TH400 Bell Housing Upgrade

[BEACH]

I recently burned up my Th400 at the last Ultra4 race due to fire. While removing the transmission for rebuild I came across a broken ear on my bell housing so I decided now is a good time to strengthen this part of my transmission. Iv never had a problem till now. But the way I see it Im glad it was now rather than at the Hammers. Here are some pics of the progress so far...

 

[00harpdawg]

so does this mean no old school rock crawl for you and hunter?

 

[BEACH]

It will be ready to run monday night! My little brother Ty is going to be driving and Ill be spotting

 

[Gravy]

Looks like you cut the bellhousing off?

 

[Bob B]

WOW... I just did all that..Fun isn't it. All that AL dust in the air is great..That's the same spot mine broke. If you have a pump, put it in, and check the fit. I did mine with the pump in, and I followed the directions, but I needed to take more off the housing because they were touching and not letting it sit flat against the pump.

BTW....What bell did you end up getting?

 

[DaveB]

I have a complete th400 Heavy Duty from a K30 chevy it would be a quick swap.

 

[00harpdawg]

i didnt know ty was into it as much as you i thought he'd rather be at the lake

 

[Tacoma]

Are you using an Ultra Bell?? Looks pretty straightforward from what I've seen of the install, pretty popular w/drag racers.

Looking forward to seeing you guys compete next weekend.

 

[Bob B]

The ultra bell is what I put on mine

 

[Kiel]

triple the ultra bell

 

[neagtea]

I wonder when ultra 4 guys will go to motor plates and solid mounts?
I havent seen that failure in trophy trucks running chevy cases.
Of course desert are stiffer.
Casey good show out at millers, good to talk to your Family again.
Jeff

 

[mbryson]

I wonder when ultra 4 guys will go to motor plates and solid mounts?...

Jeff, doesn't that stress cases/blocks more than a mount with some kind of isolator in it (rubber, urethane, etc.)?

 

[BEACH]

Looks like you cut the bellhousing off?

Yep cut it off.

WOW... I just did all that..Fun isn't it. All that AL dust in the air is great..That's the same spot mine broke. If you have a pump, put it in, and check the fit. I did mine with the pump in, and I followed the directions, but I needed to take more off the housing because they were touching and not letting it sit flat against the pump.

BTW....What bell did you end up getting?

Thanks for the info. Im installing the JW ultra bell for two reasons. The first is o course the strength and the second is my spare tranny will be small and easier to carry in my trailer. I took my stock pump and drilled the two extra holes in it for strength. Bob did you do this? It takes it from six bolts to eight bolts holding it on. I took off more than it said for this reason. I didnt want stress on the case from overtightening the bolts.

JW Ultra Bell

I have a complete th400 Heavy Duty from a K30 chevy it would be a quick swap.

Im looking for a spare case. Would you be interested in selling it? If so how much?

i didnt know ty was into it as much as you i thought he'd rather be at the lake

He would rather be at the lake but he needs some time on the rocks. He doesnt have much experience but it very smart and should catch on quick. He is a great navigator in the desert but we dont have much time together in the rocks. So my plan is to have him drive so he can get the practice before KOH 2012.

I wonder when ultra 4 guys will go to motor plates and solid mounts?
I havent seen that failure in trophy trucks running chevy cases.
Of course desert are stiffer.
Casey good show out at millers, good to talk to your Family again.
Jeff

Thanks jeff. It was great seeing you as well!
My next car will have a motor plate but as far as this car goes its staying. There are a few Ultra4's with motor plates but my car is just to tight to make one work and there is to much stuff in the way. I would have to re-engineer everything to make a motor plate work. I do think its the ideal way to correct this problem. I have a few extra mounts to help and its lasted a long long time but it failed. I have a motor mount on the back of my passenger cylinder head and two extra mounts to support the torque of my atlas.

 

[DaveB]

You can have it for $100, it's complete and was supposedly gone through before I got it. It has been sitting in my garage for a few years.

 

[Gravy]

Well looks cool!
Bob didn't you crack yours in delta?
I've seen a nuber of ultra 4 builds lately with solid mounted drivetrain.

 

[Bob B]

Stratton, Yeah mine broke in Delta. Combination of bent belly pan and loose bellhousing bolts..Bent my flexplate too.. Oh WELL.

Casey, I didn't drill the extra hole cause I didn't pull the pump, so I'm hoping it holds. I'm not quite as rough on mine as you are..

 

[Tacoma]

Good work! Bent the flexplate too.. sheesh.

 

[neagtea]

Jeff, doesn't that stress cases/blocks more than a mount with some kind of isolator in it (rubber, urethane, etc.)?

Marc,
I would say the desert stuff is so rigid that there is no issues. I have seen a Geiser TT hit a wall in a wash and it bent the chassis but no issues with motor or trans mounting. Most run front and rear motor plates and solid on the trans. The Geiser chassis requires the oil pump be mounted to the chassis so the motor has to be solid. We also added an Alt. to the chassis that ran off of the tailshaft of the trans.
Back in the old days we used bushings. We also added a cross member over the bell hsg and some had mounts on the front of the motor also. The speeds were not as fast as today.
Again I am talking about the Trophy Truck and Class 1 Buggies. The slower classes can get away with less rigidity, Class 8, 2 wheel drive production trucks require the factory frame be left intact you build from there. The faster ones like Todd Wylie and the Leduc stuff use mtr. plates. The cage does all of the work and the frame is along for the ride.

 

[Hunt]

Any updates on your bell housing upgrade? I'd like to see how it turned out. Your impressions +/-?

 

[BEACH]

Installed and have been running it for a while. Seems to be working great. I would recomend this to everyone. I did have to purchase a smaller torque converter with a higher stall. But I am glad I chose to do this.