What part was this shrapnel before it ended up in my transmission pan?

[the_nutt]

Originally Posted by mongocanfly

Boat anchor..total rebuild or find another one ..my money would be on rebuild then ya know what ya got. Either way be sure to flush out your lines and trans cooler. And if big bird was still that big it wouldn't make any sense to call him little bird and if he was small it wouldnt make any sense to call him big bird...

Originally Posted by Bigdav160

Is it missing first gear or second? That's a broken roller clutch, ,most likely second gear.

$100 in parts could have it all fixed up.

Originally Posted by 67chevemall

That is one black pan! Mistake # 1 having auto transmissions in your life.

Originally Posted by mongocanfly

Would be a good time to look into a overdrive auto trans also.

Thanks for all the feedback guys. Now I have some decisions to make:

My "eventual" plan for this truck was to put an overdrive transmission in it, so I'm just going to do that now instead of rebuilding or buying a new TH350. I want to cruise in this truck, move motorcycles, etc. I'm not building a race truck.

That said, I found this transmission at Monster Transmissions, and with my limited knowledge of transmission inner workings, it seems like what I'm looking for and the three year warranty is reassuring.

Then I talked to the guy that I've been taking mine and my wife's cars to for big stuff for the last year or so, and talked to him about the transmission work as well. He said he would find a 700r4 core, rebuild it, and could figure out the conversion for about $1800.

Talking to his transmission guy in the rebuild shop wasn't confidence inspiring though, because I knew more detailed information about what is required for this conversion than he did. His response for a lot of stuff was "yeah I'll have to look that up and make sure."

I know he works on an infinite amount of transmissions and don't expect him to know everything by memory, but I was under the impression that this is a pretty common swap, especially for a guy that's supposedly been rebuilding transmissions for over a decade.

My guy will also drop in whatever transmission I give him for a few hundred bucks as well; which is worth it to me to not fight it for an entire weekend and saves me from buying tools I'll only (hopefully) use once or twice.

So, what do you think? Should I let the guy here find/rebuild/install a 700r4, or do you have experience with Monster Transmission and think I should pick up that one?

Any suggestions for how my new transmission should be built, regardless of whether I get it locally or from Monster Transmissions, would be greatly appreciated.

Cheers guys.

[Gromit]

Sure you need an overdrive? What is your rear differential gear ratio?

[leftybass209]

Here is the low down on overdrive automatics-

The 200r4, and the 700r4 family (4l60e and 4l80e) are great transmissions, but all of them have benefits and drawbacks to an installation.

The 2004r has a higher 1st gear ratio that makes it more manageable with a wider selection of gear ratio's. The 700r4 has a 3.06 1st gear. It makes it great with 3.42's and 3.73's, but 4.11's and lower really test your ability to control the traction and may be too low for daily use.

You can't expect a transmission shop to know the particulars about a specific installation in your vehicle. You know because you studied it, but if I asked you about the specifics of dropping a Chevy inline 6 mated to a 700r4 into a Studebaker, you may need to look some stuff up to make sure as well, especially when you charge and warranty your work to a stranger.

[the_nutt]

Originally Posted by Gromit

Sure you need an overdrive? What is your rear differential gear ratio?

I want to be able to comfortably go on longer hauls at 70-80mph. The small amount of time I spent on the highway feeling like the engine was pretty wrapped up and barely doing 65 reinforced my notion that I want overdrive.

Can I tell what ratio the diff is from the exterior, or do I need to open it up to find out?

Originally Posted by leftybass209

Here is the low down on overdrive automatics-

The 200r4, and the 700r4 family (4l60e and 4l80e) are great transmissions, but all of them have benefits and drawbacks to an installation.

The 2004r has a higher 1st gear ratio that makes it more manageable with a wider selection of gear ratio's. The 700r4 has a 3.06 1st gear. It makes it great with 3.42's and 3.73's, but 4.11's and lower really test your ability to control the traction and may be too low for daily use.

You can't expect a transmission shop to know the particulars about a specific installation in your vehicle. You know because you studied it, but if I asked you about the specifics of dropping a Chevy inline 6 mated to a 700r4 into a Studebaker, you may need to look some stuff up to make sure as well, especially when you charge and warranty your work to a stranger.

Yeah, I realize now I sounded like a prick up there.. I was underestimating the complexity of even a "common" swap.

I guess what I was getting at is: if you were me and you were going to do an overdrive transmission, would you rather buy the kit online or have a shop do the rebuild? The shop in question isn't a race shop, has always been upfront and doesn't feel scammy. And preference of 700r4 or 2004r?

I'm also going to figure out how to check out my rear diff ratio and post it here too.