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If i brought my truck to a tranny shop..

NEK5

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and had them change the filter/fluid, would they be able to tell me if i`m in need of a rebuild????
 
They should be able to tell you just by looking at your fluid weather or not you need new clutches by how much sediment is in the case. There should be a little but not so much that there is sediment on the bottom. On most trannies there is a magnet located on the bottom of the pan. There is always a little on there but not so much that it wont stick to the magnet any more. Personally i would do it my self and save a few bucks, but that is just me.
 
is it hard to do? and how much does a tranny shop generaly charge?
 
It's not hard, it can be a bit messy if your not careful. Very straighforward though, remove bolts from the pan, drop it (this is the messy part, because most auto pans don't have drain plugs in them, so getting the pan off without spilling a few quarts of fluid can be tricky), pop the filter out, put a new filter in, bolt the pan back, fill fluid.
Some say you should then disconnect a line going to the fluid cooling, put it in a bucket, run the engine for a small spell until clean fluid starts coming into the bucket, while pouring more fluid in the fill tube. This replaces all the fluid in your torque converter as well. Shops have a tool for to make this job easier. Some say it's not nessesary, some say it's entierly nessesary. It's up to you. ABout 30-40% of your tranny fluid is in the torque converter.

Beware, if you take it to a shop and ask them if you need a rebuild, statistically speaking, the chance of them saying you do is alot higher. Tranny shops are notorious for showing you a pan with lots of stuff stuck to the magnet (very normal BTW), and telling you that you need a rebuild.
You should be able to tell if the trans is in dire need of a rebuilt by how it drives. Does it slip? Does it surge? Does it shift the way it should? If it's not acting up, I wouldn't rebuilt it just for fun, unless your tearing the truck down anyway.
 
You can tell just as well as they can by a pan inspection. If there are large cunks of metal, you've more than likely got "hard parts" failing, and of course thats not good. Doesn't mean it will fail tomorrow of course, just that something is not right.

I've seen pans with plenty of sediment in them (very high mileage) and they still worked fine. Of course, lots of sediment probably means the fluid hasn't been changed in a long while either. Burnt smelling and/or dark fluid usually indicates the tranny isn't much for life either.
 
It is a lot cleaner job to change the fluid if you pump it out before you drop the pan..
Most auto parts stores carry those cheap orange plastic hand pumps for around 12-13 bucks. They have hoses long enough to reach down the fill tube into the tranny pan. You can usually pump out around 4 quarts of fluid making dropping the pan a lot cleaner and easier job.
 
BIGBLAZE433 said:
and had them change the filter/fluid, would they be able to tell me if i`m in need of a rebuild????

Like the guys have said..It's pretty simple to perform.
I'd suggest installing a drain plug in the pan, if it doesn't have one.
 
note:i'm referring to my 4l60e and 700r4:

it's straightforward...sort of. on one of my trucks, i actually have to unbolt the tranny mount and crossmember, and slide the crossmember out of the way, in order to get to the rear pan bolts. easy, but kind of a hassle.

i've had limited success using the hand pumps. you get what you pay for, but it can work. running the engine with a line disconnected works pretty well, but it's just not my preference. if you do a basic pan/gasket/fluid swap, it replaces enought to make a difference, imo.

i don't know if there is a "proper" way to reinstall the pan bolts, but i take great care not to overtighten them. it's just too easy to strip the threads. and, i stick most or all of them in, finger-tight, then snug them in a criss-cross pattern, so i don't trash the gasket or warp the pan.

also, be very careful when removing the old filter neck o-ring from the valve body. that aluminum is very easy to damage with any metal tool, so don't pry against it.
 
the reason why i ask, is i`m in need of a rebuild, ill just pick up a tranny i found, thats pretty built for $700, the only problem is, it will put me in an awkward financial situation

the only thing i really notice, is when its not warmed up, i`ll get somewhat of a hard clunk when i shift from P to D...
 
yeah just take the pan down yourself.. its like what 15odd 1/2" bolts.. take it off.. drop the pan.. only messy part.. pull down the filter.. which is right there.. big 4x4" square thing.. pops out put new one back in.. clean off the magnet thats in your pan.. cuz u'll have metal frag. all over it.. see if that helps.
 
On my 91 Burb this is what I did. First I bought a deep pan that holds 2 extra qts and has a drain plug off ebay brand new for like 17 bucks. It requires a deeper filter which came factory on certain Cadillacs and Buicks too I think. Call your local Chevy dealers parts dept and they will be able to tell you which one you need. Then I flushed the trans with our flush machine at work. You can have this done at your local Chevy dealer. My dealership charges 139 bucks for a flush at it is a complete fluid exchange. After that was done I dropped the pan to change to the new filter and new pan. I torqued the pan bolts to 10 ft lbs I believe which is what my service manual called for. Now my tranny shifts like a dream and carries 2 extra qts for extra cooling. I will be flushing and changing the filter at least every 30k miles from now on. I would do this before I asked about needing a rebuild. I mean how can you expect it to work properly if the fluid looks like ditch water like mine did?
 
your burb has the 700 correct? what part number for the filter do you have??anyone else do the deep pan route?
 

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