4L60E Transmission Info (Shift kit) and a few trans rebuild pics

So I recently purchased a VX SS cheap because it was missing 3rd/4th gears. Got it home and pulled it apart to find the 3/4 clutchpack fried and the band was a little worse for wear too.

Replaced with a Red Eagle extra wide band and replaced the 3/4 pistons and clutchpack. Upgraded the clutchpack from the standard 4L60e 6 plate to 7 plate with high energy frictions. I noticed that somebody had done some dodgy work with the accumulators by spacing them up and removing the springs (effectively making them solid). I needed to get the car back on the road so I put it all back together the way it was.

Once back together, it shifted really hard from P/R/N to D and the 1-2 shift was horrible. Drove it 3 times before deciding to remove the pan and purchased a transgo 4L60E-HD2 shift kit. This is their stage 2 kit and sells for around the $200 mark usually. This kit allows you to hold any gear until redline without it upshifting on you and gives you options for how hard you want it to shift.



I ended up using a brand new (thicker) separator plate and another valve body so that I knew that it was standard before I started working on it. The spare valvebody meant I could do 95% of the work before disassembling the transmission. There are a number of holes that need to be enlarged. I've done quite a bit of research and the general consensus is to stick with the smaller sized holes recommended by transgo in the instructions EXCEPT for the 3rd feed. To get a nice 3rd shift, and to allow adequate flow to release the second gear servo it seems that 0.100-0.110" is the best size drill bit assuming mostly stock components. Also, for the 1/2 accumulator you can choose whether you want to use 1,2 or 3 shims to firm the 1-2 shift. I opted for one shim as I wanted it to shift as smooth as possible.

Once the new shiftkit had been fitted, the shifts were instantly smooth at small throttle openings and there was no driveline shock when put into gear. Eliminated the issue of traction control cutting the power on the upshift at small throttle openings too. Very happy overall and will purchase another for the next transmission.

A few pics of the work below - sorry not much on the shift kit install itself.

Spaced out accumulator (same for both accumulators) - apparently the poor mans shift kit


This is what's supposed to be inside that accumulator to reduce hydraulic shock etc


Burned clutch pack


Pic showing differences in band width


Monster reaction shell fitted


Mostly assembled - has a roadblaster histall too


Assembled valvebody with transgo kit ready to be installed back into trans (work done today)






Also tigged a drainplug into it (pan came off another trans which had a hole punched in it from the wreckers). Pretty straightforward really and makes it so much easier/cleaner to drain the fluid in the future.

 

I’d be looking at the separator plate. There are 8 hardened checkballs that work against the thin separator plate and they eventually wear through it and the checkballs can get stuck in the plate. The fix is new checkballs and a new transgo separator plate (they’re a fair bit thicker than the original to stop this happening again).

Apart from that I’m not too sure what would cause that issue? There’s not much to the second servo, it’s pretty much just a piston so not really much can go wrong with them afaik. Could even be a shift solenoid issue.

Has it always done it?

 

Yeah, the missus apparently doesn’t like spine jarring shifts lol, she’s much happier to be a passenger now

 

Pretty sure there are 9 in total - 7 sit in the valvebody, 1 sits above the separator plate on the case side next to the 3rd accumulator and there is a captive one deep inside the case too.

I read a post on one of the ls forums saying that occasionally the trans case can crack in the servo bore area causing all sorts of issues with second and 4th shifts but sounds like that’s pretty rare.

Did you reuse the old gaskets? Apparently new gaskets are critical because of the high pressure transfer etc.

If you pull it apart again definitely get a new separator plate, that way you know you’re starting from scratch with everything how it should be. And the balls won’t kill your trans if they get stuck..

Have you tried changing the tps?

If you’re a member on av8 it may be worth sending hq368 a pm - transmissions are his profession and he seems willing to share knowledge and info