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I thought id put together a Large Run through of doing a full Rebuild on a 4L60E transmission, from teardown to inspection of parts, replacing parts and rebuild process. I will keep adding to this post as the build takes place. I am not a transmission rebuilder, just simply a home mechanic saving money I take no responsibility if you do this yourself and stuffup.

Firstly i have picked up a used 160,000km Transmission, has been sitting i suspect for a year, only paid $190 for it so we will see if it's good or not.

My Full Rebuild Parts List:

Complete Alto Red Eagle High Performance Friction Kit
Complete set Kolene steels
Complete gasket and seal kit
Complete bushing kit with Teflon front pump bushing
Complete thrust washer kit
Sonnax Smart Sunshell Kit
Acdelco Reverse input drum
Wide Alto High Performance Carbon Band
Sonnax 2nd and 4th Servo Kit
Sonnax Forward, 1-2 and 3-4 Double Seal Pinless Accumulators
Sonnax & Corvette Accumulator Springs
Raybestos Forward Sprag
Low/Reverse Roller Element
.500 Boost Valve with sonnax spring
Stator Shaft
Separator Plate with gaskets
Sonnax Wide Sun Gear Bushing
ACDelco 3rd accumulator and 3-4 exhaust check valves
ACDelco 3-4 Apply and Backing plates
Bonded steel clutch pistons
Sonnax replacement load release springs
New Filter & Pan Gasket
Here's my workbench for this project, an old Subwoofer box, it's ideal for working on the trans case it has recessed insides as you'l see later and also has a hole in the top for working on drums, pumps etc. Down to cleaning the case a bit, you know when the Mr's isn't happy already giving you the toilet brush. Just Kidding, she's happy im spending far less than paying someone for a rebuild. DISSASEMBLY

Took the pan off and ill sit that in the bottom of the box to catch any oil and debris, i let it sit there for a while to drain. Take the rear seal off Spin it round and take the rear housing off The Shaft is in good condition and the Speed Sensor Reluctor cog is fine as well. Slight wear in the rear housing bushing, it'l be replaced anyway. While that's dripping we'l start on the valve body Here's a reference labeled one We need to first remove the PWM lockup solenoid by removing the clip, yes these clips are under big spring tention and will go flying, i spent 1hr looking for it after it hit the roof and went flying. Taking a photo and declipping isn't easy. Then we Can Remove the TCC Lockup Solenoid from the pump. From there then disconnect all the clips and unbolt the harness We can then remove the valvebody and pressure manifold switch as seen in the photo above top middle and you will then end up with the seperator plate and 7 check balls Then remove the hold down plate seen above to the right and then the 1-2 accumulator housing lower right and then remove the separator plate it will have 2 gaskets on it i will be replacing the plate and gaskets with new ones, then put all your bits in a bag, i taped the checkballs to the bag so i wont loose my balls and then and i know there for the valvebody as well. Then we can remove the wiring harness main plug using a socket and set the harness aside. Then Remove the 3-4 Accumulator Piston, Shaft, Spring and That checkball. Then Let the Rest Drain out and Move onto the Servo while it's on it's side. Take the Snap Ring off Take a small screwdriver or pick and pull that seal out while moving the cover and it should lift off 4th Servo Piston 2nd Servo Assembly and spring Now time to take the internals out, Starting with the pump, There's a pump puller tool, but i found it no problems just turning the pump bit and wiggling it out. Next is the Input Drum assembly But before i pull the input drum out ill remove the band anchor pin, i used an old powerfull hard drive magnet to get it out Then pull the drum assembly out Remove the Band, this one has little wear by the looks, ill be replacing this with a wider band anyway Next is the Input Sun Gear To Remove the Reaction Carrier you have to remove the small yellow clip it will come out, it has a 4pinion planetary gear inside and roller bearing. This assembly is what links onto the output shaft. Then the Sunshell comes out it has a thrust wash inside and another on the other side, The Sonnax Smartshell uses a roller bearing to help with the wear on the inside of the shell The Reaction Sun Gear Next is the Low/Reverse Roller Clutch First Remove the big Yellow snap ring as seen above down the bottom, then the best way ive been told without damaging anything is to hit the output shaft, bit hard with a camera but use a piece of wood obviously, this will knock out the Clutch and also the anti clunk spring from the side of the case, the spring stops the clutch moving absorbs the impact while changing from Reverse to Drive and Drive to Reverse. Then Remove the Low/Reverse Roller Clutch Then the Output shaft will come out Then we have the 4 pinion Reaction Carrier Low/Reverse Clutch Frictions and Steels The Reaction Gear and roller bearing at the bottom, the chunky bits around the reaction gear is where the park brake locks in. INSPECTION

Pump

The pump's stator shaft has some damage, so ill be replacing it, it's a cheap item about $50 and this way will also have new bushings in it, one less thing to do, ill have to check inside the torque converter as well. Take the 5 main pump bolts out and it'l split in half, mines a 10 vane rotor, some have less, these ones should have 10, you can upgrade to a 13 vane but apparently it's not worth it, wont give any more pressure and the vane rotor has issues with cracking due to less metal in between the vanes, especially at higher rpm's Check inside the walls for wear and vanes etc. No problems with mine here. Check the pump filter, mines clean as Planetary Gear

Check both planetary gears, check for side movement or damage on any of the gears, then check the end play in the gears between the gear and the washer. It should be in range of 0.21 - 0.61mm, mine were all around 0.40mm which is fine, no gear damage and no bad movements. Valvebody

For the valvebody we need to check all solenoid resistances, check that valves are free to move in the bore and that there is no damage or excessive wear on valve parts, some valves can be checked for wear in there bore by shining a light behind the valve in the bore you should see no light passing around the valve from the other end. You can also use a pick to push the valve against the spring then let go and it should move straight back freely be careful not the scratch the bore or valve. On my valvebody here all valves were spotless, solenoids tested fine and i have also now installed the pinless forward accumulator. Checking your solenoids they should read in the ranges below.

Shift Solenoids 20 - 40 Ohms
3-2 Downshift Solenoid 10 – 15 Ohms or 20 - 31 ohms
TCC PWM Lockup Solenoid 10 – 15 Ohms
Force Motor or Pressure Control Solenoid 3.5 – 4.6 Ohms

I then installed new seals on the solenoids from the master kit. The Torque settings for the Forward accumulator housing bolts and force motor bolt is 7.9 - 8.3 Foot Pounds.

Also a note about the valvebody plate, when purchasing a plate there are two different ones depending on which 3-2 downshift valve you have. Check your valvebody stamp date 95 is different to 96.
REBUILD

Rev input Drum

For this part i bought a new reverse input drum, fairly cheap and this way you also get new bushings factory installed, it's also a good idea if your using a new band, it's a bit like brake pads you use new discs with new pads.

So first need to pull the snap ring out of the drum. Then take out the steels and clutches Now we need the trans spring compressor to compress the spring cage so we can remove the snapring. Then spring cage comes out Then we can remove the piston at the bottom of the drum Now we need to put new seals on the piston from the master kit and install into our new drum, make sure you install the seals the right way as they have lips lip edge hanging down, use petroleum Jelly on the inside of the drum and on the piston seals, you need to lube them as it's very tight to get in, also you will need something thin like a feeler gauge to take around the inside of the seal edge to make sure it does not crease backwards while working it down, it's tricky to get in and you can't push down. Reinstall spring cage with compressor and install snapring back in Next you can see the new alto clutches and kolene steels, the old top and bottom steels will be reused. Also it is of much debate weather or not to soak your clutches before install, i decided to coat them with oil. Next is the cushion plate, should be installed cone side up or raised side up. Next install a steel Then install a clutch, do this in this alternate order for the 4 steels and 4 clutches Then reinstall the pressure plate with flat edge on the bottom Reinstall the snap ring Now we need to measure the clutch pack clearance between the snap ring and top of the pressure plate, it should be in the range of 1.02-1.94mm, mine was 1.40mm, if it's not correct you can buy different thickness of pressure plates. Next to test the piston you can use 40psi of air in this hole to test the piston movement.

I have seen videos on youtube where a bloke was rebuilding them blindfolded.
If you look in the u.s they have a wide variety of upgraded components at reasonable prices.

yeh im sure after 30yrs the pro's would be able to do that. Ive searched around quite a bit and found this place. http://www.trutechtrans.com/ The guy there also has 25yrs experience, has good prices on parts and is willing to help with any questions i may have during the rebuild. Ive done the full teardown and inspection, so am ordering parts soon, just gotta do the writeup

NICE WORK

It would be great to do it yourself personally as you know it's done right & no corners cut, but it's about having enough time & a good clean working area!

& a nice support to make it easy to work on & around!

Keep it coming... Cheers VX L67 Getrag

I had a few of them break the reaction shell a few years ago they did an upgraded one called a beast reaction shell might be worth looking at they strip the gear clean off.

Yeh the beast sunshell has stronger weld's along the lip to the gear ring, im going to use the sonnax one which also is treated and uses thrust bearings instead of thrust washers, this is ment to help lightn the wear load. Which should have been the case in the first place i would have thought, the thrust bearings are used in all the other component faces. The next thing to wear is the front or rear planet gears. Ive been advised to stay away from aftermarket planet gears and only use acdelco ones, you can use the upgraded 5 pinion gear from the 4L65e. Mine were all well within wear limits and showed no issues so keeping them.

http://www.sonnax.com/product-lines/hig ... parts/1338

Here's my shopping list atm some of the items come in the rebuild kit, should make a strong trans and handle a boosted engine if that ever happens, the parts should get oil where needed better and give longer component and clutch life. Interested in peoples thoughts

Complete Alto Red Eagle High Performance Friction Kit
Complete set Kolene steels
Complete gasket and seal kit
Complete bushing kit with Teflon front pump bushing
Complete thrust washer kit
Wide Alto High Performance Carbon Band
ACDelco 3rd accumulator and 3-4 exhaust check valves
ACDelco 3-4 Apply and Backing plates
Bonded steel 3rd clutch piston
Sonnax replacement load release springs
New Stator Shaft
Sonnax Smart Sunshell Kit
Acdelco Reverse input drum
Sonnax 2nd and 4th Servo Kit
Sonnax Forward, 1-2, 3-4 Double Seal Accumulators
Sonnax 1-2 Accumulator Purple Spring Upgrade
Raybestos Forward Sprag
Low/Reverse Roller Element
Boost Valve Upgrade
New Filter & Pan Gasket

if you fit a shiftkit you can leave out the accumulators as most get deleted by the shiftkits I say shift kits cause you need to mix 3 different kits to make the 700/4l60e strong plus lots of special holes need drilled in some of the hardparts of the transmission this is where the pros at building t700's have spent many hours messing round studying the fluid paths and damaged transmissions to see whats causeing failiures just fitting all the best parts wont really make it any better than a stock box apart from it will be like new again.youll allso need a dial gauge feeler gauges a good straight edge and a few speciality tools for the t700 to do the job at all properly but it is the years of experiance that makes a good t700 just like some people can build a strong t350 others cant build one that would last a month LOL

Yes i may fail, experience i do not have, but i have lots of material to check against and follow and people with lots of years experience who can answer my questions or point me in the right direction. Id rather spend a little trying myself and learning than paying someone big dollars and not see or do anything.

If you look at my parts list I already have most of the upgraded parts included in a shiftkit, all the experts i have talked to agree drilling holes in the plate and removing the accumulators will quicken the shifts but cause shift overlap which is harder on hard parts and wears components more quickly, if it was a drag strip machine then the difference in normal wear vs shiftkit wear might be different, but then the build and components would be completly different. Unfortunatly atm it's my daily driver.

As i understand it the Boost valve will increase line pressure as throttle increases, The exhaust valves help quicken the release, 2nd servo is an accumulator for 3-4 clutch pack and Servo's will quicken band apply, a wide band is also on the list along with a new reverse input drum for it to wear to. The Accumulators are double seal and upgraded springs will make them stiffer but still give some cushioning. The Red Eagle clutches are also upgraded over stock ones and from then on the rest is just new parts or hardened parts to fix stock issues and help longevity.

I have straight metal rulers for both checking surfaces and measuring bushing inset, will need a 2nd pair of hands to measure shaft movement on rebuild, a dial gauge would be nice for bushing but i dont have one, if i was an engine builder it'd be in the kit already lol, i have bushing drivers even picked up a kent moore 4L60 driver set cheap, spring compressor for drums and low/reverse case piston and spring removal and reinstall. Feeler guages for measuring clearance in clutchpacks and inspecting parts and a camera which can be a saviour for anything lol!

You've done your research as always, if your looking for job change I'd be happy to send some work your way! bit of a drive though..LOL

Nice work keep plugging!

yeh no i think ill need a break after this one lol. Ill stick to computers, though they can be worse!