tranny rebuild?

[chadschoon]

I am going to be rebuilding my T 400 here shortly and adding a high stall converter and a full manual valve body. Who have you guys had good luck with and would recommend? I used gears in lehi once and had no complaints. Anywhere else?

 

[Shawn]

I am going to be rebuilding my T 400 here shortly and adding a high stall converter and a full manual valve body. Who have you guys had good luck with and would recommend? I used gears in lehi once and had no complaints. Anywhere else?

I built my own, it was easy. I have a ATG manual if you want to give it a try.

 

[Tacoma]

400's are doable. Those ATG manuals are pretty good.... I've got a Haynes manual that helps some, as well as the GM TSM, which is full of good information too.

 

[chadschoon]

sweet! I'll let you guys know if I decide to go that way

 

[spaggyroe]

Schoon,

Please do a follow up report once you're done.
A few of us could greatly benefit from such a report.

Thanks, and good luck with the rebuild.
If I can lend a hand, feel free to shoot me a PM.
I'm in Lehi too.

 

[Greg]

Have you seen my TH350 built thread? It's not much about actually building the transmission, since I paid a local guy to do it, but might give you some good parts ideas as the TH350 & TH400 are similar.

http://www.rockymountainextreme.com/showthread.php?p=430399#post430399

 

[spaggyroe]

Now that I think about it, Broncomitch rebuilt his C4 and said that it was easy. He may have posted some trans rebuild info, or may have some advice to offer.

I'm sick of being intimidated by auto's. I plan on rebuilding my TH400 myself too.

 

[chadschoon]

well lets do it then haha

 

[Kiel]

I rebuilt mine with the atg book. I also did the reverse manual valve body and had a custom converter made locally. Took me a couple days to do

 

[Shawn]

And just to add, I was into my rebuild about $150.00 not including the cost of the manual. Those can be bought off ebay for about $20.00.

 

[spaggyroe]

well lets do it then haha

Ok, shoot me a PM when you're ready to go.

 

[BCGPER]

Just to add to Shawn's post, the last one I built went as follows:

Rebuild kit (without steels). $126
Shift Kit $35
Torque converter $90

Now, just something to consider or enlighten me on. Why the high RPM converter? Personally, I think for wheeling the lower the better.

And just to add, I was into my rebuild about $150.00 not including the cost of the manual. Those can be bought off ebay for about $20.00.

 

[I Lean]

The higher stall converter doesn't "pull" as hard at idle, so there's less tendency to drive through the brakes. Plus, you don't get "stalled out" or run out of power if you're bound up, since it allows the engine to get up into it's powerband better than a low-stall.

If you're trying to make it work like a manual trans would, then a lower stall is in order--but the high stall made things a LOT nicer in my past experience.

 

[BCGPER]

Ah, I get it. I've always gone low stall to get that little bit of help going down long hills, but I can see where the higher stall might come into play on extreme stuff.

 

[I Lean]

Ah, I get it. I've always gone low stall to get that little bit of help going down long hills, but I can see where the higher stall might come into play on extreme stuff.

Gotcha. Lower Tcase gears than what you probably had on most of your rigs takes care of the downhillies.

Was your LJ a Rubicon? If so, then you know all about it. The TJ autos have a similar "loose" feel to the GM autos with a high stall converter, and the 4:1 Tcase makes downhill plenty slow...

 

[Greg]

Ah, I get it. I've always gone low stall to get that little bit of help going down long hills, but I can see where the higher stall might come into play on extreme stuff.

You can have both!

I had a 2000 RPM stall converter and a fully manual TH350 with engine braking in my TJ. It worked pretty good, but did want to push thru the brakes going downhill. Even more stall probably would have cured that problem, I think the new owner increased the size of the booster for better braking.

 

[BCGPER]

Yeah, it was a Rubicon. I won't go there but in a nut shell the 4:1 sucked. Nice ratio, but too bad you can't shift it back and fourth.

I was thinking back to my CJ days, but I always had a V8 so the lack of torque never did bite me. Then again, the extreme trails 20 years ago are nothing by todays standards.

 

[Tacoma]

How would a "loose" converter w/manual lockup do?

 

[I Lean]

Good question, I don't know that.....usually the lockup thing happens at higher on-road speeds, so I don't know if you'd want it on manually at low speeds?

 

[Tacoma]

Now that 24 is over and I am able to think again, I don't think I would either, with the tall ratios in automatics. I was thinking "no slip! more power to the wheel!" but alas, tis not the case LOL