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J.W. TH400 ultra bell?

jekbrown

jekbrown

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anyone used one of these? I want to build the ultimate th400 for my truggy and thought this might not be a bad upgrade. Only reason I started searching the web for stuff about this is because I have two th400s... one HD case one that has one of the inspection cover bolt hole "ears" snapped off... and the other is a non-HD case which doesn't use the heavy cast aluminum inspection cover... but does have the output shaft I need (short 32 spline). If I replaced the housing on "light duty" one, I could sell the HD trans for a hundred bones or so to mitigate some of the cost of ther ultra bell....

At any rate... anyone used one? good idea? waste of coin?

j
 
I dunno how that would work with the t-case hung off the end of the tranny. I would guess it would put a lot of stress on the pump bolts. Machined and installed one on a powerglide for my drag racer buddy at work. Serously beefy. But maybe not so in a 4wd. Maybe start hunting for a k-case with all of it's ears.
 
Baddog did a good writeup on this, a year or two ago.
Use your memberstatus and search:laugh: for
ultrabell + baddog

If I remember correctly it did not work out too good for him.:(
 
Find out which torque converters will work with it. A friend did one of the Beefy bellhousings on a TH350 & found out after it was done that he could only use one of a couple converters setup with high stall for drag racing.

Harley
 
I bought the ultra bell for my th400 before I knew a 10" tc is max:(.
 
wait... aren't most th400 converters either 9.5" or 10"?? I'm lookin' on redneck trans shop on ebay and they all seem to be 9.5-10. Would a 10" TC be a bad thing? why?

j
 
jekbrown said:
wait... aren't most th400 converters either 9.5" or 10"?? I'm lookin' on redneck trans shop on ebay and they all seem to be 9.5-10. Would a 10" TC be a bad thing? why?

j
Click to expand...

stock converters are like 11 or 12". That was one of the problems BadDog ran into. The bellhousing has to be clearanced for anything bigger than like a 9 or 10" drag converter. They didn't design it thinking of rockcrawlers or offroads, rather straight line racers.
 
ohhhh ok. maybe a dumb question... but if you had a 10" converter that was a good aftermarket piece and had a relatively low stall rating... wouldn't it work just fine? seems like if it could hold up to hella-high-power drag cars and such, that my puny ass mild 350 would be nooooo problem... :dunno:

j
 
Everything that I am finding for towing/offroad are 10.75 and larger. Typically the smaller the converter the higher the stall. Not saying this is the rule, just normally that's the way they sell them.
 
not gonna be towing with this truck... its a relatively light weight truggy, offroad only. Mild 350 and I rarely just "hammer down" to get over an obstacle. I dunno, guess its time to do some research on TCs...

j
 
Im using a jw ultra bell on a friends th350 im building.. we dicided on a tci 11 inch torque convertor.. the more stall the more heat your gonna build in the convertor and trans.. he is building a mild big block around 600 horsepower to put in front of it and this is the only convertor that would work with his application.. its the tci 2,600-2,800 stall convertor with furnace brazed fins and anti balooning plates..... nice convertor should work well.. i also called jw and talked to them about the bell.. turns out a 11 inch Will fit but its still tight. Nate
 
Just found this. Looks like it's mostly covered. Most GM truck converters are of the 12" variety and are just too big. I made one fit by countersinking the pump bolts and making a 0.090 thick spacer plate between the block and the bell. But the right answer is to find/buy/build a thinner converter that will fit properly. With minor clearancing, you can still run a relatively large converter and get the lower heat/loss benefits (along with extra fluid cap) without all the hoops I jumped through.
 
seems to me like 99% of TCs you see listed FS on the web just have a diameter... hardly ever see a thickness. That's gonna make it tough to find one that fits without calling every manufacturer known to man. lol!! :dunno:

you haven't PM'd me back yet Bad... ;)

j
 
Yeah, sorry, I've been kinda busy. Tomorrow looks busy too, but I'll find the info soon, I promise. :D It's just more trouble finding than you might expect (or maybe not?). ;)
 
Just thought I would "bump" this to the top with some new info. I contacted JW Perf to ask whether or not they were going to make a new version of their th400 ultrabell that would fit truck-sized converters. Here is the email I got back from them today...

Hi Jason,

We do have the bell for the Rock Crawler applications. I am currently
out
of stock and expect to have them finished late next month. The part
number
you will need is 92451-RC. This will allow a large converter like a
12" fit
inside. Let me know if you would like to place the order.

Best Regards,

Tim Harrell
Sales Representative
Phone 321-632-6205 ext. 17
Fax 321-632-0247
[email protected]
Click to expand...

pretty damn cool. I have 2 th400 cases... one HD one with a bolt hole "ear" snapped off.... one non-HD one (with the right output shaft, 32 spline short!). I think I'll go the UB route...

j
 
Hate to bring up old news but JW has changed their casting and the Rock Crawler is no longer in production, however their casting for the 95451 will now accomodate the larger TC's I have one comming in after hearing this from the Tech at Summit and seeing it on the JW website. I will try to keep you posted on how well this fits my large TC.
 
So far so good. I got the old housing cut off tonight and have a little grinding to do yet. But I mated up the TC to the Tranny and looked at the gap between the old pump bolts and TC and it looks good. Tomorrow I will be finishing the trimming and bolting the Bellhousing to the Tranny. Then I will check the mating again and make sure that their is no rubbing or clearance issues.
 
Housing is bolted on. It is slightly rubbing the pump bolts but I am waiting untill I get it on the truck to make my final determination on that.
 
scooter122983 said:
Housing is bolted on. It is slightly rubbing the pump bolts but I am waiting untill I get it on the truck to make my final determination on that.
Click to expand...

**** I just found this out, I already bought an Ultra bell a few years back, and had no idea that was a problem.
I guess I will be selling mine then and buying one of the new ones.:doah:
 
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