700R4 Information Thread

[GrimsterGMC]

Hey man,
Have you ever thought about writing a book or books on these tranny's?
I'd buy one in half a heartbeat.
Your youtube vids and all the input you've furnished here of this forum are great but having a book to study and have laying on the bench would be a good thing to have when your right in the middle of it.

I'll fess up and mention I bought Cliff Ruggles 700R4 book and it was a real let down.

While books have always been good, the wind blows the pages and my grubby fingers mess it up. I have always had trouble learning from books so I hung a flat screen TV on the wall above my workbench and plugged it into my laptop so I can watch the YouTube videos as I am working on whatever I am fixing, and just pause after each stage. There is nothing like seeing someone actually doing it to get an understanding of what you need to do.

 

[Scooterwrench]

Appreciate the kind words and re the book - not a bad idea (gotta reach deep into the couch cushions to find the time, lol). I haven't read Cliff's book but have both of Ron Sessions' books on the TH350 and 400, those books are essentially the bibles for those respective units.

I bought Cliffs Q-jet book many moons ago and his TH350 book about 10yrs ago. Both of those books are good books. I've built many a Q-jet and one TH350 with success. It's almost like he got lazy when he wrote the 700R4 book. He only explains basic teardown and reassembly with no upgrade or high performance information like he did in the Q-jet and TH350 books.

 

[Scooterwrench]

While books have always been good, the wind blows the pages and my grubby fingers mess it up. I have always had trouble learning from books so I hung a flat screen TV on the wall above my workbench and plugged it into my laptop so I can watch the YouTube videos as I am working on whatever I am fixing, and just pause after each stage. There is nothing like seeing someone actually doing it to get an understanding of what you need to do.

I'm a caveman,I like books.

 

[Erik the Awful]

Before I rebuilt my 700R4 I bought two books, and I pulled out my ancient transmission book from college.

Only my college transmission book had an exploded view of the transmission.
Only one of the books had the feeler gauge clearances for the clutch stacks.
NONE of the books told which way to face the seals.

If you write a book that covers every detail that these chumps leave out, you'll have a hit.

 

[NickTransmissions]

Before I rebuilt my 700R4 I bought two books, and I pulled out my ancient transmission book from college.

Only my college transmission book had an exploded view of the transmission.
Only one of the books had the feeler gauge clearances for the clutch stacks.
NONE of the books told which way to face the seals.

If you write a book that covers every detail that these chumps leave out, you'll have a hit.

You make a good point - one of the things that have always bothered me about the ATSG manuals, books and even industry/trade group articles on the net is they never show those sort of details...Arguably they are the most important aspect of rebuilding a transmission...Mess the lip seal orientation up and everything else is for naught.

 

[Erik the Awful]

I should say, if you're looking to make money, the window for a 4L60 book being beneficial is over. A 4L60E book would have a few more years. Write a book on the 6L80 if you want to bank. But you probably have a better understanding of which transmission books would turn a profit than any of us.

 

[NickTransmissions]

I should say, if you're looking to make money, the window for a 4L60 book being beneficial is over. A 4L60E book would have a few more years. Write a book on the 6L80 if you want to bank. But you probably have a better understanding of which transmission books would turn a profit than any of us.

I'm a long way off from writing any books, there's really no time in the foreseeable future. Plus I don't think a preponderance of the opportunities in the 'How-to' literature is in print; I feel it's all digital/multimedia but if/when time permits, I may seriously take a look at it.

Plus - with the amount of demand there has been for 700R4s in the resto-mod/hot-rod sector (which doesn't seem to be abating anytime soon), I'd argue such a book or similar work would still be relevant to those segments.

 

[PlayingWithTBI]

with the amount of demand there has been for 700R4s in the resto-mod/hot-rod sector (which doesn't seem to be abating anytime soon), I'd argue such a book or similar work would still be relevant to those segments.

Hey Nick, 1st I wanna say keep it up, your contributions here are priceless (at least to me). I don't see a lot of transmission shops anymore that know much about these. Everyone you talk to, says "we'll be glad to rebuild it", instead of "we'll check out the symptoms" 1st. As in my case, I would think my hardware is good. Hopefully it's something simple in the valve body.

Should I start another thread for this so, I don't muddy up this one?

Also, riddle me this, can a 700R4(4L60) be upgraded enough so they're as strong or stronger than a 4L80E? For those of us living in the non-computer controlled era, it'd be much more easy, to build a 700R4 than add a separate trans controller

 

[NickTransmissions]

Hey Nick, 1st I wanna say keep it up, your contributions here are priceless (at least to me). I don't see a lot of transmission shops anymore that know much about these. Everyone you talk to, says "we'll be glad to rebuild it", instead of "we'll check out the symptoms" 1st. As in my case, I would think my hardware is good. Hopefully it's something simple in the valve body.

Should I start another thread for this so, I don't muddy up this one?

Also, riddle me this, can a 700R4(4L60) be upgraded enough so they're as strong or stronger than a 4L80E? For those of us living in the non-computer controlled era, it'd be much more easy, to build a 700R4 than add a separate trans controller

Thanks, man...Most shops are of the opinion that the less they tell the customer, the better for both parties...My approach is different as I want the customer to understand the 'whys behind the transmission failure so I spend some time educating...The tough part about that aspect of the customer-shop interaction is translating very technical, trade-specific language into somewhat layman's terms so folks can understand.

Unfortunately, you can't turn a 700R4 into a 4L80E though with enough billet parts and other mods done, they can be set up to live behind engines making upwards of 650 HP in a street/strip application.

Hard to say - What are your symptoms?

 

[PlayingWithTBI]

Hard to say - What are your symptoms?

We discussed this beginning with post #9 in this thread. I did a few more tests since then. That's why I asked if maybe I should start another thread...

www.gmt400.com/threads/700r4-information-thread.65715/post-1388103