Putting a 4L65e back together. I can’t get the input drum to drop in all the way down. I’ve been working on it for an hour.
The tabs on the drums are aligned.
Some of the clutch tabs are aligned but not all of them want to align so the drum will drop all the way down.
The drum still needs to drop down at least 1/2” more.
Anyone have an idea how I can get the drum all the way down?

 

Assuming you have 3-4 clutch clearance so it can move, Just set the whole assembly with rev drum into trans with trans vertical of course then twist shake rattle and roll till it drops all the way down, Don't be afraid to be aggressive, You will know when it is fully seated because you will be able to up a bit in the input shaft before it contacts the rev drum.
Note if the frictions have oil on then can be a bit more difficult but just keep going it will drop. Don't push down just twist rattle and roll ..

 

Thanks Frank. The frictions do have oil on them. If I can’t get it do drop I’ll clean the oil off the frictions and try again.

 

As Frank says, while twisting shake it a little from side to side. Just keep working at it, if everything is installed correctly it will go. Those last few frictions can be a little hard to get engaged sometimes. Once all of the way down you should be able to lift up on the input shaft before lifting the reverse drum.

 

Still working on it. I was hoping that with all the friction tabs lined up I could just lower the whole assembly in providing both parts were aligned properly like in the pic in the first post.

 

You might want to remove the frictions and steels, dry them with a lint-free paper towel, and try again. If you installed them "wet," with any visible liquid on them, they will stick together a lot more.

I had an instructor in tech school who swore by assembling the clutch packs dry. He said that soaking them wasn't necessary, because they get flooded with trans fluid as soon as you start the engine.

I don't do it that way; I soak them, then let them drip dry overnight.

 

Sometimes lowering that assembly down can be a pain. Sometimes it will slide right on in, and sometimes you will shake your *** off till it goes. What you can also do is back track a little and take your 3/4 stack out and hand slide them onto the ring gear just to see if you have one or two that is hanging you up.

Be persistent but patient. You will get it

 

Thanks for the encouragement, I pulled the frictions and steels and cleaned them all. Will let them sit for a while and then clean them off again.
Do any of you recommend using a solvent for cleaning? Just curious as I’m a rookie at rebuilding trannies.

 

no solvent . you are just gonna have to get violent and twist and shake violently by the shaft, you wont hurt anything ,Just get serious with it.

 

Brake clean. But dont brake clean your frictions lol

I have both wet and dry stacked before. I havnt found either one to be easier. Like I said sometimes they slide right in, and others you will shake your *** off trying to get them to slide down the splines.

It'll go

Did you try and sliding each clutch down the splines on the ring gear to know you dont have one or more hanging you up for any reason like I mentioned?

 

Yup, all the clutches slid on fine.
However after cleaning the fluid off of them a few times they looked a bit thin.
I mic’ed them and compared them to some pretty bad ones that I hadn’t thrown out.
These were mostly reading 0.050 to 0.055. The junk ones were reading 0.040, some slightly less.
Think I’ll order some new Raybestos frictions.

 

Interesting.

Not a bad idea while you have it apart.

 

The clutches arrived today. Looks like someone has been into this tranny before.
I ordered and received this.
https://www.raybestospowertrain.com/...acks/rcp96-160
My input drum has 9 frictions, the kit had 7 frictions in it, which should be the correct number.
The rev drum has 4 frictions and the kit came with 4.
Haven’t pulled the rest of it apart yet.

Not a great packing job but the arrived in good condition.

 

Your goal here is .020"-.030" clearance. You can achieve this by selective thickness steels, clutches, pressure plate, and even snap ring.

Did you get a steel module too? Try and keep your thinner steel in the middle of the stack and thicker ones toward the outside

 

Thanks for the info.
No, steels didn’t come with the frictions. A few steels look like they saw a little heat, the others look fine.
Found some info on the web, looks like the last guy in this tranny put alto frictions in it which would explain why there are 9 frictions.

 

You need to replace all the steels with new. Try and keep the steels on the thicker side where you can. Need to even check apply and pressure plates for flatness

 

Any recommendation on what/where to buy steels?
This is my first rodeo.

 

WIT (whatever it takes) Transmissions. If your in New Mexico they will put out of AZ or TX I would assume.

Take your dial calipers and measure your frictions. I assume they are .080" each, Then measure your pressure plate as well as your snap ring.

For a target, try 3 .106" thick steels, 3 .076" steels, .178" pressure plate, and .062" snap ring.

Again, you can adjust each of these to achieve your .020" to .030" clearance goal.

 

WIT, nice website. We’re up in CO for Christmas, back Friday. I’ll measure them and then order the steels.
Thanks for the help.

 

I use 7 .065 frictions & 6.095 steels for .035 clearance. you can use a .106 steel to tighten it up or a .078 steel to loosen it up.
basically the 4L65E friction & steel plates with a std.4L60E bottom apply/top pressure plate.