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Where did I go wrong? 4rth 700r4 in 2 weeks!

B

Blazinaire

1/2 ton status
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Santa Maria, CA
Well my latest 700r4 has left me stranded 6 hours from home. This trans is in my 87 K5 with 35''s and 4.56's. It was professionally rebuilt with all new everything (nothing could be salvaged from the last time it blew up) and a pretty firm shift kit. It has the factory cooler plugged off (got metal in it from last time) and I had the tranny guy install a 24,000gvw cooler. The torque converter is brand new too. The cooler hard lines were flushed out. The trans lost OD in moab (about 700 miles ago) and then when it tried to shift to second, it lost all forward gears. I adjusted the t.v. cable in and tried it and then out and tried it, and still nothing. The fluid level and color is good, and the tranny never got hot. It has only 2014 miles on it. Should I be taking the tranny guy to court? He built this trans and my last one (that blew up after 300 miles) and now I am missing work and have to pay for towing, hotel, renting a trailer, diesel for the tow rig, and I still need a new trans! He gave me a 6 month warranty, but when I took it back last time, he told me to not come back! Is this worth taking him to court or am I screwed? What are my options for a stronger trans (I have to have OD and would really like to keep it auto) What is a fair price for a well built 700? Installation?
 
If this is the 4th one in 2 weeks sounds like he needs to have his happy @#$ sued off if he said not to come back. WTF? What kind of mechanic worth a dime says something like that? I mean he honestly must suck if he can't get it right one in 4 times in 2 weeks. I say fight him, get your money back and see if you can make him pay for your expenses and go else where.... sorry to hear you're having such a hard time. Where are you stuck anyhow? Maybe someone is near to you who can lend a hand and at least help make getting home a bit easier... good luck....
 
4th one in two years (maybe, and that's if abused) but 4th one in two weeks, that just wrong. He definitely did something wrong and as such should pay for your incurred expenses. I would say he owes you a reliable trans (free of charge) and to pay 3/4 of incurred bills and tell him that if he doesn't he will be taken to court (I hate sue happy people, but you do have a LEGITIMATE claim here). I would also say that if the next one fails you are going to buy a Raptor from www.transmissioncenter.net and he is going to give you your money back toward it (i.e. what he charged you on average for each rebuild) and pay the difference.
I have seen things like this happen. You go to a service center and by a product/service (in this case being a reliable 700 trans) and the service provider says they will provide you will one and you pay (and they did and you have paid). If they cannot provide (in this case a reliable 700 trans), you are entitled to what they promised (and if the product/service costs more than what they agreed to provide it to you for, they pay the difference). It was put into law to counteract the "bait and switch" advertising that companies used to do.

Good luck man!
 
1. Find a new shop
2. Sue the [censored]er that don't know how to build a tranny

That is WRONG. Just plain wrong. I just had a 700R4 go to the sh!tter and took it to a tranny shop for repair. They told me my 83 wouldn't hold up for as long as I wanted. I asked em if they could get a newer core. Sure enough they did. Now I have to explain why I have a 91 tranny underneath my rig!! It wasn't a cheap thing to do, but it will work. I had a leak at my driveshafts. The shop said bring it in...they fixed it FREE. Took it back...something wasn't shifting right. They determined that electronics and my rig do not mix. Now it shifts good. Then I found a leak at the front driveshaft. It was the pinion seal. I asked em about it. They said to bring it in and see if that was the problem. Sure enough it was. The OWNER came out and said.."Its done." I asked what the bill was. He looked at me funny and I said "Thanks and shook his hand."
I will recommend Mid-State Transmission to anyone who breaks down in this area.
 
get a manual tranny and never have these problems again
for the price of the mail order crooks you can easily go with a nv4500
 
I agree with MJ here. Everytime I read one of these posts I am glad I kept my manual.
 
NV4500...vote number three here. Hell even a SM465 is better than a 700R-4. The most complex part of my truck is the wiper motor...and thats the way I like it.

Rene
 
how anyone can search 700r4 on this site and still want one is beyond me.
maybe if MOO or ORD builds a bolt on truss it will help
 
Wiper motor was too complicated for me so I took it off and threw it away. Figured if I did not have a roof why do I need wipers? Guess that make the solenoid my most complicated /forums/images/icons/grin.gif
 
Well I live in the Pacific NorthWET so wipers are pretty important.../forums/images/icons/grin.gif

Rene
 
I agree, manual is the toughest, that's why I went that way. I had a 700R4 once.

But, a 700R4 can be built tough too, and if I was an auto fan, I'd have payed the money and got a good one.
 
NV4500's are fine trannies ... but so are TH400's.

Just cuz the 700R4's suck doesn't mean ALL autos suck ;-)

-- A
 
</font><blockquote><font class="small">In reply to:</font><hr />
Just cuz the 700R4's suck doesn't mean ALL autos suck ;-)

[/ QUOTE ]

Even the best automatic will not live near as long or deliver as much flywheel power to the ground that a manual will...and it's hard to beat the 6.55:1 first gear for crawling.

Rene
 
I have a 700R4 and kinda like the auto ...the overdrive does weird stuff on hills sometimes....would love to have a manual transmission but fear the work to change over would be incredible /forums/images/icons/blush.gif
 
My truck has 224,000 miles on it and is on its second 700R4, I put it in 24,000 miles ago. Still no problems other than a leak on the t-case side of the adaptor. Fixing that tomorrow.
 
I have the origonal 1977 465
I had it 'rebuilt' a few years ago when I was doing the hydro clutch conversion, didnt need it but for peace of mind
it could use a new mainshaft as the splines were showing too much wear
that story is the norm
pretty rare to find an auto with that longevity surviving multiple 4x nuts pounding on it with near no maintainance
 
I'm not speaking from a lot of experience here....but I remember coming across a tech article about setting up the TV cable on autotrannies. It seemed REALLY important!

Something about how you are supposed to measure the vaccuum line for maximum pressure and somehow set the cable according to the vaccuum...? Anyway, all I really remember is that they said that an improperly adjusted TV cable will cause a LOT of damage VERY quickly.

That part of your description is what reminded me of that article.....
 
The 700 r is like any tranny, abuse/don't set it right and it'll go boom, I have one in my 83 and have only put a shift kit in in over 300,000 miles, have one in my 90 Sub and it has 157,000 and no troubles. The early 700's were weak but fixable to last...sue the crap out of the tranny shop owner, don't get even get ahead and get whatever tranny you like, good luck sorry about all the bad luck
 
I've got a 700 in mine and it's coming out for a 465. I was towing with it one day and the shifter fork between 2nd &amp; 3rd went out, leaving me with only two gears and 60 miles from home. That and reverse just has no power when in High. I have to put it in 4-low just to back up small hills. SUE THE GUY!!!
 
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