But will be comprehensive from tear down to cleanup , build to finish
To me clean is paramount over all every nuke and cranny. I wash the case first with brake cleaner to remove loose oil inside and out. Then since I do not have a parts washer machine yet, Oven cleaner. let soak, Then simple green , then pressure washed and heated dry. Then as I do think appearance matters baking soda blast till clean and corrosion gone, I use soda instead or sand or beads or shells simply because all of those things can become imbedded in the metal and nooks crannys of the trans no matter how much you rinse, blow wash out , I know I have seen it, Soda is a water soluble alkali salt that completely rinses away with warm or cold water.
Then reheat the case again and while hot apply a light coat of durable paint to keep it looking nice. Some builders do not care much about external appearance but reality is the customer cannot see the inside but they can the outside and they judge the inside by what they see outside and set expectations accordingly.

First I replace rear bushing always they are always loose fitting I find .

It is fine to install bushing from this side as long as this type case, The cases with the thicker back area must be done from front.

Bushing installed should go in just uncovering the lube hole in case

Rear LR piston with new seals ready to install

LR piston in case

My extra special install tool.

Putting spring cage and clip in, Even if you are a first time builder this tool is IMO a must

Next to install the rear planet assembly, I dont show it but each bearing should be snapped apart and looked at for pitting. Pitting can happen due to a bad chassis ground on vehicle and while may not cause failure can make a lot of noise

This should spin freely in new bushing but have little if any side motion I prefer none.

Check planets for any wobble in every gear and end play should only be about .020, if you have any notable wobble on any gear or excessive endplay the planet most be replaced.

The little seal blade.(yes im old school still use one) is perfect for checking gear end play. it should just fit.

Planet installed make sure spins freely and listen for unusual noise, Also note the gear race should be inspected carefully that nothing has been mashed in the splines the planet gears ride in. Most time easily removed but may make noise if missed.
Next the low reverse clutch set. I have no preference clutch type here. but always use the cushion wave and make sure no more than the thickness of a steel visible through case with low roller installed. Now when I do the low clutch mod for plow trucks and extreme power units. I tighten this up a bit with an old thicker 700 steel early units used to prevent excessive impact to the lugs in case, In those instances I generally try for .040 to .050 a 1/16th drill bit serves well to make the measurement.



I always use the stock anti clunk spring whenever possible at all. While I have used the case saver/savers they are not my preference due to the noise they make.

Next is the Rear sungear. With this I do grind 2 notches on bottom. supposed to help with planet lube. Wither it does or not IDK but does not hurt. I also use two factory style bushing in sun gear instead of the sonnax as I feel they install better and are always available, Sometimes it's necessary to machine a little off the top bushing as some reaction tubes are not finished far enough but easy fix. This helps to stabilize the sunshell.

Next sunshell, I use one of three, in the stage 1 -2 get either beast or GFX depending on availability - both are good pieces and work well and 3 up get sonnax. All of these work fine and I have had no issues. While I cannot exceed 2000 rpm with my lathe I have placed all in it and found no difference as far as vibration. None was noted.


I try and line up the oil grooves . It is not critical and the gap between the two bushings will fill that duty.

Notches for oil sling to planets

In this case GFX

Next is the front planet assembly checks are same as rear planet . I do not have a preference to bearing or washer type as either really acts mostly as a bumper . It is important to note the late 2009 up planets use a different style bearing and have no ridge to locate older bearing and require special one and reaction gear. Also the ring hear and reaction should me disassembled and checked for excessive wear. Replace as needed (little note parts from early 90s and even 80s 700r4 and 4l60e are generally in the best overall shape. Love getting broken case cores for parts from that era. The reason why ? Well no power to speak of.So less stress and wear.
I do replace the bushings in these too always.


I have a MM bushing installer set works well to remove and install its in 1mm increments


This is a blunted screwdriver I made , It is bent at the end to remove the bushing.It grabs but does not damage bushing bore

Number 34 works to perfectly install bushing with the press (I use press for all bushings except case.)


I actually use the planet itself to install this one I like it to ride high in bore new surface area on planet and placing it on the planet then pressing planet into the ring gear works perfect every time


Shows late model bearing

Next is output shaft and snap ring. Since I always get a whole seal kit they come with new snap rings so I always use them.


Rear end play is not super critical with the 60E but always at this point make sure you have some and everything should spin freely.

Next will be the input drum assembly I know boring so far but I did say all of it lol.

Next is the input drum and before disassembly I air check for bubbles at 170 psi . If no leaks I proceed, I am not a proponent of removing the shaft unless leaks detected


No leaks here so we are good but will test again at end. When disassembling drum look at what is burned as that will help tell you what you are looking to solve. Many just tear down paying little attention. Whats failed gives clues to what you need to address. In this case the drum was perfect except the 3-4 burned. Also noted the band burned but not the forwards, overun or low/rev which points to a pressure rise issue.

 

You can use mine as the Guinea pig

 

looking forward to this. ive built a few 80s and about to do a 60 and really surprised how many parts it seems ill need to buy to keep one alive. still lots to learn.

 

Subbed.

If u do end up offering rebuild kits with everything needed, I could buy one and follow this build thread. Certainly would be a valuable resource. Super exciting.

 

Oh this is going to be good and thank you for sharing.

Quick question: How similar are the 4L60'S and 4L80's in terms of a rebuilding?

 

I love to see how other Professional Builders design/ spec. out their Transmission!
Keep it coming Frank.
I love to learn other methods that differ from MY Father's designs/ specs.

 

They both take transmission fluid. thats about it. lol

 

Rebuilding techniques and skills are the same for most any auto trans, but the 4I80 and 4L60e are to completely different animals.

 

As a non pro that’s done 3-4 80s and a couple 400s they are pretty straight forward and don’t need tons of hard parts replaced. I’ve had very good luck. With the little I’ve been able to read on 60s since I’m about to do one, they seem to need quite a bit different approach and there’s more hard parts to replace. I’m also surprised how small they are once you pull the bell and tail housing.

 

I am going to try and put it in the initial post to keep it simple using edit but I have no idea how long a post can actually be here or what the limits may be but we shall see.

 

Unfortunately putting it all in the main post is not possible as it has a word limitation, But did what I could today mostly the boring stuff , Will continue down here in comments tomorrow

 

Input drum. The first thing I do before disassembling the drum is air check for leaks. (I am not a proponent of removing the shaft unless it is leaking) . Then disassemble and make note of what is damaged. In the case of this drum the 3-4 clutch is burned. The overun and fwd are good along with the sprag (ALWAYS REPLACE THE SPRAG) But also noted the band was burning on the drum, This tells me we have or had a line rise issue and things to focus on. (little note, do not remove the little green oring in the drum till you are ready to replace it)

Air checking drum before disassembly for leaks . this should be done before disassembly and after reassembly.

BURNED 3-4 set This along with burned 2-4 band tells me we probably have a pressure rise issue.

Cool universal tool for removing and installing., If you are an individual building your own this is really the only tool you need to do the job on the 60e.

Reassembled drum after cleaning with new pistons. REMEMBER to replace the oring in the drum now.(The reason I say not to replace till after clean ? Well truth if most of the time the oring is fine. let's say you do forget ? Unless you see it on bench? disaster once in car. But this way 99 percent chance no big deal or issue at all)

Overun clutch set. Note i DO coat frictions. IMO if you are building one to go into a car right away or on a dyno not necessary. But in my case generally, it is neither. Frictions should however not be soaked or coated till after setting up your desired gaps as the oil would become part of your setting and you do not want that as oil or air it is a gap.

27mm is perfect for removing these bushings in front sun gear.

29 ELEMENT sprag, I use the borg dual cage but others will be suitable too, Now if the unit came with the later GM sprag with the 15 percent wider roller pieces I will try to replace with one of those if available. Bear in mind while you can put the borg sprag in place of one of those and be fine , You should not, cannot put one of the late wider Gm sprag in place of the older unless new ASSEMBLY IS USED.


4 small holeS drilled to vent oil from sprag to Overun hub surface (Honestly GM should have put a thrust washer here)


I also notch here supposedly helps with planet lube but certainly does not hurt.

Never leave wave out of forward. If you do you are asking for a very aggressive D APPLY and possibly break lugs in drum.

I always use NEW STEELS . I am not overly particular about the brand same with the fwd clutch frictions (I do prefer the carbon style OVERRUN because of my overun mod and the cycling of the overun clutch resulting)


FWD clutch clearance is also not critical. But no more that the thickness of a steel and not so little that if you turn drum horizontal you cannot easily turn sun gear by hand both ways .

These plates along with apply are always warped in the friction area even NEW ONES I have found are not generally straight.

Shows how uneven they are after a single .005 cut .

Shows apply plate after machining flat and the discoloration is a primitive, but functional heat treating I do when finished cutting. This is done by heating plate red hot then a fast splash through cool water (real fast) this hardens the outer layer of the surface to help with rigidity but leave the flexibility inside. I know the process works because i have played with recutting on the lathe and after this process is done the outer .005 or so cuts hard while the inner remain soft to cut.

7 friction set up here with .090 steels. This is my towing HD SET UP where cooling is of greater need than massive HP hold . My Performance build get 8 in the stage 2 and 9 in the stage 3 shift time appropriate to setup.THINNER steels require a much quicker apply to avoid heat warpage. Everything is a trade off to purpose.

Machined backing top plate also heat treated

I always install the load release spings.In this case a stock type set but I use a hillman set when clutch set position changed dramatically like in the stage 2 and 3 performance units.
3-4 clutch clearance I like to see between .020 and .030 load release springs installed dry. Then I coat and reassemble (NOTE I coat my friction's with non detergent 30w motor oil . Why ? I have no idea how long a unit I Build will sit till installed . SOMETIMES it is months even years. the 30w Sticks and keeps moisture from getting to frictions which can cause them to rust or delaminate over time. All hard parts are washed in my water based parts washer with RUSTLICK then blown off till dry with the exception of planets which are rinsed with brake clean (non alkali) then coated with WD 40 Anti rust coating after being blown dry) I now install the teflon rings on shaft and recheck for leaks. a FEW more things about this drum will be posted next thread.

 

Next post tonight or in morning, Time to get to work now .

Little note before someone ask. The brand and type of the 3-4 frictions are all the same in the pack. But are different thickness .
This is the only explanation I can see over the color difference in the metal area some may notice. I use thinner and thicker steels. frictions and lathe to get my clearances.

 

Great work man thanks for sharing definitely alot of effort put into this. I have been rebuilding these things for 3 years and know a bit from the reading and videos on youtube but I am not familiar with a pressure rise, can you elaborate more on the rise is are using it as a general term for any line pressure related issues? I love these things now and can't keep my hands off of them I have 2 on my front porch right now XD

Photo below was the worst one I ever opened. It was definitely converter clutch material as the amount I found inside behind every single piston amounted to more than a burnt 3-4 pack. Replaced alot of springs including the boost valves, seals, cutches, bushings, separator plate and gave it some torlon check ***** and sent it after what pressure testing I am capable of, after nearly a year that guy still has it running in his DD truck wanting me to rebuild manuals for him which I don't do yet. I would be interested to know what you think caused this and what kind of pressure testing you do on the valve body as well :]

 

Pressure rise means the line failed to rise with throttle. Causes could be bad PCS, badly leaking AFL, Badly leaking boost valve or sleeve as opposed to an overall pressure issue where you would see burning of the fwd or overun or both. And as opposed to just the 3-4 and band ok which could point to leaks in the 3rd clutch hydraulic circuit, Of course low line rise can be a vehicle issue with the MAF, MAP, TPS also but those things we cannot address in the build unless you want to go TRANSGO 46MOD and vacuum control line.(NOT A FAN)

 

I did not do pictures of installing the teflon rings on input shaft as they are self explanatory. But do suggest this kit a must for doing them or something similar.


When drum is complete air check again as shown earlier with a little oil around shaft. No bubbles you are good. I check at 170 psi . If it is going to leak it will then.
If it does leak, OOPS . back up, disassemble drum and remove pistons and little green oring and lube seal.
Clean all oil off drum and place drum on hot plate or stove to heat drum. I just use a cheap hot plate . set drum on plate with it on high.Use a laser thermometer through hole in drum and heat till center of drum not shaft is near 300 degrees, Shaft will stay comparably cool. With gloves remove drum from heat. Support bottom as sometime the shaft will just slide right out. But if not flip drum in a suitable holder and a few gentle taps the shaft should come right out. I do it this way to avoid further damaging drum removing shaft.
Check Splines for wear if you see any the drums no good. Check shaft to drum sealing area. Some minor erosion on either or both is normal. But if extreme get a new drum and or shaft.

But if only minor to moderate you can do one of two things. but first clean and remove all oil from drum and shaft.

Now you have a choice. You can use sealer made by loctite works well not to be confused with loctite for bolts which is useless for this purpose. But note takes at least 72 hours to cure at 75f before can be tested or used. Me I use something else, (super glue gel) . For this you want the drum warm but not hot and the shaft chilled and you will need a press, Chill shaft and heat drum to touchable but warm. coat inside of drum and shaft area that goes in drum semi liberally with the sealer or glue. Then place drum on press with something to support center of drum. Align the key together splines on shaft with same in drum . I use a marker on both before I start Then quickly press shaft back in drum till it stops. Clean any residue on top of drum off with cloth or if already setting a little fingernail polish on a rag. Blow through all all the holes with pressurized air . If you can keep drum warm 80 to 120f and in 24 hours with super glue gel and 72 hours with the locktite sealer. You can reassemble drum and retest. If no leaks you are good. If still leaks .You will need a drum.
(NOTE on the super glue gel. The shaft cannot be removed even with heating after cured. Attempts to remove will result in bringing bits of aluminum out with the shaft (yes I have tried it ) and do not try regular super glue. You are not fast enough. It will harden as you are installing shaft and shaft will get really hard to press in or get stuck)

Sorry no photos of this procedure as luckily on this one my drum was sealing well .
More in the morning.

 

Reverse input drum, It is imperative this drum is flat. This does not means mirror finish but flat across. Do not assume a reman drum is flat, Out of curiosity I put a couple of these on lathe. they were not flat.Close but no cigar. I can only assume they were cleaned and polished. Took a .003 cut to make them flat all the way across.
Used drums can be machined if you have lathe and they are in nice overall shape where contact to sunshell. But cut no more than .015. (I have note also that older drums are thicker than brand new ones, I have also compared new GM drums and TWAIN aftermarket new drums and they are identical in every way I can see or measure. Though I prefer to use the GM drum on principle. I can find not actual difference between the two and have seen both in service working as well as the other.
New bushings in the drum if used are a must IMO.
Note also if the vehicle is to exceed 6000 RPM consider replacing every other spring in the cage with springs from a TH400 to help prevent centrifugal apply.

 

Servo and apply pin along with clearance.
In my stage 2 . I use the vet servo with the sonnax 4th servo.( Quick note on the sonnax "Opinion" the sonnax 4th servo for most is just a pretty as unless you plan to shift to 4th at WOT or are towing heavy loads. It offers no real advantage IMO. I use it because people like it.)
That said. First always use a pin with seals on ot , It can be the sonnax pin with teflon rings or in my case I machine pin for a rubber o ring. Grooves are cut .063 deep and I use the green orings from the harbor freight kit. Why these? They are stiffer and less prone to rolling and or being damaged during install.
After cutting if you choose this method, The pin should be re-hardened by heating to cherry red then a quick splash through cold water to help avoid pin flex as the pins are hardened from the factory. Once done and cooled install orings and test fit in bore. You should feel slight resistance as rings slide into bore but not more than you can overcome with your hand. Then pull back out and inspect rings for cuts. If you see cuts you have a sharp edge in bore use a pipe cleaner of appropriate size on drill to clean up. Replace oring and try again.
I started doing this because Increasingly this has become a large leak area. If you put a little oil in and then air you can see just how much it does leak.
This leak takes away from both the band apply and the 3-4 circuit.
The Teflon rings and even better the rubber rings solve this. Of note you can alternately invest in bore tool and use oversized sonnax pin, However even in this case I use the orings.
I have not as of yet seen real long term durability observations of my oring set up, To date only been able to observe which came back over converter delamination (Cheap Jegs/Ebay converters argh) but one had been 25k miles and I Observed no notable wear on the rings or removal of the green coating they have. (I figure that is good and worse case they do wear and you end up with just the pin like factory ) But the orings do seal superior to the stock pin/ bore, sonnax teflon or oversize pins in my test.

 

Next installation will be about band clearance set up and servo install / setup tonight or tomorrow. For now out to work.

 

Band Clearance.
Two steps actually exist here , Some do not see as important and with the stock servo set up probably not One of course is important total clearance, For that I like as close as I can get without band rubbing drum .
But the first step is making sure both servos have the same travel distance. This is mostly important with the flat bottomed after market servos like sonnax and superior 4th servo as they have limited travel by design before. Ideally you want the 4th servo contacting the pin yet have no gap in servo set up.
This can be achieved with washer of various thickness. Note with the sonnax the washer against the servo must be grade 8 or 10 and must be in contact with both parts of the servo but must not block the slots at pin area. You can used various thickness to replace the one that comes or you can add a thin regular washer between the sonnax washer and pin clip. If its to far away with a gap you can add a washer between second and pin.
Basically you want the set up set solid no gaps but servos contacting pin. Do not use the Transgo large washer. It does nothing to fix travel.
If using the sonnax 2nd servo I like to use a DRING in one groove and a teflon in the other.
Always use the stiff wide coiled spring for 4th return.These now come in most kits I have seen.
I also replace the stock return spring with a intermediate band brake servo return spring from a 400 or 4l80e as particularly with D-RINGS the servo may not completely return coming to a stop and leave band partially applied.
NOTES-
1- If installing servo with pump already in so you cant see. Rule of thumb is when you push in the servo cover it should travel no more than the thickness of the snap ring.
2- Always after servo and pump install make sure output shaft will turn by hand in both directions any gear but park. May be a little harder one way that the other due to clutch drag . But should not be alot.
3-Never put snap ring at edge of gaps and make sure any corrosion/ rust dirt is out of groove or you may be buying a new case,
4-If you use the Superior super hold servo like I do in my stage 3 and max, You must machine the center part to give room for 4th servo travel else you will have premature band failure or slipping / no 4th
5-I failed to mention the 3rd accum encapsulated check ball in case. At start before anything after cleaning you should make sure this ball is clear of debris and seals when pressed to inside, I am not a fan of using the sonnax valve thing. Nor blocking this hole in case,
6 -Always air check 4th and second apply when done installing and hold thumb over band pin in case because it can get pushed out during test.
7- One of these works great to compress servo assembly into case and hold while you install clip .

Regardless of which servo set up you use , the idea is to have the servo assembly stack solid before you start with the 4th servo contacting the pin and no gaps between parts.



Below is a short vid of the primary reason I feel it is important to address band clearance at two points rather than just from the 4th servo perspective, The motion shown in the vid is also part of the second apply servo clearance, The band is not fully applied till this compression is complete and is apart of the total servo travel. So Imo it is important to make sure when all is set both the 4th servo and the second servo accum plate are in contact with the band pin . Not just the 4th servo which is how I myself and I am sure others set it. It is my belief this is why you see a post at times of someone slipping in second but holding in 4th with no obvious issues with the servo. Basically the second servo is maxing travel before completing this compression.
I realize some may say it is a rare situation , But I always strive for perfection as much as reasonably possible.

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