700R4 Transmission; 2wd to 4wd

[Greg]

Has anyone swapped the output shaft on a 700R4 from 2wd to 4wd? I just picked up an engine & tranny from a 2wd vehicle & will be bolting it up to a Dana 300, but I need the 4wd output. I understand that you essentially have to teardown the transmission in order to swap the output shafts.

Anyone have experience with this? Should I just save my pennies for a rebuilt 4x4 transmission, or do I dare tackle this myself?

 

[Greg]

Looks like Novak is on the ball...

From- http://www.novak-adapt.com/catalog/kit_137.htm

Transmission Output Shaft

4wd versions of the Turbo 700R-4 / 4L60 and early 4L60-E are all ready to bolt up to our adapter assembly as the required style of output shaft is already installed. 2wd versions work equally well, but you will need to install a 4wd style transmission output shaft (image, below). We carry good, used GM shafts for this purpose. This requires disassembly of the transmission, and we recommend the services of a transmission professional. The basic installation is 3-4 hour bench job and may include simple gasket and seal replacements. Some choose this as the time for a more thorough master rebuild and update.

They stock good, used 4wd output shafts for under $70. Good to know!


The transmission I picked up has 130k miles on it. I'm sure a rebuild would be benificial, but auto trannys scare the crap out of me.

 

[Caleb]

it's not that bad. You do have to pull everything out, but you don't have to pull everything apart (if that makes any sense )...if you took an afternoon you could easily do it. I did it on my T350 without my manual, having the manual would have made it much easier but as long as you can remember how things came out (I laid them out in the order I removed them) you'll be fine. IF I can find my manual you are welcome to borrow it, it's for the T350, T700, T400 and all the others that are semi related (200R4, etc). It's just a Haynes but it has step by step pictures on the whole tear down and re-assembly. Another thing that made mine harder was I tore it down and didn't have the new output shaft so it sat torn down for a couple weeks while I waited for my output shaft to arrive, needless to say without my manual I had kind of forgotten how things went exactly...I did figure it out though.

 

[Caleb]

Looks like Novak is on the ball...

From- http://www.novak-adapt.com/catalog/kit_137.htm



They stock good, used 4wd output shafts for under $70. Good to know!


The transmission I picked up has 130k miles on it. I'm sure a rebuild would be benificial, but auto trannys scare the crap out of me.

yep, I bought my 4wd shaft for my T350 from them. At those miles I would probably do a rebuild (either yourself or at a shop). I am pretty sure Carl did his own rebuild on his T350, after seeing what's involved I don't think it would be too terribly hard to do if you have the tools.

 

[sbr]

I would look into it a little further before buying the novak adapter I have heard of some issues with it.

 

[Greg]

Good to hear the teardown isn't too horribly hard. I figured the same, rebuild it now especially w/ those miles on it. Also, I don't know the exact condition of the transmission. It worked, but that's about the extent of my knowledge... I'm better off rebuilding it. The idea is just spooky, I have bad luck with autos.

The right tools is the difficult part, I was reading a Petersons article & they mentioned a clutch spring compressor that's 'essential' to a rebuild. The damn tool is $140!!

I'll probably rebuild it myself to save the money, I'm cheap. :-\

 

[Greg]

I would look into it a little further before buying the novak adapter I have heard of some issues with it.

I don't think I'm going to buy the adapter, just the 4x4 output shaft. From what I understand, a factory 700R4 to NP 208 adapter will do the same job of adapting a Dana 300 for much cheaper.

 

[Caleb]

I would look into it a little further before buying the novak adapter I have heard of some issues with it.

like??? I once heard they had a single batch that was real porous due to a bad cast or something like that, but they fixed the situation with anyone that had any issues. Other than that one instance I haven't heard anything negative about them, and I have personally bought several things from them without any issues at all.

 

[Caleb]

Good to hear the teardown isn't too horribly hard. I figured the same, rebuild it now especially w/ those miles on it. Also, I don't know the exact condition of the transmission. It worked, but that's about the extent of my knowledge... I'm better off rebuilding it. The idea is just spooky, I have bad luck with autos.

The right tools is the difficult part, I was reading a Petersons article & they mentioned a clutch spring compressor that's 'essential' to a rebuild. The damn tool is $140!!

I'll probably rebuild it myself to save the money, I'm cheap. :-\

have you checked with the local parts stores to see if you can rent one of the compressors? I'd hate to buy a $140 tool that I won't use more than once or twice ever (unless you plan to rebuild your autos often )

 

[Greg]

have you checked with the local parts stores to see if you can rent one of the compressors? I'd hate to buy a $140 tool that I won't use more than once or twice ever (unless you plan to rebuild your autos often )

I haven't, just got the parts home today & this is the first step so far... talking about it. I'll definatley check into renting the tools.

 

[mbryson]

I would look into it a little further before buying the novak adapter I have heard of some issues with it.

I'd be interested in details......... I've got Novak in my Jeep. The spud shaft looked AWESOME and the casting was pretty nice.

 

[anvil]

Don't waste money on any of the fancy tools. You can build your own tools or use an extra set of hands to compress something while you get it apart. I have a 4wd 700R4 output shaft that I'll sell. I have to buy the AA output shaft to hook mine tranny up to a NP205.

 

[Greg]

Don't waste money on any of the fancy tools. You can build your own tools or use an extra set of hands to compress something while you get it apart. I have a 4wd 700R4 output shaft that I'll sell. I have to buy the AA output shaft to hook mine tranny up to a NP205.

Cool, I like buying tools & all, but tranny tools aren't going to see the use to justify the purchase.

Is that output shaft you have in good shape? What would you like to get out of it?

 

[Unimog]

Like has been stated, you don't need the special tools. Just good circlip pliers and keep the order of everything straight. I changed the output in a 700R4 from 2WD to 4WD about 15 years ago. I picked up the output shaft from Tourist Auto in SLC. You can probably find them everywhere.

While you are in there, you may want to replace clutches or bands unless you know the history of the unit?

Good luck,

 

[I Lean]

You can make your special tool (if you end up needing one) out of a length of allthread and some other junk you prolly have laying around.

On my T350, I just laid everything on the floor in the order it came out, then put it all back in the same order going back in. Wasn't really too bad, just scary. That tranny worked fine, too--until the case broke.

 

[hooptycj]

not to hijack your thread, but how do you go about adapting a 700 to a d300 with just a 208 adapter? does the output shaft on the trans match the splines on the tcase? and the adapter bolt up or do you have to redrill it?

 

[Meat_]

..but how do you go about adapting a 700 to a d300 with just a 208 adapter?..

X2

 

[78mitsu]

X2

You Can't you have to have something to convert the 27 spline out of the 700r to the 23 spline in of the dana 300. also that adapter is about 8 inches long. There is an input shaft kit for a dana 300 that makes it either 27 or 32 spline to fit behind a th350 or 400 but...

 

[mbryson]

You Can't you have to have something to convert the 27 spline out of the 700r to the 23 spline in of the dana 300. also that adapter is about 8 inches long. There is an input shaft kit for a dana 300 that makes it either 27 or 32 spline to fit behind a th350 or 400 but...

Way easier to change a spud shaft in a t-case than an output shaft in a transmission, IMHO.


Here's a pic of the Novak adapter..........

..........adapter is for a 700 to a D300. I was a little angry when I first got the Novak unit as it's VERY similar to the stock GM 700/241 unit. However, the Novak unit is AT LEAST as good as quality as OEM and is clocked just about perfect. I'm using a CJ driveline (cute, little, skinny bugger) for tranny pan clearance. ............and YES, my exhaust is routed differently than pictured.

It seems like in Greg's case, he's going to use the 208 adapter with some kind of output shaft (since he's got a 2WD tranny anyway). I did ask my favorite transmission guy if that was the way to go or if it was cooler to change the input shaft on the t-case. He mentioned he'd seen a few conversion aftermarket 700 output shafts broken (23 or 21 spline units, I guess) which would require a total trans dissassembly to fix.

 

[78mitsu]

I won't disagree there. there are lots of springy things in an automatic that have to be just so. The first two I did didn't work for long because of the springy things. and the dana 300 is a pretty user friendly box.