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700R4 Transmission Nightmare!


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So I told my neighbor's son, if his transmission ever goes out I'd help him rebuilt it if he buys the parts. Well a few months after saying that it happened. The aftermarket trans cooler line came un done and he lost fluid. The truck didn't want to start. I did a neutral roll test and some thing was locking up. So we tore it apart. Here's a list of things that we found on his "Rebuilt 700R4 Transmission"

1. The pump had deep scratches at the stator.

2. The input drum, the forward clutches had no clearance! They were wedged in there so tight, the frictions were actually beveled as I pulled them out! In other words, the discs were angled and not flat!

3.the rear planetaries were destroyed. Causing an extreme sunshell wobble. This explains why the truck didn't want to roll backwards, only forwards in neutral!

4. The sunshell had excessive play at the splines.

5. Rear output shaft journals were scratched.

6. It has a non aux. Pump, vs. An aux. Pump.

All things mentioned had to be replaced. So he spent close to $600 special far. These GM transmissions can use other parts from other yrs. Looks like this rebuild was made with what the shop had laying around.....since they are interchangeable.

WAIT, it gets better.........Now the rebuild is starting to affect me. Cutting into my gym time, and my free time. :)

So come to find out the 700R4 was revised from 83 to 93 because it's a crappy transmission. The transmission case is a 86. The truck is a 93 1500 Chevy. Which just adds to this headache. So as we are putting it together I notice the tolerances are way off. Looks like he bought the wrong kit. lol. We measured every friction and steel and determined that yes the early 700R4's had thinner/thicker plates when we checked WHATEVER IT TAKES Transmission's website. Now my neighbor's son has this dear in headlights look because since I'm rebuilding it it has to be right which means more $$$ for him to spend. So I spent the last 2 hrs making measurements for the low reverse clutch. I'm at about 0.082 in. clearance and will need at least 1 plate 0.080 (replace the 0.068 steel) to bring the clearance to 0.050-0.070 range. I itemized the parts needed and I'm at about $90 so far. This will be out of my own pocket which I was not wanting to do, until he pays me back. Owning someone (me) $$$ makes for bad neighbors "Where's my $$"...."Next week I promise". I just want this transmission done so I can finish my Camaro motor!!!

Again since I'm building it, I am now liable for the transmission. lol. WTF!!!!!

If I don't help him finish it I'd be a bad neighbor. I did warn him "it might be $400 to fix, or if you have to replace parts it may double. It's still not $2200 you was quoted!!" I'm alittle annoyed not about this whole thing to be honest. lol.

Ok rant over.

-Frank

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Junk yard trans would be a lot cheaper like 500 and they come with 12 month warranty

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Tell him plainly what he owes and don't get him on the road until there is a clear plan for payment. You're making it a bigger deal than it is. That's a good thing though, you're empathetic of his situation. I'm looking at this as a business transaction and it seems easy to me.

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  • 3 weeks later...

The transmission was finally installed last night. To make things fair, I ONLY laid my hands on the transmission in my neighbors presence. He would get home at 4:45 pm and we'd work on it together til 11pm. Looking at the Youtube video as we went along. 4 eyes are better than 2! This is for a liability stand point.

As we rebuilt the unit we kept finding more parts that had to be replaced. Why have the trans fail over a $20 part?!?!?!?!?! Fix it right the first time!!

1. 1-2 Accumulator housing and piston. The piston had too much place in it to function properly. $21

2. The piston and rod that sits in the case just under the accumulator- same thing. too much play. The rod should NOT wiggle in the piston center hole. $6.00

3. Transgo separator place. Heavy duty design, meaning alittle thicker than the OEM. Everyone uses them. $30.00

4. M6 Helicoil kit. The shop that rebuilt this thing striped 2 of the bolts. When we opened up the case you could clearly see the TV cable bracket bolts were backed out. I told him that this did not look right. $30. I am keeping this Helicoil kit for my own toolbox so I am not charging him for that.

5. Stainless steel bolts to replace the striped ones. $5.00

5. I purchased the Haynes repair manual. We needed torque specs for a few things! "We are not going to look everything up on the internet! We need the manual!!!!!!!!!!!" $25.00

6. I made him research the actual transfer case gasket to transmission. It was a hard to find part which is way the last rebuilder used silicone! Nope, not going to do it that way!!! Do it right damn it!

There are still other parts needed to do the job right. I am now finishing breakfast as I tally up the parts needed for today.

1. Nut for the upper trans bolt so the dip stick can be held in place.

2. New transmission mount. He still had the original and man it was torn to pieces. Vibration from a bad mount could be why the trans bolts were SO LOOSE when we attempted to remove them! I mean, one crack of the ratchet is all it took to loosen them up. $15.00

3. A new Felpro transmission pan gasket since we raised the transmission with the cheaper gasket that came with the kit, it's compressed and can't be used. These gaskets only take 13-15 ft. lbs (need to look it up for sure) to torque down. $6.00

We're still going to need U-joints after the transfer case is in today. When we removed the drive shaft the U-joint caps just fell off! Clear indication that they were no longer lubed properly. $35 for the set.

LOL. Without the U-joints this project is nearing $720 or so dollars.

-Frank

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U could have gotten a good used tranny for way less. Especially in kansas. I can get one at my local salvage yard for 175 bucks with a 30 day swap out if there are any issues.

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U could have gotten a good used tranny for way less. Especially in kansas. I can get one at my local salvage yard for 175 bucks with a 30 day swap out if there are any issues.

Well here is the thing. The 700R4 he has is an 86 K NON AUXILIARY PUMP case. The truck originally came with an auxiliary pump and valve body. Since someone changed out the original for this one, that became a problem.... trying to find a non aux. transmission. I would rather have seen him buy an aux. pump transmission for better shifting, but he wanted the K case because it was thicker than the post 87 cases. Thicker housing to take abuse in 4x4 mode...... with 35"m mudders, that's his goal. I get it. So finding a NON AUX K case is next to impossible. We called around. We checked salvage yards. Everyone said the same thing "Man, we sold our last 4 yesterday to transmission rebuilt shops!". So we called the Trans shops. They did not have any nor would they sell them if they did. lol. Get it?

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Dude my own family sad but true, not even joking not one bit. Wouldn't do what you did. Have more respect for you right now :hi:.

lol. Thanks. He's my neighbor's son. He saw me rebuild 2 of them. It's the right thing to do. Trust me, this rebuilt trans , when we took it apart, like I posted at the beginning, was done WRONG. There's a spacer/washer that goes on the input drum. It should have end play of 0.005-0.045 inches. We were able to get the end play to 0.020 swapping out the 68 for a 71! (68,69,70,71,72,73 spacers give you different end plays, the higher the tighter). So the shop just put it all together with the 68, meaning it had a shit load of end play-- totally out of spec! So buying a rebuilt from another "Reputable shop" was out of the question. The trans was already built from a reputable shop. We removed all the seals and they were the original ones from the factory!!!! We twisted the oring and it doesn't snap back. I believe the shop cut corners and didn't remove the seals. Maybe it was econo-rebuild, only the frictions!

-Frank

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Most Trans rebuilder's cut corners,

They replace the bare minimum and that's it, and charge you for a full rebuild.

That being said a lot of people's definition of "music" is a clipped 30 hz sine wave with some 80 IQ knuckle head grunting about committing crimes and his genitals.

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