Just wondering is it better to get a shift kit or have the line pressue adjusted in a tune so the car shifts harder. I'm probely going to end up camming my car soon so am going to need a tune so do i hold off and get a tune and have it adjusted or get a shift kit and have them leave the pressure stock?

 

shift kit.

Turning up the line pressure is not a fix for anything. If it is turned up too high and used continuously it will start to break things.

 

A properly installed shift kit is definatley the better choice .

 

I had a transgo shift kit installed in my old car and it was fun as hell. It shook the car on the 1-2 shift

 

Transgo HD-2 and leave the line pressure alone. You will love the difference! I can't imagine driving an A4 without it.

 

as said above...definitly go with a Trans-go shift kit

 

now whats the diff between the shift kit or i do this what a shop around here does

seperator plate gaskets
Trans filter and gasket
.490" Boost valve-increases line pressure by 5psi

only reason i ask is becasue that is 75 and installed is 150 while the transgo stage 2 kit is around 90 on ebay just not sure what the transgo kit has extra and if i need more

 

i like my trans go. as was said with mild throttle i get sideways on my 1-2.

 

If I had it to do over I would have waited on the shift kit. Way back when I got my first converter (5 yrs ago) I let LS1 speed talk me int a shift kit. They installed it and the tranny never worked wright again. When I called them up they said that some times that happens and tryed to sell me a new tranny. A year or so later I ended up getting one from FLP.

My brother has a 04 GTO with a 3600 stall converter and he just had them adjust the line pressure, shift speed, and shift points. In 1.5 years he has had no problems.

The 4L60E is weak but my opinion is that it's best to wait until you have problems before you start sinking money into it. It seems like once you start, it never stops.

Good luck,

Al

 

i don't know why people call a trans that lasts 150,000 miles in a stock 350 hp car, regularly sees well over 100,000 miles in a full bolt-on car turning well over 50 hp over stock power and has been built to see 9's weak...

these things almost never break behind stock power and can handle full bolt-ons no problem. the only time they break is when you up the shift points after a cam. i guess an extremely reliable trans behind stock to full bolt-on power is considered weak these days.

 

ok not to hijack the thread but a question concerning the shift ktis and line pressure

im having a shift kit and stall put in, should i also have my tuner add line rpessure or leave it be? its gotta be tuned for the ehads/cam/stall anyhow so all i'd have to do is check off the box.

 

I don't think you need to tinker with the line pressure if you are putting a shift kit in. I run a 3400 stall in a cammed car with increased line pressure to compensate for no shift kit and this worked well. Had the car retuned after the cam install and line pressure recalibrated a bit.

 

You have seen the posts almost on a daily basis about broken 60Es right?
I try to keep my mouth shut because I absolutely hate the 4L60E, I could list my personal problems and those of friends here in KC with stock, local built, and professional built from sponsors from the big boards. Transmissions that never worked from day one and ones that get 5k or 10k out of them.
If you want to defend them then thats great but be honest, the 4L60E has more than its fair share of problems and the new guys should have that info so they can make an informed decision about spending ALOT of hard earned dollars on a transmission.
If your going to use the overdrive transmission then Performabuilt gets my vote because it comes down to the warranty on these units cause odds are you are going to need it.

 

Just be sure that whoever installs the kit knows what they are doing. There are certain mods that need to be done correctly in order for it to be both smooth and firm.

 

Thanks for the vote, But yes you do see post about broken 4L60E trans several time a week. But on the other hand on this board alone I would say there are 1000s of people who are running them and the real number of failures taking that into consideration is actually quite low and not any more or less comon than any other transmission. You hear some people say how rare it is to hear about a TH350 or 400 dying , That too is miss leading since. The total number of people running either is tiny yet I do see those pop up every so often also. But the fact is people in either case dont post when there trans is working great , They post when they are not. So the appearance can be deceiving. 25 people post in a week that there 4L60E died But there are 1000s out there doing great who didnt post.
I would have to say the 4L60E is like any other trans manual or auto all can be broken and all will break most just from wear since in many cases the power of the car is blamed but in a vast majority by the time people get cars they are willing to performance mod heavily the trans is allready high milage and has allready suffered years of abuse and low or non exsistant maintenance. And like any other part of the car (rear end,suspension,driveshaft,etc) when you start adding power you have to upgrade or build the trans too. Personally I guess I am Little backwards but if I was planning a major build up on my car my first performance mod would be a Built Trans to suit my plans and a converter. Just my opinion

 

yup, and they all have one thing in common: they're all owned by the ignorant. they're people that put full bolt-ons and a cam in their car, raise the shift points to 6800 rpms and say "durrr, why did my 4L60E in my car laying down 400rwhp shifting 800 rpms over stock break?" no ****, your automatic transmission designed to run in a car making 280 rwhp and shifting at 6000 rpms broke behind a car making 400 rwhp shifting at 6800 rpms? sorry you hate the 4L60E for not being able to hold 100+rwhp over stock shifting nearly 1,000 rpms higher. i guess this constitutes as a bad trans.

show me ONE other company that can do this. show me these companies that make STOCK automatics that can hold 100+rwhp over stock power shifting nearly 1,000 rpms higher. the 4L60E can be built to take that punishment all day. idiots just concentrate on all this power over stock and never bother to strengthen the driveline. most 4L60E haters are just ignorant.

 

that's another thing. don't even get me started on this.

"my car has 100,000 miles. i think the fluid is stock. my car is 8 years old. i put in a cam in it. why did my trans break?"



i love the way the T56 gets this bulletproof reputation, even though it eats clutches and rear ends. the perfect trans neither breaks itself or breaks other parts. the 4L60E car is the more reliable car in stock form for sure.

 

Im glad somebody said it. I tell people this all the time. People are ignorant about what they dont understand.

 

i think it depends on the owner!! because there are some guys that just completely thrash there cars to break something, and there are guys like me who baby there car. i do plan on doing a h/c and vig 3200 stall pretty soon. havent had any problems with my tranny. plus i dont dog my car. there are guys with stock 4l60e trannies ripping 10's with no problems at all.

 

I'm feeling froggy tonite so lets get into this.........

First of all you just called every guy running a TH350 or TH400 on this board ignorant. They are some of the fastest guys on here so I don't think they are ignorant they just know the limitations of the 60E.

Second, I have a friend here in KC who debated with me the merits of the 60E I told him it was a crapshoot but he tried it anyway. Went with a well regarded, very respected builder from one of the big boards. When the transmission was installed it turned out to be one o them high tech powerglides......yep it only had 2 gears. Brand new no less.
The builder was very honest and gave my friend his money back and you all can probably guess what kind of transmission is in his car now.......yep TH400. This one worked right out of the box.........imagine that. And this guy isn't ignorant either, he's probably done more motor and trans swaps already than you will do in your entire lifetime.

And this whole "400 horsepower shifting at 1000 RPMS higher".......I had 290 maybe 300 RWHP tops and I shifted it at 6k. So don't give me this sob story about putting major horsepower to it and spinning it to the moon because alot of guys are just throwing bolt ons at the car. Both my 60Es crapped out behind a high mile, stock internal LT1. I will give you that the stock tranny lasted quite awhile in almost stock, street tire trim. Now the tranny had some miles on it when I got hot and heavy with the bolt ons so it really didn't suprise me when it went to hell. What got me was the expensive "performance" rebuild that I got 25k miles out of. 25k before it went really bad but it never did feel completely right. Bad builder you say? You very well could be right but then I have to point back to my friend who went with a respected builder and bad stuff happened.

I can see why most of you fight for this tranny, its really your only choice if you want an auto with OD that won't break the bank (4L80E). But I think I expect what most guys expect when they throw down 1200 to 1500 dollars for a transmission, one that works, will take some punishment and will last 50 to 75k.
I was quite surprised to find out I was the red headed stepchild of the Fbody world because I installed a TH400 in my car.

But of course this discussion could go on for days.
The proof is in the pudding. I would like to see any of the major transmission builders tell us what thier failure rate percentage is on the 60E.
I don't expect to get an honest answer after all its thier livelyhood to build and sell these transmissions but I mean cmon what is it? 3% 5% I bet its more like 15 to 20%.

And I apologize 1000 times to the guy whos thread we hijacked.
Sorry man.