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Lets go round two on a Tranny....

roadnotca said:
Nope. Whereas 700 reads inputs from the one cable, TH350 & TH400 use vaccuum and throttle position. Thats why the 700 is so picky with the TV adjustment, the 350 & 400 are much more tolerant of misadjustment. For eg. a leaking modulator will tell you its leaking, but it won't destroy the trans. Neither will the throttle cable, and its really easy to notice.
I thought we all agreed that with our oversized tires, we couldn't use OD on anything but flat and downhill anyways.
Crawl (low first?), get the right R & P.
I'm not hardover against the 700, it just that all the others are better.:D
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Ok I'm super thick headed tonight so if you answered my question I apologize but I'll ask again. So I could swap over to a th350 or th400 and leave the tv cable alone and use the modulator valve to adjust instead or is there more to it?
.
Since shops around here and online don't seem to want to touch my "first-generation" 700r4 I'm going to have to buy a new core either way so I'm thinking about going with a th400 and rebuilding it. Geared properly in my axles w/ my 38.5's could a th400 take a 160 mile trip w/ 6% grades in 3rd (and 2nd or whatever on the hills)?

I have done a ton of searching and have found some interesting info. but most of the threads are from 2000 and 2001 when the site first started. Something I don't completley understand but sounds cool is the idea of getting a th400/205 combo (since I've learned the 700r4 and th400 have different number of splines 30/32) and running a manual valve body which I think basically turns it into a manual/auto hybrid where I shift from the column. Does this mean I have to shift one, rack up rpm's then shift two, rack up rpm's then shift into 3rd or does this mean I can just choose a gear and it'll work it's way up to that gear and stop (like mine now)? Sounds like a manual valve body swap would be an easier swap coming from my 700r4. Some of the old posts were talking about runing a vaccuum line from the carb to the modulator valve if I wanted to swap it in full auto form. I don't know I just confused myself tongiht. I'm going to go do some research on valve bodies and see what the heck they do but if someone can tell me if what I've posted about swap wise is correct I'd appreciate it.



Oh and one last thing, I hit the mother load of information tonight for those of you like me who are transmission retarted. I went to dinner tonight with my parents and afterwards we went to the store to pick up some groceries. I immediatley went towards the magazines and low and behold the latest issue of Four Wheeler is all about drivetrains! It shows the top 10 manual/auto trannies for the trail and has tons of great info. so next time your at the store grab it up.

-Avery
 
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Right now im running 4:56's on a 700r4. I drive it around town and about every 2 weeks i drive it 25 miles to work, 15 of that is high at a quessed 60mph.

It will drop in OD and sit there pretty much the entire trip, unless i hit any steep inclines which is rare.

What im looking to do is of course like the rest of the truck, upgrade. Im not to concerned about OD, since i dont really need it. I plan on putting a stroked 350 into it next year (400HP+) and getting rid of the EFI and going to carb.

With that said, what transmission/transfer case combo would i look for? Ive never even done any transmission swaps yet, it took me long enough to get the suspension worked out :P

My theory is do it right once, i dont like doing the same work twice.
 
For TH350/TH400 there is no periodic adjustment on vaccuum modulator, and the kickdown cable is a "set-it-once" at install.
Try this approach. Start with top gear, 1:1 for either SM465 or TH350/400 for eg. Now back-out what RPM range you want to be at driving to or from the OffRoad, say 80MPH at 3000-3500 RPM, would work for me. Fool economy, even if gas was $1.50 again everybody would still complain, these are K-Trucks, not Prius's.
Do the math with the tire diameter and R & Ps.
So now you have street/highway figured out, downshifting on mtn. grades depends on how built your engine is.
The torque convertor multipies torque so first gear can be a little higher, so you only need two shifts to get to 1:1 as opposed to stick needing three shifts. Keep in mind the history of the technology involved here. Sticks, gears came from the very first machines. Hydraulics came from technology advances brought on from aircraft controls for eg. (warplanes, WWII). Some good reading at the Hurst site.
For OR, you have further tuning in the crawl range with T-case. For indestructo, use a geared case. For lighter weight, chain case.
 
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sorry for the hi jack, but can you guys tell me the pros and cons of using the sm465 in a DD??? how hard is it to swap from an auto?
 
Avery, as long as you're considering either TH, you should get one or both books by Ron Sessions. You don't need to read everything, but everything is there. With those books you'll be more informed than 99% of the folks that "fix" them, and with a solid understanding of all autos. That includes building, cooling, performance upgrades etc.
 
TCI, yes. Shoot their $810 TH400 looks right on the money.
I rebuilt my TH350 with the TCI manual/auto valve body kit, select/auto is what you need for OR.
August "Four Wheeler" mag has a "my favorite trans" article, but pass on the "more favorites" side bar on pg. 46, thats nose bleed racing.
 
roadnotca said:
Avery4jc, this is his thread.
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i know that, that was a way of me asking him for the info, which is why there was one of these:D :doah: :D
 
Avery4jc said:
Here you go BigBlaze....

http://www.novak-adapt.com/knowledge/sm465.htm <--------learn the basics of the tranny first.

http://www.off-road.com/chevy/tech/sfa-trannytech/index.html <----more history and pro/con to auto/manual

http://www.pavementsucks.com/forums/viewtopic.php?topic=48140 <--they talk a little about what needs to be done

^^Notice I matched the text to your nail polish, I'll get more for you later but I'm going to eat dinner^^ :haha:
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dude get it straight, i got the flag painted on my little toezies alright:mad: :D :o
 
BIGBLAZE433 said:
dude get it straight, i got the flag painted on my little toezies alright:mad: :D :o
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Whatever you say man. Hope the info helped get ya' in the right direction.

Ok, I posted this in another thread but thought I should put it here also to explain what I have found in my research and get some final opinions. One major thing that I have realized that there is no right or wrong answer to my problem and everyone has their opinions but being real with myself and admiting that the bulk of this trucks time is spent driving on road at under 50mph with one or two trips a year to Pismo to play in the dunes so my plan as of now is to get a th400/205 combo w/ 5.13's.

That combination w/ the transfer case in high and the tranny in 3rd gear would require 2910rpm's to maintain 65mph in a perfect world. Factor in friction on everything and I'm still in the little over 3,000 rpm range while doing 65 so I think that will be my perfect combo. Now to track down someone who wants to sell me a th400/205 combo....:crazy:

Check it out...http://www.4lo.com/calc/gearratio.htm

LMK what you all think about it. Basically I just had to make a decision and go for it. These forums are a great resource but at the same time too many doors are opened and opinions fly so I told myself that I would choose something and go for it.

-Avery
 
Avery4jc said:
Now to track down someone who wants to sell me a th400/205 combo....:crazy:
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hope u got deep pockets, & to answer your question from to me earlier, it was a typo, but there are 2 different trannies a 4l80e & a 4l60e, the 60e is basically a full electronic version of the 700r4.
 
Yeah I was thinking about finding a 4L80E since it is a little tougher version of the 700r4 and instead of doing a stand alone computer I was going to have it rebuilt w/ a full manual valve body and for the time being shift through the column. My dad's old blazer that he bashed around with had a th350 w/ full manual valve body until it got a floor shifter and it held up to his smokin' 383. Man I wish he still had that truck. It would have given Branndon a run for his money in the smoke show.

-Avery
 
Avery4jc said:
Yeah I was thinking about finding a 4L80E since it is a little tougher version of the 700r4 and instead of doing a stand alone computer I was going to have it rebuilt w/ a full manual valve body and for the time being shift through the column. My dad's old blazer that he bashed around with had a th350 w/ full manual valve body until it got a floor shifter and it held up to his smokin' 383. Man I wish he still had that truck. It would have given Branndon a run for his money in the smoke show.

-Avery
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Full manual was the trick before folks figured out how to modify for manual/auto select, the place for full manual is the strip, not the real street.
Having a floor or console shifter is better suited for OR also.
Good choice with TH400/NP205, it moves the fuse to the drive shafts and/or the axles.:D
 
roadnotca said:
Full manual was the trick before folks figured out how to modify for manual/auto select, the place for full manual is the strip, not the real street.
Having a floor or console shifter is better suited for OR also.
Good choice with TH400/NP205, it moves the fuse to the drive shafts and/or the axles.:D
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Ok that's good to know.

I was hoping that I made a good choice, like I said I'm the kind of person where I don't mind change but I can't go back and forth for months at a time. I had a problem, did a few days of solid research because I'm not in school right now and made a decision. I'm going to hit up the local junk yards and see if I can get my hands on a th400/np205 combo to have rebuilt and keep my eyes open online.

I figure I'm loosing OD but geared properly like I said in the above post it should actually do better than my 700r4. I never liked the 1st to 2nd shift anyways, too big of a gap for my taste so that will be gone too w/ the th400. Ok, 2:45 a.m. I'm off to bed. Talk to you all in the morning.

-Avery
 
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