4L60E Tranny Rebuild Thread
 

Heres the background.
'00 S10-Blazer 4x4x4 with 110,000 miles. While back up my driveway New Years weekend my tranny went out. It happened during a rolling reverse. I was backing up hill, coasted forward to readjust (still in reverse) and gave her gas to go backwards again. More then I should have obviously. I have done this routine in the past without any problems.

What did I break? I broke my sun shell. Don't worry, you'll see pics soon enough. What is a sun shell? I'll show you that too. When it breaks you lose reverse, 2nd and 4th gears.

I made refference to this in another post some time ago, and the request was made to see the guts as I rebuild it.

Here ya go.
Pic of my 4L60E tranny out of the truck. The top two bellhousing bolts are the hardest to get out. You need a 15mm wobble socket and about 30" of extensions on your rachet. On my 700R4 tranny I used 18mm, and had to jack teh body up 2" to get to the top two bolts.
http://chevytruckworld.tenmagazines....nr3/211433.jpg

Draining the fluid out. I didn't drop the tranny pan to drain it prior to taking it out of the truck. Past experience told me this was a better way. A whole lot messier this way.
http://chevytruckworld.tenmagazines....nr3/211435.jpg

Master Rebuild kit for 99-up4L60E tranny, high energy.
http://chevytruckworld.tenmagazines....nr3/212407.jpg

Kevlar 2/4 band, pinless accumulators, and Raybestos Z-Pack (3/4 Cltuch Pack).
http://chevytruckworld.tenmagazines....nr3/212408.jpg

Reaction Sun Shell, heat treated.
http://chevytruckworld.tenmagazines....nr3/212409.jpg

300mm Torque Converter.
http://chevytruckworld.tenmagazines....nr3/212410.jpg

I need to clean up my garage to make space to work on this tranny.
http://chevytruckworld.tenmagazines....nr3/212411.jpg

I knew I had a parts washer tank in there somewhere.
http://chevytruckworld.tenmagazines....nr3/212413.jpg

This is the only space I have left in my garage to open her up. She is on the table awaiting disection.
http://chevytruckworld.tenmagazines....nr3/212412.jpg

Tranny pan removed. Black thing is the tranny filter.
http://chevytruckworld.tenmagazines....nr3/212414.jpg

Filter removed. Your looking at the valve body and the wiring for all the solinoids that control the 4L60E tranny.
http://chevytruckworld.tenmagazines....nr3/212415.jpg

Tranny pan. No real debris in the bottom of it. Which is a good sign.
http://chevytruckworld.tenmagazines....nr3/212416.jpg

All the wiring and a few of the soliniods removed.
http://chevytruckworld.tenmagazines....nr3/212418.jpg

Valve body and valve body plate removed. You wanted guts. Here ya go.
http://chevytruckworld.tenmagazines....nr3/212420.jpg

Valve body with valve body plate still on it. I kept them together so I didn't lose all the check balls between them. Had I lifted off just the vavle body, all teh check balls would have rolled onto teh floor and I wouldn't know where they go.
http://chevytruckworld.tenmagazines....nr3/212422.jpg

Vavle body. Can you find all 7 checkballs? I made a diagram so I can put them back where they go when I put it back together.
http://chevytruckworld.tenmagazines....nr3/212423.jpg

RE: 4L60E Tranny Rebuild Thread
 

Do you want to see what is behind the rest ot the tranny?

Pic of the pump, what lies behind this is all the clutch packs and gears, the meat of the tranny. The other stuff is the controls the fluid flow, and the fluid flow is waht controls the tranny gears.

Ready????



Here is the pump.
http://chevytruckworld.tenmagazines....nr3/211431.jpg

Pump removed. Input and reverse clutch assembles removed. 2/4 band removed. Looking at the input gears and the sun shell. Sun shell is the expected broken part. I need to remove a snap ring holding the output shaft in place.
http://chevytruckworld.tenmagazines....nr3/212424.jpg

Output shaft removed, inpust gears are removed. Looking at the sun shell. Expected broken part.
http://chevytruckworld.tenmagazines....nr3/212426.jpg

Sun shell removed. Looking at the low-reverse support/reaction carrier assemble. Very large snap ring holds it in place.
http://chevytruckworld.tenmagazines....nr3/212430.jpg

Low-reverse support/reaction clutch assemble removed. Looking at the low-reverse spring assemble. I am not taking this stuff out. Rare for the seals to wear out.
http://chevytruckworld.tenmagazines....nr3/212431.jpg

That's it. That is all the major subassemblies in a 700R4, 4L60, & 4L60E tranny. There ya go, one tranny in pieces.
http://chevytruckworld.tenmagazines....nr3/212433.jpg

There ya go, one empty 4L60E tranny case. Ready for rebuilt parts to go back in her. Now that wasn't so difficult was it????
http://chevytruckworld.tenmagazines....nr3/212432.jpg

One rebuild kit. This is where it gets fun. Most of those pieces will end up in that tranny. Sure is a lot of rubber o-rings, gaskets, little filters, etc.
http://chevytruckworld.tenmagazines....nr3/212435.jpg

RE: 4L60E Tranny Rebuild Thread
 

So what broke? Wasn't it that sun shell thingy you mentioned? Weren't you going to show us pics of it? So where are they already?

Here ya go.
Pic of my sun shell. Take a look at the next two pics and you tell me if it broke.
http://chevytruckworld.tenmagazines....nr3/212427.jpg

Missing a few teeth on the gear huh? They look a little flat don't tehy. Wait till you see the next pic when I have the gear in place.
http://chevytruckworld.tenmagazines....nr3/212428.jpg

Teeth? We don't need no stinking teeth. Notice how the teeth on the sun shell don't even touch the teeth in the gear. Can you say striped out? As in this is why my tranny failed. The new sun shell is supposed to be teh best on the market.
http://chevytruckworld.tenmagazines....nr3/212429.jpg


One broken sun shell.

Currently all the parts are clean, I have replaced some of the gaskets, filters, etc. I'll post up more pics as I get them.

RE: 4L60E Tranny Rebuild Thread
 

Very nice writeup and some great pics there!

RE: 4L60E Tranny Rebuild Thread
 

Keep up the good thread. I want to go out and buy a used tranny and rebuild it for fun after reading this post. Too bad I'm poor man and can't fix much. Who knows what this summer will bring....

Good job Hanr3! Thanks for the information.

hanr3, was that a kit?
 

Did you buy a rebuild kit from Raptor? Looks very close to some of theirs anyway. I don't need one yet, but after I drain my transmission fluid and change the filter...........well, I'll probably need to rebuild it after that. LOL I mean you know the luck I have.

Probably ought to go buy one from a salvage yard and rebuild it before hand.

Did you have to take your distributor cap off to drop your transmission? Seems I read some where that when you loosen the transmission and lower it a bit to get to the upper bolts that you can force the distributor cap against the firewall and risk breaking it.

RE: hanr3, was that a kit?
 

No I didn't remove the distriburator cap, although I will check it now that you mention it.

If your going to rebuild it yourself buy the ASTG manual for rebuilding it. Like $20-$25 depending on where you go.
All of my Parts came from a company called Midwest Trannsmissions. The parts are all build for high energy use, and non of them have the fancy marketing names like Raptor, or Beast. But they are the same parts none the less. With a tranny repair shop discount, all of my parts cost me $330, including shipping to my door. Regualr price is around $500.

Been out sick the past coupld of days. We did manage to rebuild it on Wednesday night. Actually he rebuilt the clutch packs, and I reassmbled the whole thing. Hopefully this weekend I get her put back in the truck. Depending on how I feel.

Did you get your tranny back in?
 

Hanr3 - are back up and running? This thread will certainly be a candidate for sticking to the top. Very informative and documented.

Hope all went well with the installation of your tranny.

RE: Did you get your tranny back in?
 

Sorry for the delay in the thread. Here is the latest news.

After my bout with the flu, I tried to stuff the tranny back in. Spent the weekend only to realize that I had the wrong torque converter. Torque converter bolt holes to the flexplate didn't line up. Took a few days to get the correct one, got the truck put back together last Sunday. Fired her up and this god awefull grinding noise happened. Thought maybe it was the starter. Bought some shims and some more tranny fluid on Monday. I had to drop the pan becuase I managed to twist up the tranny dipstick and got it stuck. Shimmed the starter, and fixed the dipstick Monday night. Fired her up again, same noise. Called the tranny guy, he had me do a few tests, and the diagnosis is a broken pump. Could have happended while trying to stuff the tranny back with the wrong torque converter (turns out it was also thicker), or it could have happend when I dropped the tranny on the floor in disgust to get the wrong torque converter out.

I spent the night tonight, actually it only took me 2 1/2hrs, dropping the tranny out agian. Tomorrow night I take the whole thing to the tranny guy,a nd we see what is broken and order parts. I have more pics to add, however it is late so maybe tomorrow or Friday night.

RE: Did you get your tranny back in?
 

Sorry to hear the frustrating news, Hanr3. I hope you get things figure out and works out in your favor.

Thanks for the update!