My junkyard tranny needs help
Thread Starter
Staging Lane
Joined: Feb 2006
Posts: 50
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From: New England
My junkyard tranny needs help I'm screwed last Feb I bought a 5.3 and a 4L60E from Shram Auto parts for my S10 project.so the tranny has been sitting untill last week when I tore it down to bead blast and paint the case's, cause it was badly corroded even though it only had 4k on it.When I opened it up I noticed a slight burnt smell and upon inspection I find heat discoloring on the carrier shaft ,reaction gear and the carrier shaft bushing is cooked.Damn I paid 1K for this cause it was supposed to be a low mileage drop in but what I got for 1K was a damn core 
sorry to hear that let us know if we can help you out any.
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If you would like to do it your self we have parts listed on our web page along with fresh units. We do blast our units before we paint them. Per request we could leave it unpainted for you. If you would like to see a picture of the finished product I could take some pictures for you. Vince
Thread Starter
Staging Lane
Joined: Feb 2006
Posts: 50
Likes: 0
From: New England
cool thanks guys .Yup my original thought was I'd do this myself since I've had exp on a few trans just never did an auto wanted to try one, and being out of a wreck I wanted to check it out thoroughly .So far all the bushings appear mint and so do the clutch disc's the pinion gears don't show any signs of heat or damage ,I'm going to bring a feeler gauge from work tomorrow and check the end play.So far the only thing bad I see is the heat discoloring I mentioned but I haven't opened up the input clutch yet either .I had already sent the case's to Specialty Stripping and I just got them back and I got a master kit with alto disc and a beast shell last week so now I'm into this for over $1300 and I'm like do I replace the plant peices and throw it back together or bite the bullet and ship it out
Yes because the blue burn is a sign of lube loss so it may help us help you to decide what to do
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Verdad Gallardo remove the internals of the input drum and inspect the lub seal in center of drum
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Originally Posted by northcoastrides
These are the only parts showing signs of heat,the pinion end play is within specs at .018 and the gears don't look bad but then I haven't checked the lash
Thread Starter
Staging Lane
Joined: Feb 2006
Posts: 50
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From: New England
Heat treating ,OK that makes total sense ,I was plexed by the bluing on only those two parts and nowhere else.The gears are mint no pitting or signs of abnormal wear and no wobble and like I said the end play is fine .The pins look ok they have on them what looks like blue dye from when they were checked for wear pattern during assembly.so the one thing I don't like is the scoring of the bushing in the 2nd pic, I'll replace that one and check out the seal in the input drum, I've got alto disc for it and my second beast shell just came in the 1st one had a deep gouge running across the inside so TCI replaced it...Thank you for the help and reassurance I was starting to get bummed out by so many problems with parts I've bought in the last year. I'll keep you posted and I'm sure I'll be stepping up to a built trans when I upgrade the cam and intake...
Last edited by northcoastrides; Dec 7, 2006 at 10:16 PM.
Thread Starter
Staging Lane
Joined: Feb 2006
Posts: 50
Likes: 0
From: New England
You know,I got thinking about it,heat treating is done in an oven so I don't see how they can heat treat only a portion of a part and heat treating shouldn't heat up one end more than another causing shading and blueing.No I believe what happened is the Tahoe,that the trans came out of, was towed from the front and without the converter turning and the pump working it caused the bushing inside the planetary to heat up from lack of lubrication which caused the blueing on the end of the carrier shaft where the bushing sits directly inside.As far as the reaction gear I guess it could be from the treatment process since no parts that are in direct contact are discolored
Well if this were the case then the bushing should blue as well. I do believe that you are worrying about nothing. Here are a couple of other photo's that I have. Keep in mind I see this every day.
Thread Starter
Staging Lane
Joined: Feb 2006
Posts: 50
Likes: 0
From: New England
so your saying that blue on the end of the shaft is perfectly normal,unless the bushing is blued also,well the bushing is blued and scored and it is the only bushing in the entire trans that looks like this and is accompanied by bluing on the metal part it is housed in.I pulled it apart because I know what burnt fluid smells like.I hear the planetary section of the 4L60E is prone to failure and whether it is caused by mnfr design flaw or extreem use such as racing ,towing,being towed I don't know but that is why I'm in no hurry to through it back together If I had a fully stocked tranny shop in my back yard I wouldn't be worried if I was a trained tranny tech I wouldn't be worried if I didn't have to pay another $1200+ if this tranny fails I wouldn't be worried but since every bushing in this unit looks mint without so much as a scratch except this one yes I am worried,finding the $ for this project is hard enough without paying for parts twice so I don't want to put any part back in if I''m not 100% sure it won't fail.I'm just trying to way out my options here and to send this unit out to be built I don't feel is my best, cause then I'll have over 2800 into a street tranny .Maybe I'll replace a few questionable parts along with the new pieces I already have and run it til I can afford a built one or just reassemble and dump it and buy a perf one from one of you guys since there are no reputable performance trans shops in my area so guess I'll sleep on it or 
on it...naw I've never sold anything that I didn't feel confident in I'll end up with more $ in it then it's worth and then buy another one after all ,thats just how it goes
on it...naw I've never sold anything that I didn't feel confident in I'll end up with more $ in it then it's worth and then buy another one after all ,thats just how it goes From the picture it looks worn but not blue'd as I would call it or seen them in the past. I would probably replace the bushing but the reaction shaft is probably fine. How is the surface on the output shaft? Is it blue'd? How is the case bushing? I can sell you a bushing kit or a new reaction shaft if you feel you need it. I can see that you are being very critical with this build. I like that. 
That is how we build each and every unit that goes through FLT. We check things or replace things that most shops will reuse. Keep in mind that if this truck had been towed very that would not be the only sign of it. Bushings are wear idems and I believe that is what you are seeing. it looks like you are going to do a fine job. Vince
That is how we build each and every unit that goes through FLT. We check things or replace things that most shops will reuse. Keep in mind that if this truck had been towed very that would not be the only sign of it. Bushings are wear idems and I believe that is what you are seeing. it looks like you are going to do a fine job. Vince Thread Starter
Staging Lane
Joined: Feb 2006
Posts: 50
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From: New England
Thanks Vince.I know I sound like I'm worring to much but this is new territory for me and a learning exp,I can't tell you how much I appreciate you taking the time to help ,not many people are willing to do that.My shaft looks exactly like the one you have pictured and if you say it's ok to run it with a new bshg ,well I'll take your word for it! I wasn't sure what I would find so before I even started I had my parts guy hook me up with a kit that his contact at I think it was TransStar put together for my application it has all bshgs,seals,disc and steels, so I'll give it hell.Thanks again for the encouragement
FormerVendor
Joined: Oct 2006
Posts: 3,123
Likes: 3
From: D-F/W
Ordinarilly the blueing in transmission components is either from flame hardening or from a micro weld and is part of the manufacturing process. As Vince stated if the corresponding component is not blued or damaged then you'll be fine. Usually you will find several components damaged along with excessive debris in the pan... also the smell will be unmistakeable. Burn't tranny fluid has a very pungant odor and would be very obvious.
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Thread Starter
Staging Lane
Joined: Feb 2006
Posts: 50
Likes: 0
From: New England
Flame hardening? so they harden just the spline area and not the whole shaft.Ok I'm an IDIOT ! Under the lighting in the shop the bushing appeared to be black or blued but now that I look at it under the light on my desk it is only wear like Vince stated and the output shaft has less than half a thou of wear and doesn't show any discoloring.It seems lately that I've been getting parts that were either wrong or defective, so I was thinking this tranny was just one more.I guess I kinda freaked