So my first time in an 80 - This is going into a motor home behind an 8.1, I bought the trans (1985 from a 16k pound motor home = no parking pawl) from an RV salvage yard with a claim of 21k miles- yeah right.... Open it up and damn they were not lying. Figured I would play it safe and go thru it anyways and am using Jakes stage 2 kit.
I did the rear roller and with no shims I get around .007' end play without the snap ring and band...all good so start to build the rear stack and when I tried to install the heavy snap ring (.110"thick) I cannot get it seated fully in the groove. It does fit in the groove all the way around but not full depth so the ends actually sit on top of each other, I can tap the ring around the circumference and get it pretty close but not all the way. Here is the kicker - my end play is now .017".
So remove the thinner center support snap ring and we are good to go, the center support can actually move very slightly so not in a bind from the big snap ring .
What is the purpose of that smaller snap ring - is it to keep the center support from fretting the case?
Should I sand down the thick snap ring ?
Do they make a .005 or .010' bearing spacer for the 350 roller bearing - the supplied .015 is too tight .

 

Ahhh - I had a smooth brain moment - I thought the HD snap ring was supposed to replace the bevel snap ring.

Also if you are using Jakes stage 2 kit the bonded steel forward piston does sit slightly higher than the cast aluminum one because of the 3 dimpled legs so you will not be able to use the .090 plates in the kit ( unless you are deleting the wave) and will have to use the old .077 plates along with th400 wave plate to make the stack work. I kept second guessing myself if I installed the wrong piston then finally mic'ed out the 3 "****"

 

What year 4L80e? That motorhome year you list is prior to the 4L80 being produced? It's not a TH400, is it? 🤔

Yeah, the "HD snap ring" goes on the intermediate clutchpack not on the center support...some center supports do have a thin shim that looks like a snap ring though...

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Sorry - I meant 1995
Yeah I think they call that shim/ ring a "fretting ring" also - goes under the center support

 

I've seen this before. Parts supply store sold me a HD snap ring that was .110" thick and it was too thick to fit in the groove. It was quicker for me to take it back to WIT where I got it from and buy a .106" snap ring from Transtar 5 min away than to grind it down. If you have a local supplier near you, see if they have the correct size before spending the time to grind it down.

They make a full range of shims.

.010 thick 44212A
.015 thick 44212B
.020 thick 44212C
.025 thick 44212D
.030 thick 44212E
.035 thick 44212F

Or you can buy a kit that has all of them 44200F / K35412

The anti fretting ring insulates the support ledge in the transmission case from cs rearward thrust and movement that can result in case damage. Without the ring, the cs lugs would eat away at the transmission case at the lug to ledge interface.