4l60e working great, came to stop sign, lost all forward gears.

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thinger2

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in my experience very few transmission shops do a comprehensive rebuild on a transmission, heres why. in order to do a real rebuild, it takes a fair amount of time and money. most people just do not want to pay what it costs to do it right. what u wind up with is a cleaning and half assed repair. everything in a transmission, which is a modern marvel is critical. tolerances are critical. hydraulic pressure rise is critical. many times the valve bodies are neglected. the valve body is the mechanical brain of a transmission., it must be perfect. it usually directs 5 paths of fluid flow and must be correct. you can put all of the heavy duty clutch packs you want, expensive fluid, ect, but the the apply pistons, drums, ect will only hold as tight as the hydraulic pressure forces on them, if not enough pressure, the clutches slip and burn up. the electrical solenoid pintles cycle hundreds of thousands of time and wear out,. replace all electrical parts AND harness in transmission.. have valve body rebuilt or replaced. have all gears checked for wear and slop, especially planetary. have all bushings checked for tolerances. put upgrades in such as heavy duty reverse drum, 5 gear planetary, upgrade the pump to 5 vein if I recall. replace plastic servos with billet aluminum ones... ALOT of potential failure points have been eliminated over the years in these transmissions. if your willing to pay for them, and find a guy who knows what he or she is doing, you can have a VERY strong and dependable transmission. DONT ask abt price right off the bat. ALL DAY LONG PEOPLE CALL IN AND ASK HOW MUCH.,... Go in to the shop and talk to the owner... Ask abt what they can do to build you a dependable transmission., pay close attention when they talk abt the valve body. there are oscillating valves that must be replaced. shift kits to optimize shifting, updated servos, ect. your transmission had a catastrophic, sudden failure,. it did not recieve fluid where it needed it when it needed it. the bronze chunks point to bushing failure . slop in the shafts can tear the teflon seals and allow fluid to leak by.
Think of the pump, fluid and valve body as the conductors of the system, they supply the clutches and servos the HANDS of the system the ability to do the WORK. IF THEY CANT SUPPLY THE PRESSURE AND BLOOD TO THOSE HANDS TO DO THE WORK, the hands cant hold strong and eventually lose thier grip.. the hands get smooth and hot and burn., The number one cause of transmission failure is PRESSURE RISE MALFUNCTION. If your rebuilder does not intimately understand the hydraulic systems , paths, pressure requirements in a trasmission, its not going to go well. its like a one legged man in an ass kicking contest, he just cant win.
Yes! to all of that.
almost all transmission shops are part swapping 90 day warranty mills.
Any moron can put a trans rebuilt kit in and get 90 days.
What you need is somebody who runs his shop in an almost surgically clean environment and doesnt let some kid tear it down with a hammer.
Chucking your case out in parking lot and having some kid pressure wash it with some dish soap does not constitute cleaning the case.
Nor does using my transmission as a taco table while you are on your lunch break.
I know this will probably sound horrible,
But Im gonna do it anyway.
You only need two things in life,
A good partner, somebody who has your back and supports you through all of it.
And a good transmission tech.
Thats the guy who keeps your wife from getting pissed off when the transmission fails.
Take the wife to a nice hotel.
Enjoy all of that.
Go to the transmission shop and drop off some beer and some Scotch
 

Caman96

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I’d settle for the winning Mega-Millions lottery ticket :rotflmao:
 

stutaeng

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I found this when I dropped the pan. This fluid was clean a week ago. I've been religious about changing the f+f since I swapped out the original trans. Never had a single problem, issue, or symptom of a problem until now. I don't haul trailers or heavy loads regularly. I don't treat the truck like a drag car. Rarely do I even get to 3000 rpms in anty gear. I have hot rods, this is my work truck/ daily driver. Stupid question, but does anybody see any solution besides pulling it out and having it rebuilt/ swapped?
Man, I'm sorry to see this. I would try to find a local, reputable transmission rebuilder to overhaul your unit.

I'm not sure what happened there. A lot of clutch material usually would be a clutch pack burned up... no huge deal as long as why it failed in the first place is resolved or addressed. But there are larger particles in there...???

Unfortunately, not a lot of experienced transmission builders hang out here, so you are going to rely on DIY guys like me.

I'm thinking:

1. Local rebuild with warranty. Pay for the experience and warranty and move on.

2. Online build...you have to look into warranty fine print...DIY flush radiator core and remanufactured torque converter are going to be a must.

3. Junkyard swap DIY and pray for the best. Need to figure out what year your unit is...Also do the DIY radiator flush and remanufactured torque converter.

4. 4L80e swap. There's complication to this, depending on year and you have to do some research and learning. Depending on years, these units could be as old as 30 years or as new as 9 years old, so there's risks in this option too. But if you get a good unit, you likely never look back to the 60e units because the 80e units were just so much more heavy duty from the factory...

It really depends on what your budget, desired energy input and timeframe allows.
 

97GMCC2500SLE

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Years ago I had the same thing happen to me on an 85 S10 with the 700r4 in it. When I tore it down, the spines on the clutch plates of the forward clutch had worn down enough that when a load was placed on them to start moving again, they sheared off. When your trans was rebuilt previously, whoever rebuilding it probably looked clutch lining on the plates and possibly checked the assembled clearance of the clutches. If the clearances were in spec, the old clutches would be reused and the splines might not have been checked for wear. If I had not seen it myself, when I was rebuilding an automatic, I don't know if I would think to check clutch plate splines.
 

GMTMark

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Looks like it could be the forward one way roller clutch in the “center “ support. Or possibly a snap ring failure as stated above. Hard parts fail in these transmissions. Rebuilders should update but it’s a lot cheaper just to put in a kit and send it out. I’m about to build a 4L60E for mine and I have well over $1,000 in parts only, not counting the converter.
 

MRAJB

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Where did you get the trans that you swapped in? Was it just a used unit out of a junkyard or was it rebuilt?
 

GMTMark

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This 4l60 e has been working perfectly fine with no issues. Rebuilt swap 2 yrs ago w/ @60k since then. Trans f+f changed at 500, 1k, and @ every 12,000. Yesterday my son drove 7 miles from my house, lots of hills and curves, shifting up and down normally. Slowed and stopped at stop sign and it was as though the trans went to neutral. No L1,2,d or D but still had R. Fluid looks good, smells normal (I had checked it@ 1 week earlier and level was perfect.) Not leaking. The linkage is working properly, but no F gears. No sounds, slipping, smells or hesitation at all before now. It had been operating flawlessly until he came to a stop sign. Downshifting always spot on also. Am I looking at a solenoid issue? Pump issue? Fuse issue? Sound familiar to anybody? Thanks for your help, guys....
Dan, I can build you a good 4L60E but we might have a problem of distance. I haven’t looked to see your location; I’m in west Tennessee. If it has to be shipped then We’re at a disadvantage because I don’t have a contract for cheaper shipping like most shops do. However If you’re interested just pm me. Off and on I’ve been building mostly GM RWD transmissions for about 40 years and I’ve seen the cost-cutting tricks that so many shops do as has been discussed here. Truthfully there are no cost-cutting measures that actually work and still maintain longevity on a 4L60E. Even when built right they sometimes break hard parts but usually that shows up quickly. Shoot me a pm if you want. Right now I’m not in the business but I do some for friends and such. I have a couple of propriety things I do to make them hold up. I will say that it is expensive to build a good one. Just parts cost more than a lot of shops charge for the whole job. That alone tells you they’re cutting corners. Anybody reading this please don’t reply about your uncle or cousin or “friend “ that builds them for a bargain price. There is no such thing as a good unit for a bargain price. Unless you’re just plain lucky.
 
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I just bought a 97 5.7 that did the same thing to the last owner. Starting a swap soon, and curious to pull the old one apart when I have time. I want to know what went on in there.
 
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