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school me on tranny dust/inspection covers...

jekbrown

jekbrown

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I have a th400 that I am collecting parts for. Its going to be behind a 350, and in front of a 203/205 doubler. Plan right now is to use a Redneck Transmission full manual reverse valve body, stock converter, BTE deep cast aluminum pan, remote filter and temp guage, Art Carr shifter and my big B&M stacked plate cooler. Rebuild parts will be relatively standard though I will be upgrading some things and using high end frictions etc.

Anyway, since this thing is gonna get beat on, I was thinking about the dust / flywheel cover thingy. I've seen 4 different types for sale online: 1) plastic ones (gotta be crap) 2) thin sheetmetal/steel ones 3) polished super bling (but thin) aluminum ones and 4) the heavy duty cast AL ones.

Now common sense tells me that #4 is the one to have... and PATC sells them for just $53. Not bad at all. The thing is, my trans isn't a K-case... so its factory cover was held on with the little screws. Can these holes be drilled out so the heavy cast aluminum-type cover can be used? It certainly looks like there is plenty of material there and that drilling it out wouldn't hurt strength in any way. Are the factory K-case holes just straight drilled holes or are they threaded? what size are the holes... and if they are thread, what pitch? Any thoughts would be appreciated. :)

j
 
should be able to place the cover in place, drill the holes, then tap them(they are tapped from the factory) I think the holes are 10mm thread from the factory, but 3/8 would be fine I think

if you run the cast cover, it wouldn't hurt to run the strut rods as well
 
yeah, the strut rods are definitely gonna be used as well, forgot to mention that. This drivetrain needs to be as close to bomb proof as my budget will allow. If I get into TTC and something blows up on me I'm gonna be pissed. lol!

Not sure where I'd get the strut thingies though... junkyard maybe?

j
 
jekbrown said:
yeah, the strut rods are definitely gonna be used as well, forgot to mention that. This drivetrain needs to be as close to bomb proof as my budget will allow. If I get into TTC and something blows up on me I'm gonna be pissed. lol!

Not sure where I'd get the strut thingies though... junkyard maybe?

j
Click to expand...

probably the cheapest place
 
Actually, using the K cover is not going to work. The K case has a heavier lip with 6 screw boss areas molded in. These do not exist on the non-K case, and the lip is too small to be of much use for modification.
 
wait a sec BD, aren't you the guy always saying that the K-case and reg 400 case is pretty much identical? ...or is this where the "pretty much" comes into play? lol!!

I'm not looking at my th400 right now, but I seem to only remember 4 screw holes... but in between them there was place that looked like it should be 2 more, but they didn't have any holes drilled in them at all. Not sure if this is what you mean by a "screw boss area" or not. Is it possible to use them or is the lip different enough that its not possible at all?

j
 
Yeah, that lip is the only place they are different.

As for "2 more", you may have one of the non-K cases I've heard about that has the "K" lip, just not tapped. (My non-K th400 has no center boss and a thin lip) If so, it may be true that you can drill/tap and have full support. But in the K th350s, the lip is quite a bit heavier and the non-Ks I've had they do not have nearly as much material or center a center boss.
 
well, maybe there is hope afterall. I'll snap a pic of what I have tomorow morning before work and post it up. If Im gonna spend $50 on a bling cover I wanna make sure it's gonna fit first. Based on memory, it has 2 more places for bolts/screws that were unused and the flange seemed pretty thick. I dunno, I'll see whatcha think after some pics. :) As always, thx for the input!

j
 
Well, I'm in Chicago today, I'll be home Sat, so remind me and I'll get you a pic of a "normal" th400 lip too...
 
cool beans. Maybe I'll photoshop both pics into one and keep it in my ck5 album for instructional purposes. I'm sure I won't be the only person looking for info on this subject. :)

j
 
well son of a...

went out to look at the th400 this morning and I'll be buggered if it doesn't have 6 mounting points for the cover. Pics...

th400_1.jpg


th400_3.jpg


sigh. Here is what the heavy cast cover looks like... definitly needs 6 screws...

http://www.400raptor.com/HPIM0417.jpg

Looks like I'll be running the POS factory sheetmetal-style cover. I must have been thinking of the HD case th400 that I used to have... the one that I sold hella cheap to a certain guy in Seattle after my wife got in her big car wreck. :(

j
 
Get the heavy case cover and just drill out for the third set of holes. It may not be as strong as the K-case but it'll be better than the sheet metal crap.
 
its an option... but I dunno how much drilling my 400 can take. Not as much room as I thought there was where the cheesy screws hold the sheetmetal one on...

j
 
Well if you are able to drill and tap the case for the heavy cast aluminum cover, I have couple of them, and several of the bars too.

If I'd have known that I'd have ended up getting rid of my last 400/205 so cheap involuntarily, I'd have made you the deal on that tranny instead. It was a factory K-case out of a 1-ton 4x4 crew cab.
 
we'll see what we can do. I dunno, I may just look for a K-case and use the 400 I have now just for its output shaft and/or other internal hard parts that might need replacement in the K-case I get. Ive always been of the opinion that you should build it right the 1st time... but I have to build on a budget too... grrrr...

j
 
Know anybody with a TIG welder or an aluminum MIG gun?
Add some more metal to the flange! :weld:
 
thats another option... and really if a guy could tig it wouldn't be much work or material. A few inches of AL bar could be fabbed a bit and would prolly work fine, so long as you got it welded on there and the face of the extra tab was flush with the rest of the mounting face...

j
 
That's cast aluminum which is both porous and contaminated. A weld would not hold up very well at all. Between heat crazing and contamination, I certainly would not trust it for structural loading. Brazing maybe...
 
mountainexplorer said:
I have couple of them, and several of the bars too.
Click to expand...

I'm looking for two sets of bars if their for sale.

Good timing on the thread, I'm right in the middle of the alloy cover thing.
 
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