Help, rebuilt 4l60e won't go in to gear
 

About 7-8 months ago now I rebuilt a 2WD 4l60e for an LS swapped S10. I rebuilt the tranny myself and is not my first one either I have rebuilt the TH350 in my squarebody along with another TH350, 6l80, and another 4l60e which have all been doing just fine. But with the S10 the tranny was sitting in the truck for another month before I got the body set back on and the wiring all set for the swap. I then got the motor running good and was time to put the torque converter bolts in and dumped 5 quarts of fluid in, started it up sucked the fluid right down so i dumped an additional 4 quarts to where the stick read full. Now time to run it through the gears and check the fluid again but put it in drive nothing, reverse nothing, cycled through the gears a few times but still nothing. So now it is diagnosing time first started by hooking up the scanner to verify line pressures and command gear which all read fine so i picked it up dropped the pan to verify the filter was in all the way and other stuff which all checked out. Put the pan back on refilled the trans and tryed again, nothing. Now after a few days of diag and a time crunch as I was planning on racing the truck just ordered a brand new tranny off summit put it in and everything shifts fine. And now its been sitting in back for the past 7-8 months cause don't want to get rid of it as major upgrades were done to it and now i am planning on finding the problem with the tranny so i can put it behind my 408 LS as the way I built it should handle the power. The work done to tranny was the 7 clutch 3-4 pack, upgraded sun shield, corvette servo, trans-go shift kit, and removed the #5 check ball. The only thing i can think of that might have cause this problem is the separator plate I used was off a different tranny that i took apart for parts but I did the research and the plate should work from the donar tranny and the rebuilt one so I don't know so if someone can please help cause I am about to start putting my motor together and would be nice to have a trans ready to go so I can just drop it in and go.

I see no one responded to this. I hope it is fixed already.

First thing that comes to mind is that most 4L60E's take 12-13 qts total fill. So that makes you 3-4 qts shy from the get go.

Separator plates although being different, you can interchange most plates as long as both are from 96-2006. TransGo's 46plt plate uses 2001 & up's TCC design holes but replaces all 1996-2006 plates except the 2005 Corvette.

I guess i could just be low on fluid but at temperature it reads full on the stick so i don't know prefilled the torque converter so i would be at like 10-11 qts which would still be short but should still feel it go in to gear lifted off the ground

Plus i won't be putting the tranny in my car any time soon

The separator plate i user was out of a 2002 and the one i rebuilt is a 2005

2001-2006 separator plates are almost identical. Most used a 1K or 1xx code stamped in the plate, meaning they are from a 2001. 2005 Corvette is an exception.
Again deep pan 4L60E's take 12.5-13.5 qts fluid

Which TransGo kit was used? Both the 4L60E SK & the 4L60E HD-2 kit's show to use the #5 ball if there are 2 holes in the plate for it.

The function of the #5 check-ball is for the overrun clutch. It is a shuttle ball and is supposed to block flow at times.

Please explain the thought process of leaving the #5 check-ball out.

Did you make any other mods to the plate or VB?
Did you research how back feeding a circuit that is supposed to be blocked would effected?

With the number 5 check ball I have this service manual/book with a section talking about how eliminating the number 5 check ball would let you manually shift the tranny and have more control over it and also help with the longevity with the tranny

Don't remember what shift kit i used but it was transgo one with out the plate

Modifications done the separator plate included drilling out some holes outlined in the transgo kit and for the valve body replaced couple of the valve spings from shift kit but no cutting of passages were done to either the valve body or case

Sounds like i shouldn't worry about what separator plate i used

Generally when there is no output from the transmission in either the Reverse range or any of the forward gear ranges, then there is either no mechanical connection, or no Line Pressure.

If the Transmission is not installed in the vehicle, then there is no way to test Line Pressure, so it is time to take it apart to see what went wrong.
It is not uncommon for DIYers to damage or break the Pump Rotor upon installation.

Also in the future, you can burn whichever book instructed you to not install the #5 Check-Ball.
Unless you were doing one of the Custom Transmission Builder's special Modifications (like Frank's), then you need to install the #5 Check-Ball.
:nod:

1) I hate transgo just about everything. No need to reinvent the wheel and they just try to do to much. I high UNrecommend their shift kits
2) You probably broke the rotor as stated above
3) VERY IMPORTANT! You need to press the input shaft out, clean it and the drum bore up, then press it back in using loctite shaft retainer or loctite 638. The reason for that is every damn unit that comes across my bench (especially "rebuilt" ones that failed in just a few months) has a leak at the shaft. Everyone should get into the habit of pressing this shaft out and loctite back in on every rebuild. It will save you alot of headache.
4) leave out a checkball? No. do not leave out any check balls. No matter what you read. it was there for a reason, so put it back. If I were you I'd take that shit transgo shift shit out of there too. ,



You ever notice how these trans will go for 150-200k miles originally but only go 30-50k miles after a rebuild and its usually 3-4 that failed originally (or sun SHELL) and then its rebuilt and 3-4 fail again in short order? Yea, see #3, thats 99 times out of 100 the reason.

Agree on shaft , same with bore plugs and end caps along with AFL valve. Was a time you could just rebuild makes some holes larger here and there and she was good to go . But those days are long over. These things are Mim 10 years old and most much much older. They have huge miles and most times even cores i get I find have been rebuilt one or more times. The late ones are actually the worse about shaft leaks 98 up and they deal with far more power than early units , (I actually love to get old 700r4 and early 60e for hard parts for the low power reasons) .
Now days however at min on every unit REMOVE CLEAN SEALANT AND INSTALL SHAFT - BORE PLUGS - END CAPS AT CONVERTER REGULAR AND 4-3 - AFL VALVE - FWD AND 2ND ACCUM CENTER ALWAYS LEAKING METAL OR PLASTIC-ADDRESS CONVERTER REGULATOR VALVE IN ANY OF SEVERAL WAYS- I REMOVE CLEAN APPLY SEALANT AND REINSTALL OR REPLACE PUMP STATOR -ORRINGED NEW BOOST VALVE -ORRINGED IN MY CASE BUT AT LEAST TEFLON RINGS ON BAND PIN .
I do not even check to see if they leak as they probably do and the time for testing takes about as long as just doing it.
I also agree the pump rotor is probably broken on the OP units though the PR could have popped out too //

THE DAYS OF JUST THROWING A CHEAP KIT IN, ENLARGING A FEW HOLES AND GOING WITH THESE IS LONG OVER. ALSO INCREASINGLY FINDING THE VB ACCUMULATOR IS EITHER WORN OUT OF LEAKING AROUND THE OUTSIDE .

I predict in coming years and hopefully sonnax or someone makes them the days will come when virtually all the valve bores will need to be rebored with oversized valves.

I get a kick out of these youtubers showing and saying they do these in a couple hours. If so they are not doing anything close to whats really needed..