700r4 rebuild advise?

[k5floyd]

so my 700 finally burnt up. well 1st and 2nd gear are fine but it slipps so bad in 3rd it might as well be in nuetral so im assuming thats why it wont go into over drive.

anyway ill be pullin the trans out this weekend and get to tearin it down when i get some time. ive already got a source on a good rebuild kit. but i would like to build and pretty strong 700.

im doing a manual valve body for sure, maybe reverse manual valve body, my derale pan and an aux cooler. i dont want to add extra cluctes but i would like some much higher quality ones if that will help. also was thinkin about the hardened planetaries, dont know much about those. what other hard parts would be good to upgrade? i would really like to use lokar shifter but i dont know if they have one for a reverse manual valve body.

i have some knowledge of auto trans internals and seen them rebuild very often at work. and then trans guy there will be teaching me how to build it as i go. sorry for such a long 700r4 post but i want to build it once and do it right. any suggestions for input is greatly appretiated

 

[Avery4jc]

What year is this 700r4? When they went to FI in '87 they also went to what most consider "2nd gen" 700r4's (for a few years before the 4l60e came out)...anyways it takes care of some issues related to pre-'87 700r4's so if you're rebuilding it anyways I'd find a 2nd gen core to start with...thats exactly what I did...

I ditched my '85 700r4 in favor of a '88 700r4...I have a Transgo Jr. 1-2 shift kit, a Beast Sunshell, 3-4 clutch upgrade and its all wired for complete torque converter lockup as soon as it goes into OD...

If you're going full manual valve body I'd assume you would have to go with the reverse shift pattern and run something like the B&M shifter in the floor...

Is there a particular reason for the full manual valve body? You could do an sm465 swap for about what your going to spend on rebuilding the 700...anyways just some stuff to think about.

 

[k5floyd]

its from my 88 k5. original trans got about a 100k on it. its had a good life until the previous owner sold it to me hehe

 

[k5floyd]

because im only doin slight engine mods so i dont need the beef of the sm464. although 700s and 4l60s have been known to be problematic i think they are a great tranny. im goin with a manual valve body becuase its no longer my dd and think it would be fun the put around town and use it on the trails. you mentioned the lock up feature in OD, can it still keep that with a manual valve body?

 

[resurrected_jimmy]

Its fun for about 10 minutes, think seriously about the manual valve body modification before you do it. Once you do this it puts full line pressure to the trans all the time and they shift very hard. If anyone else ever drives your truck you will have to teach them to shift it or the trans will be toast in short order. If you look into some of the street rod parts for 700R4's a lot of those guys run a manual lock up switch for the converter so they can lock it when cruising

 

[Jrgunn5150]

I love my TCI truckmaster to death. And avoid Monster transmissions like the plague.

 

[lrazer]

the beast sunshell is a good upgrade since that is a weak point, i would go with the performance wide 2-4 band and a corvette servo, the 3-4 upgraded clutches, you can also get a .500 boost valve for the pump

 

[Derf00]

Since you are in TX, check out Phoenix Transmissions in Weatherford, TX. They rebuilt my son's which he runs behind a strong 383. It has been thourghly hammered and is still running strong.l

 

[Avery4jc]

hey I didn't know we had members in abilene! I'll be there in less than two weeks for college! Sorry for the hijack but he doesn't accept PM's or e-mails and I was just a little excited

 

[Derf00]

Avery4jc,

I was a paying member when my son and I were building his '90 K5. Due to a lack of time to devote to the Jimmy and the importance of his college education, the Jimmy has been parked in my driveway. But now the my son has graduated and is self supporting, the Jimmy may soon be resirected.

Which college are you going to? If you want to contact me, my e-mail address is [email protected].

 

[Avery4jc]

I'm going to ACU...my sister is a sophmore there this year and I'll be a freshman...

Sad to hear about the k5...hopefully you'll catch the bug again

 

[bigblock72]

If you are going to drive your rig at all I'd skip on the manual valve body.

The minimum upgrades I'd recommend are a Z-pack for the 3-4 clutch, Beast sun gear shell, a wide band (try and stay away from the kevlar bands as they are hard on the reverse input drum)and a corvette servo. Run type F fluid, adjust the TV cable properly and it will be ok at your power level.

If you have some extra money step up to the 5 pinion 4l65e planetaries (GM only, the chinese planetaries are weaker than the 4 pinion planetaries.) 4l60e bonded pistons, billet servos 2nd and 4th, Alto clutches but stay away from the kolene steels, the abrasive surface wears the clutches faster with little or no increase in holding power. Use 4l60e teflons on the pump, they seal better on the reverse input than the scarf cut 700r4 teflons.


Take your time on assembly make everything spotlessly clean and make all the updates that GM has outlined in the various TSBs and the trans will work well. Install a trans temp guage, make sure it stays cool and the trans will live a long life.


Good luck, oh did I mention skip the manual valve body? happy building

Chad