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I also found 'new' silencer rings on ebay for 11 bucks each - so I'm gonna throw one in for good measure,
Be careful of aftermarket silencer rings... they tend to break apart very easily.
OEM parts are discontinued, but are still out there.
If you can not located a GM part; then call CK Performance...
He has had some nice polyoxymethylene (POM/ Acetal/ Delrin) material silencer rings made.
vorteciroc , I owe you a HUGE THANK YOU!
If you didn't mention the tightness of the pinions, or my method of figuring front end play - I would have probably exploded my first 4l80e.
I felt something wasn't right (after your post) so I tore everything down and figured ALL end plays out again.
I found that I did it all wrong - never taking into consideration the rear end play with the front end play - and figuring rear end play with the planets installed.
After re-doing all that - with no planets installed for rear end play, and thinking a lot about the ck methods - here is what I got.
rear end play .012
rear carrier .011 - however it may change (reason at the end of post).
front hub .010
front end play .016 with a .090 pump washer - HUGE difference! I originally did the front end play being .012 TOO TIGHT! Pretty sure that would have been catastrophic!?
Also, upon a second tear down, I noticed the rear planetary pinions seemed loose. I checked the clearance in the pinions and they were over .030 (with a feeler gauge), and one had a little wobble. So, I decided to just rebuild them. The picture is of the 4 pinions - guess which one was the wobbler?
3 pinion shafts measure .443 and the 1 worn one measures .434 - it was only a matter of time. Lesson learned here!!
If it wasn't for your input I would have never found this until after the explosion.... Thanks again!
You owe me no thanks.
You took the time to properly examine the parts you have...
and to examine the clearances.
So you need to thank yourself.
For the front end-play on a THM400:
-You want to already know the rear end-play.
-Then push the output-shaft forwards into the transmission (taking up the rear end-play) and measure the front end-play by pulling up on the input-shaft.
-You want about 0.004" to 0.006" end-play in the front with the output-shaft preloaded forwards into the transmission.
-If the output-shaft is not preloaded forwards into the transmission, you should have (the 0.004" to 0.006" end-play plus the number found as the rear end-play) the combined end-play of the unit from moving the input-shaft now.
The 4L80E adds the over-drive section and the slop between the input-shaft and the snap-ring on the input-shaft.
Look at this article on end-play from Sonnax: Article
You can examine the method that I use for gear-train thrust-control and end-play.
The majority of which is based around supporting the direct drum via a torrington bearing on top of the center support.
This also now directs the forward section thrust to the center support instead of the rear section.
You can follow the 2 articles below for information on this process:
