[twenglish1]

Some of you may have seen my last thread, about my 700r4 that burned up the 3-4 clutch pack, i was asking about what could have caused the failure, and i think i figured it out!

I removed the valve body and i found one of the check balls was lodged in the separator plate, lots of wear around 2 of the check ball holes in the plate, one of the holes was worn so bad the check ball lodged itself in the plate, could this be what caused the 3-4 clutch pack to burn up? while the trans was in the truck it would drive in forward and reverse, however it would not shift out of 1st gear

So my question is, is that what caused the failure?

[dwwl]

If you found that much dameage on the seperator plate, its a good bet that was your problem. Must be a high mileage unit. It it is, It will take a complete (complete) rebuild. Don't piece it back together. I hate it when someone trys to short cut it. sIf you going to do that, at least get a good use tranny.

[joshp83]

the 700 r4s and 4l60 had problems with chech ball wearing out the plate i aways replace it with a new one and use plastic check balls on rebuilds

[dwwl]

The 200 4r's had the same problem on some. Not sure what causes that problem. Had two i rebuilt that looked like new. The one i bought for a parts tranny had that problem and the clutches were just all tore up. The ones i rebuilt, were working trannys.

[twenglish1]

Would the check being lodged in the plate prevent the 3 - 4 from fully engaging causing it to burn it up? It was one of the check balls located near the center of the plate, two right next to each other, both seats heavily worn, one worn so bad the ball lodged in the hole

[dwwl]

I would think so. I wouldn't be surprised it you don't have other dameage that you haven't noticed yet. It would depend on how long you kept trying to drive it that way. Good luck on the rebuild. I,'m more up to speed on the 200 r4 tranny. I only rebuild ones that I know were still funtioning. It saved me alot of headaches of trying to rebuild headaches. I used the same theory for motors. If its blown, its junk. Just easier to save the headaches for other thing in life.

[twenglish1]

What are some other places i should check for damage? i probably drove it 10 - 15 miles then decided to call a tow truck, wouldn't shift out of first, thats probably why the 3 - 4 pack was destroyed, those clutch discs were probably glowing red hot as they kept trying to engage, i was gonna try to drive it home, but it was about 30 miles away and i decided to call a tow truck instead of drive at 20 mph

Here is a picture of the two check ball holes that have the most wear, the ball was lodged in the one on the right


This second picture shows the location of the worn check ball holes, the separator plate is sitting on the valve body as it would be when assambled, the picture shows the side that mates to the case

[dwwl]

Looks like your going to have to rebuild with new seperator plate. Check it out for other dameage on every (every) singe part before you rebuild. Are you going to do it yourself or hire it done? How many miles on that tranny? Like to see what those clutches look like. Like i said earllier, if its got other dameage, you could be better of getting a rebuilt one or a good use one. What ever you do, make sure you put the bigger boost valves and stronger line bias spring in. If your interested in a different tranny, take a peek at Craigs List in your area.

[twenglish1]

There are pictures of the 3 - 4 clutch discs in my other thread:700R4 3-4 Clutch Failure

I'm not sure I am going to rebuild it, probably just going to put it back together and sell as a rebuildable core, this trans came of my 92 s10, I'm going to be swapping in a small block, I picked up a 4 speed manual on craigslist, not sure if I want to use that, or find a powerglide and install a manual valve body with a transbrake