous-oxide use).
Non-progressively controlled nitrous-oxide use will cause me to lower the power rating of the transmission build...
As well as require a torque-converter upgrade with anti-ballon plate and cryo/ billet shafts.
If using a turbo-charger; you can go to about 1,000 HP on the same transmission built that I rate for 800 HP.

Out of all the common power-adder systems; Nitrous-Oxide is the harshest on the engine (unless progressively controlled).
Turbo-charging would be the least harsh on the engine.

More HP than that is very doable with the 4L60E... But it is too expensive and a bad investment over a 4L80E at that point.
If driving on the expressway or a lot of street driving compared to track driving... the 4L80E would be the way to go with over 800 HP.

I do not usually push people into THM400 from a 4L80E unless the HP is above the 1,600 - 2,000 range.
However if it is a track only car... then the THM400 is fine regardless of power level.

 

I don't know all the crazy stuff that vorteciroc builds into his trans, but I think it involves extensive changes to the case and valve body for custom hydraulic circuits.
A 4L65E from the sponsors to handle 700+ HP is going to cost $4000; I have that much in mine with all the billet parts, Sonnax input drum and more.
A 4L80E to easily handle that power level is much cheaper.

 

One good way to have anything hold up to nitrous, is to use a "window" switch for the nitrous. Thia is similar to "torque management", and works very well when set up correctly. I have had 4L60E's hold up to a 1,000 FWHP, when using both as stated above. No specialty input or output shafts, just cryoing the output shaft. There is a "better" oem output and input shaft to start with for the LS style units. Cryo these and save a lot of money.

 

I learned my lesson on the shafts. Don’t cheap out. I did and destroyed almost all the hard parts and a $900 convertor. My vote is to just bit the bullet and get the sonnax billet shafts and never look back. There is no better option. Trying to save money cost me a lot more because I still ended up getting the sonnax shafts lol.

 

A 40 year pro like Dana (PBA) probably has known/reliable sources to Cyrogenic treat the shafts or perhaps the equipment to do it himself, and then the experience to examine the parts and ensure it was done right.
Us amateurs are probably better off just buying billet parts. Or buying parts or an entire trans from Dana.

 

You broke a Input/Turbine Shaft? Let's keep in mind it's splined into a aluminum drum Output shaft breakage is fairly common with big power & traction.

 

I broke both back to back. Broke output shaft. Fixed, added newer updated induction hardened shafts (both shafts were changed at the same time) Then I broke the input shaft inside of the pump stator. So I put sonnax input and output shafts. That was about 1.5+ years ago. Been beating on it with boost since. Hasnt skipped a beat

 

You could have stayed with the factory Input/Turbine & probably been fine, The induction hardening process could have made the shaft more brittle than it was to begin with

 

the "better factory shaft" PBA was talking about are induction hardened straight from GM
That's what they put in some 65e units and all 70e units.

I'll always go straight to the sonnax shaft before anything else.
The price difference vs/quality and peace of mind isn't worth it to me.