That sounds like what I'm talking about, except on my TH350 I had way more return springs (like 16 around the perimeter). The outer seal is lip down away from the springs. They're probably in right because the lip facing the right direction is what makes them a pain to get the piston in. If they're torn, they'll fail the air check.
When you say "whine" do you mean slippage like a stick shift as the clutch is engaged? If so, then the forward clutch is not grabbing. The forward clutch is not used in reverse, so that could explain it. The forward clutch should AlWAYS be air checked as the piston may not be seated properly. It is done by using an air chuck with a rubber tip on an air hose. To find the feed passage, all you need do is apply air to the hole between the sealing rings on the pump so that the air now comes out the feed hole. Make sure you have the thrust washer and sealing rings on the pump and then slide the front clutch assembly into the pump. Apply air through the feed hole and the piston should move. There should be no air leaking past the piston seals. Some leakage (very minor) may leak from the pump sealing rings as you are using air and not fluid. Do NOT use more that 20 psi to air check clutches as you may damage the rubber seals. You can also air check the direct and intermediate clutches this way. Assemble the center support with piston/seals/sealing rings and place it on the work bench. Seat the direct clutch on the center support and apply air to the center hole. The intermediate piston should move and no air should leak aroung the seals. Some air will escape from the bleed orifice in the center support. Next apply air to the left and right holes. If you left the center seal out of the dircect clutch you will need to block one hole (thumb works) to get the clutch to air check. If not, one hole will work and apply but the other will bleed air and you will need to block the other hole. Again no more that 20 psi should work. Did you check the end clearance on the trans? If the forward clutch sits too far forward, the pump rings will not seal in the clutch and pressure will bleed off. There are selective washer both for the pump and for the hub end of the forward clutch. A thichker hub washer will allow you to use a thinner one on the pump and get the pump sealing rings further into the clutch drum. As to pressure, the 75 psi is ok, but IMHO a bit low. With the blue pump spring you want 2 regulator springs (my opinion). You can use 3/8" diameter flat washer as shim as long as they fit and are the same thickness as the 1 shim that is usually on the valve. Some setups do not use a shim, so you need to check. Lastly, if the foward clutch has been slipping, the friction clutchs will likely be ruined. It won't take long for that to happen. I could write a book on this (Ron Sessions already did, but he left all the shift modifications out. Likely cause the shift kit suppliers would have sued) but you can use the book you have. Good Luck!!
i changed the converter and the whine is gone. before i pulled the converter i spun it on the trans and i could hear something clicking inside the converter. put the other converter in and no clicking. the crappy thing is as soon as i put it in drive one of my tranny lines just shot fluid out of it like crazy... still will barely pull in drive, reverse is fine. out comes the tranny to check the forward clutch. is that the one that has the input shaft attached? ---------- Post added at 05:32 PM ---------- Previous post was at 05:08 PM ---------- do you guys think coan will work with me to get this converter right?
is that the only set of clutches i should be looking at and what could be wrong with them? the clearance was around .060 when i put it together. thrust was .020 or .040 i cant really remember 100%. is there any way a check ball or something in the valve body could be screwing up? like 2 hydraulic circuits linked together or something?
i put some new tranny lines some 6an ones and a new cooler today and still only goes a few mph in drive. guess im pulling the tranny tomorrow. got some new clutch drum seals on the way, im going to just have a tranny shop install the drum, springs, ring and assemble the whole forward clutch.
Hard to say what the problem is without seeing. However, I would start with the forward clutch setup as that is the only clutch on in 1st. So, poor engagement will cause slippage and many problems. To me, .060" is way too much for forward. I usually shoot for .020-.030" clearance. Many times you will need to use a combination of .0775" & .0915" steels to get that clearance. A lot depends on how thick the composition plates are that you are using and what drum/piston combination the trans has in it. There were many different pistons used, thick alum. thin alum and steel with different spacers. So, you have to work with what you have and mix plates to get the right clearance.
i got the courage to drive it today and got it out on the road and it will go faster in manuel low and once it shifts into second it pulls great with no slipping all the way into 3rd.. doubt this means anything good. but i havent had time to pull the trans.
when i removed the accumulator spring from the valve body was i supposed to plug the feed hole to it? the instructions didnt tell me to but. im just curious
ok... here we go... pulled the tranny tonight, pulled it apart and found the thrust washer behind the pump messed up, looked a little deeper.... i managed to put every snap ring in the wrong spot in the case. found out that the skinny ring goes in first, then the beveled, then the thick one. checked all the clutch packs, they all looked brand new. so that wasnt the problem. i got the tranny back together with a different pump triple checked everything, put it back together and put it in my car.. and low and behold!!! still no low gear good reverse... going to do some more checks tomorrow but this is crazy, it HAS to be in the valve body i know everything in the case is in right. it has to be, i dissassembled another th400 while i was assembling this one that way i had no doubts... when i did the shift kit it said to only install 3 of the checkballs and remove the accumulator spring. and drill 2 passages in the seperator plate. tomorrow im going to put the spring back in and put a stock seperator plate in and see what happens. im pretty frustrated... any ideas???? im at a loss... for real.
The accumulator spring just affects the cushioning of your shift by affecting the rate the pressure acts on the valves, so that shouldn't be the problem. When you put the valve body springs in, did you remove the valves also to clean them? Is it possible you put the low reverse valve or one of it's partsin backwards? I remember that that was possible and I had to reference a pic because I pulled them all out st the same time and forgot the order. I'd at least check to be sure they slide in the bores smoothly and aren't hanging up on a nick from when they were removed.
I tried to rebuild a 2004r when I had my turbo-t and it is a lot tougher than people think! I am not familiar with the TH400 at all but I know with the 2004r, there are lip seals that need to be carefully installed on the pistons and not rolled so the pistons in the drums will move correctly. If the TH400 uses these,(again I"m not sure) maybe you rolled one when installing? You have to air check all the clutch packs to make sure they are all working right.
could it be one of the lip seals since my pressures are fine in all gears? and i didnt remove any of the shift valves. the only valve i removed was the selector valve and it just fell out. could i have got it in backwards?
I don't think you could put the manual-valve in backwards because it has that link on the end. It does have to be adjusted though. For a TH350, when the selector is in drive (that should be the third detent on the rooster comb) the rear of the valve must be flush or stick out only 0.030 or less. If it isn't, you just bend the link until it is. Not sure if the TH400 is the same. BTW, usually with the shift kit you replace the separate valve body springs. To get them out, you have to remove the plug that holds them in. That plug is held in with a pin. The only way to get the pins out is to bang the valve body down hard on something that wont damage it and that will cause the pins to stick out a little. Then you can pull them out. If you do that, you can check if the valve was binding. Why don't you just temporarily swap a valve body from one of the other good TH400's that you were using as a reference? Then you could swap back with with the tranny in the car.
thats what i plan on doing this weekend if i get the time. just when i finally got the smell of tranny fluid off my body im going to dive right back in! if that doesnt work, i will just use a stock th400 i have laying around and see how long it lasts.....
One of the FIRST things you should have done was to get a GOOD manual. Available from Jegs, Summit, NAPA, etc. I prefer those from ATSG, they give tips forminor mods to improve longevity and performance, And VERY thorough, with detailed procedures, excellent pictures, charts, and diagrams. Probably the best $20 you could have spent, in addition to performance steels and frictions.
I just finished replacing most of the gaskets and seals on my TH400. Best advice I can pass on to you: Use the blue rubber over steel pan gasket from Moroso. Re-torque pan bolts to 60 to 75 in/lbs, and use a bit of silicone on the bolt threads [that tip came from Gary Paine]. Absolutely dry underneath after 150 miles. It's all of the other seals that will keep you working to stop the small drips.
Very very hard to diagnose without seeing pictures of what is going on inside there. Removing the accumulator spring and drilling holes should not cause problems. When you say "no low gear", do you mean it starts in 2nd??? Put in L1 and see if you get 1st, then shift to 2nd. Do you get a solid 2nd? Then shift to drive and see if you get 3rd. TH400's can and will start in 2nd if the governor valve sticks. Make sure the governor valve slides freely and that the governor bore in the case is not scored/worn. This will cause leakage. Usually, it is just a sticking valve. When I work a governor, I put a small spring in the end of the valve to make sure it returns to full open. Next, there are 2 different valve body plate to case gaskets. 65-early 87 are the 1st type and late 87 up another. The early style gasket will most times have a double green stripe to identify it. The late one has an odd shaped cutout that will leak fluid if used on an early case. This will cause problems. Double check that as well. Good news is you are not burning any plates up, so slippage does not appear to be the problem. Try to post more or a description of the problem you are having and several of us can help you out. Good Luck!
When I put it in low it will pull itself as long as I don't hit the throttle then it will barely move. Shifts into and pulls fine in 2nd and 3rd I can drive it around all I want as long as it don't down shift into low. Then I just have to hope I'm not on a hill. There was only 2 valve body gaskets in the rebuild kit maybe it came with wrong ones??
