Hi there,

This is my first post on this forum so bear with me if I haven't learned the ways of it yet.

I am looking for some advice, knowledge, and expertise to help me with building my 4l60e. Now to start off you'll need a bit of backstory, as well as a disclaimer.

I have looked into a 4l80; I have thought about the pros and cons, and for my application, my budget, and my accessibility to the 4l60, it makes more sense with me to stick with the 60 platform.
This is also going to be a long story.

I have a 2002 T/A with an LY6 6.0 iron block. The motor has forged pistons, comp cam 238 240 duration and .605 lift, LS1 heads with TSP dual valve springs, long tube header with 3 inch straight pipe out the rear. Needless to say its making a little more than stock, i'm making 485 to the crank and 395 to the wheels. This has proven to be far too much for the 4l60. I've gone through 4 of them now, but the tranny was far from stock as well. I bought the car from a kid that got way too upside down in the car. I got a great deal. It was blown up when i first bought it and needed the motor gone through. The story was that the kid put the tranny in the car along with a 3500 stall converter 200 miles before the piston skirt blew off. I believed him and I still do. When I got the motor together and put back in the car I was thinking that the tranny was going to be fine. It had a shift kit and some Hughes clutches. The car would not shift into 3rd or 4th gear. So my dad and I pulled the tranny out in my garage and started looking for a shop. We had built the motor our selves but didn't feel too hot about tearing into the auto tranny. We found a shop local to us that a family friend recommended. The shop is really fast and the guys are really nice so I haven't had any problems with them. They said that there was a plug that came out not allowing it to shift. We got everything back together and everything was good for about 2500 miles. Then 3rd and 4th went out again. This time is would shift into them, but it did the classic 4l60 3 neutral mod. We contacted the shop and they came and picked the car up from my house, took it to their shop and rebuilt it for free. This time it was the clutches that had burnt up. I got it back and maybe 2000 miles later the same exact thing happened. At this point I didn't know what else to think other than, either the tuner didn't know what he was doing (Which I still highly doubt, his shop is extremely recommended in my area and everyone knows his name associated with very safe and very fast cars.), or the tranny shop couldn't put it together to last.

I beat the hell out of this car, its my weekend driver and my drag car.

The tranny shop gets it back to me and I drive it another 1000 miles with a few drag days on it, and the same exact thing happens. For anyone counting, this will be the third tranny that has **** the bed. Now, during this time I'm talking with my tuner and the tranny shop trying to figure out what is going on. They are both pointing at each other and I cant seem to get an answer. I have the shop rebuild again in the mean time and get it back to me. I drive it for another 1000 miles and if you can't guess, the same problem that has plagued me since I had this hop rebuild rear it's ugly face again. This brings us to current day... well February of this year. Before this time I had the tuner quadruple check his work, even change some things to see if it helps. I've taken it to the same shop for the last four rebuilds (which were all covered and done for free by them) and I keep ending up with the same end result. Back in March my friend and I took the tranny out and tore it down with a former heavy line dodge mechanic by our side. The whole time making a note of how everything was and how everything looked. We air checked the pump and the drum. We checked all of the little things like the servo and actuator pistons, everything looked good and to my surprise I had nothing to blame the shop for. We get the whole thing torn down to its case and we were just scratching our heads trying to figure out what it could be. The clutches were obviously burnt, but WHY. As we were talking about checking this and checking that, I happened to pick up the valve body and start messing with the valves. Everyone of them moved in and out perfectly, except for the 2-3 shift valve. This one would move in and get stuck. COULD THIS BE OUR PROBLEM?? Our theory is that the previous owner had that part replaced with the heavy duty part that you can get, but the other shop screwed up with the spring, or marred up the journal and caused it to stick. Nonetheless I haven't done anything with it since then. I decided to be an idiot while in my daily and I blew 2 pistons straight through the block. But now I am ready to start pouring every dollar that my 19 y/o self can make, into this car.

I said it before and ill say it again, I do not think the 4l80 is my best route right now.

My main goal with that novel above is to paint a picture of just a glimpse into what i'm dealing with. The tranny currently has these parts in it.

5 gear planetary
Aluminum actuator pistons
Corvette servo
High friction drum band

I need some advice on what parts I should put in it, as well as the brands and maybe links if you feel so kind I purchased a donor tranny for the valve body so that I can start over with something different. I plan on building this one myself. Any questions or comments leave em below

 

Pressure check next time you get the thing back in.

https://ls1tech.com/forums/ls1tech.c....php?t=1824684

 

Parts list.

TransGo 4L60E-HD2

Sonnax Extra Long Band Pin

Sonnax Heavy Duty 2-3 Shift Valve (then race with trans in drive/D3)

2 Sonnax Forward and Reverse Abuse Valve kit

Sonnax O-Ring End Plugs

Sonnax AFL End Plug

Central Valve Bodies AFL Valve part # 4L60E-AFL

Borg Warner .080" thick High energy 3-4 clutch frictions

Use a carbon material wide band on a flat reverse input drum

Deep Truck Pan and Filter



The most important thing is the find and repair the leaks in the 3-4 hydraulic circuits. For some reason I can’t attach documents any more. Once I figure this out I will attach the Sonnax Sure Cure® Kit instructions that tell how to check for hydraulic leaks.



Set 3-4 clutch clearance at 0.30

Set Servo clearance at 0.60



The below information came from PBA/Dana.



Reverse Input Drum

Use the "waved" steel to replace the Belville steel. This will stop the metal contamination from the Belville eating the drum. Set the clutch clearance to .040" - .070". Always use the Turbulator steels as they get rid of the excess drag. DO NOT install the orfice plugs from TransGo, as they will cause the piston to try to apply at hi-rpm (5,500 & up) from centrifuge which will burn the clutches and gradually you will lose reverse. Leave the aluminum piston alone. The reverse apply feed hole in the separator plate should be .104".



Drill these size holes in the separator plate instead of the sizes that TransGo state.

Drill 1-2 shift to .099", the 2-3 shift drill to .135", the 3-2 downshift hole is the one that is just above where it says "2-3 shift" drill to .120" instead of .110". The two holes at the top of the instructions, the one on the left is reverse, it should be .104" and the one to the right is the band release drill to .104" Drill the 3-4 shift to .135". Use Torlon .250" checkballs instead of the steel ones that ruin the separator plate. They come in Ford AOD & AODE transmissions. You must block the 3-2 control valve to use the larger 2-3 feed hole and band release hole. These hole sizes are for the smaller diameter torque converter, additional power and aggressive driving. If you have the transmission apart, then do not install the TransGo restrictors in the reverse aluminum piston as this will create problems on motors that go over 5,500 rpm



If you use the Torlon checkballs on the TransGo plate, then you need to seat the checkball holes first, as the plate is made for steel checkballs. On a very hard surface that is flat, take 4 pieces of writing paper and put the separator plate on top of the paper, and place a .250" - .312" steel checkball over the checkball hole. Hit the steel checkball squarely (a mild whack) with a small hammer, to give the checkball hole a rounded seat for the Torlon checkball to properly seat. This is very easy to do. Otherwise the checkball holes from TransGo are not very round to start with. The steel checkballs make their own seat quickly, but the Torlon checkballs do not.



The later 29 element sprag from Borg Warner has wider elements PN is A74658D (Transtar number). The elements are 12.7% wider than the normal BW sprag. It is a "dual cage" and one of the cages is nylon, and the other has bronze guides instead of the steel ones. It must be used with a 4L60E overrun hub. You should grind in 6 oil slots on the bronze guide that faces the overrun hub for better oiling like the steel guides have. Use the steel guide as a "template" for adding the oil slots. I have used these for when the normal sprag has been problematic.

The inner race must have no wear and must be perfectly flat and have a "mirror" finish. The outer race should be flat and rough. Use 36 grit sand paper and sand it in the direction of rotation by rolling it across a wooden bench and do it about 15 - 20 times. Rinse with solvent and blow it off with high pressure air. The later sprag can be identified by one of the two cages is plastic.



Use the Hi-rpm TransGo pump spring and use the "inner" spring from their Standard pump spring kit. Add the inner spring to the outer spring. This will keep line pressure up to well over 8,000 rpm. Always use the steel rings from the TransGo pump kit. The standard kit and the Hi-rpm kit, steel rings are the same. You must use the TransGo 7-CS spring kit when going into the 8,000 rpm territory. Block off the checkball in the input drum under the 3-4 piston, and drill a .035" hole at the bottom of the 3-4 piston bore at the very outside edge just under where the piston seal touches the bottom of the bore. This will prevent centrifuging here (bringing on the 3-4 clutches) at the top of 1st and 2nd gear.

 

Thank you guys, there’s lots of information here for me to read up on. I was also thinking about doing a trans break while I was in there. Is this a stupid move with the stock valve body? Is it better to just buy a trans break valve body? I put a lot of street miles on this car. I’m also not trying to spend $2000 to rebuild it either.

 

You will need to buy a trans break valve body if you want a trans break. You also will need to make a few more mods to the trans if you want it to live with a trans break and you will be well over $2000.