46RH (A518) Conversion project

Sasquatch · April 30, 2018, 07:36 PM

Just drove about 20 miles, stop and go, highway and even a 6% grade. It feels fantastic. Shifts perfect (other than I need to adjust the throttle valve just a tad), goes in and out of OD perfect. I still have the pressure gauge hooked up on the OD circuit so I can watch the pressures. 90-100 psi with OD switch ON, Zero with it OFF. It holds 3rd on deceleration like it should (and never has). Temps never got above 170 degrees, and spent most of it's time at between 140-160.

Ok, so now the fine print. I am not going to put this one to bed for a while yet. I will be watching it like a hawk for a while. I have no idea how long I need to go before I fully trust it. This is what I found. I decided to go back through my valve body like an engineer would. I have a large precision granite slab in the machine shop to check flatness. All three sections of the VB were warped, and quite badly. It took me about 2 hours total with lapping paper carefully lapping all the sections back to flat and true. This could have caused two issues. First, it would allow pressure from one of the small channels to leak into another channel that was not supposed to have it at that time. It also could have caused valves to stick once the VB was torqued back into place that would not have been seen on the bench.

But all in all it works absolutely perfect at the moment.

Sasquatch · April 26, 2018, 11:16 PM

With the 360, you can just bolt up the transmission with out the bellhousing mods if you get the right one. Thank you for the compliments. My coach is a labor of love for the past 22 years. I have so much into her that I do not think I could ever get rid of her.

The overdrive has been reinstalled, everything checks out. I even smoke tested all the lubrication passages to make sure all were good. I am now just waiting for the rebuilt valve body to show up.

chicknnhead · April 26, 2018, 01:18 PM

I just binge read 10 pages....man that went by quick...you know how on Netflix you can binge watch a complete season of a show but the next season isnt out yet?

well i felt like the season finale was the cats greeting card stamp as it fades to black/credits....i'm waiting for the next season to be released!!!!!!

awesome read....i have been wanting to try this for years, but have small block 360 so not sure some of the things would be the same
I have had my rig for 13 years and will never get rid of it, but i keep telling my wife the next are RV we get is a dodge executive and BAM here i am reading yours

thanks for the hours of typing/thought you have put into this thread

Sasquatch · April 21, 2018, 11:24 PM

Quote from: M & J on April 21, 2018, 06:23 PM
My mother loved our "girls" (cats), they would send her a birthday card. I would spread a little pink school paint on a paper, then their paw, and press them on her card to "sign". The paint washed off easily. She loved it.

I have used stamping pads and let them stamp their prints in cards before. Never thought about kid's school paint. Great idea. Its funny, I never had any kids by choice. These two girls are my kids.

M & J · April 21, 2018, 06:23 PM

My mother loved our "girls" (cats), they would send her a birthday card. I would spread a little pink school paint on a paper, then their paw, and press them on her card to "sign". The paint washed off easily. She loved it.

Froggy1936 · April 21, 2018, 02:58 PM

All excellent ideas, And deservedly so, But I would wait till after the road test , Due to the length of time it takes for the problem to surface . Good Luck Frank

Sasquatch · April 21, 2018, 12:40 PM

Chocolate covered potatoes....

We have a local candy company that makes some seriously tasty treats. I thought that an assortment of those would be appropriate. I also know that Kermit has a habit of going to Ihop on Friday nights after work, so I was thinking about a gift card.

Then one last thing. He absolutely loved my girls (cats). So for giggles, I thought about framing one of my good shots of the two of them and having them both "sign" a thank you note to him. He would get a good laugh out of that.

Rickf1985 · April 21, 2018, 08:49 AM

And an autographed framed set of fried overdrive clutches. :)rotflmao :)rotflmao :)rotflmao

Elandan2 · April 21, 2018, 07:45 AM

I've heard of candied yams, but candied russets??

Sasquatch · April 21, 2018, 12:34 AM

I'm going to send a gift pack to him and all his mechanics. I will get a collection of Idaho candies/treats.

Rickf1985 · April 20, 2018, 08:58 PM

You owe that man a steak and beer at next years trip!

Sasquatch · April 20, 2018, 04:39 PM

Just spoke with Kermit and told him what I found. He cussed a lot. :)rotflmao I offered to pay for the valve body and his reaction was "nope, we should have caught that even if you did it". So, we are all good. I admitted my mistake, and he said they should have caught that mistake when they built it especially since they were looking for a failure cause as well. He will be shipping the VB to me next week so I can get it back together and we should be all good.

Sasquatch · April 19, 2018, 11:11 PM

Yup, I have a call into him already.

Rickf1985 · April 19, 2018, 09:35 PM

I was going to suggest that but I did not want to sound pretentious. You should let him know what you found though. And tell him what you just said here about the VB.

Sasquatch · April 19, 2018, 05:32 PM

I still think there is an issue with the VB. A couple of the valves do not move as freely as they should. I am still going to get it from him and if all is well see if he will take some money from me to pay for it. It is peace of mind for me to have another VB in there.

Rickf1985 · April 19, 2018, 02:40 PM

So now what are you going to tell Kermit and do with the valve body he is sending you?

Sasquatch · April 19, 2018, 01:46 PM

Bloody 'ell, I think I found the smoking gun.

Upon first glance, other than seeing the carnage to the OD clutch, I could see nothing wrong in the OD unit. But something has never sat right with me. How can the OD clutch have drag on it but the OD direct clutch still be engaged? They are both operated at the same time by the same piston. As the piston moves, it disengages the OD direct clutch and engages the OD clutch right after.

So, back to the manuals, parts diagrams, and engineering papers on this system... There are multiple configurations for clutch stack ups depending on the application. Everything from a 2 friction OD clutch in a Jeep, to a 5 friction setup in the diesel, which I have. Somehow, I made the mistake of putting the correct number of frictions in there but also installed a thick pressure plat on the outside of the pack where the application called for just a steel to act as the pressure plate. Ding, we have a winner. My clutch pack was too thick and dragging at all times.

The shop in AZ, just followed suit because the exploded diagrams showed a pressure plate in the diagrams. You had to go deep in the paperwork to find where it specified diesel applications as having no pressure plate which would make it .25 thinner clutch pack. So, this answers my concerns. I think I am going to have it nailed this time.

Sasquatch · April 17, 2018, 11:37 AM

I agree. If you are ever in or around Kingman Arizona and need any auto work, I highly recommend Kermit's transmission. They are a full service shop. Do not judge them by their looks, it is kind of a cluttered, dumpy shop, but Kermit is a stand up guy who takes care of his customers.

Kermit's Certified Transmissions
2425 Northern Ave.
Kingman, AZ 86409
928-757-1020

Rickf1985 · April 17, 2018, 09:02 AM

Kermit is one hell of a guy!!!! He needs special mention on here in case anyone else has issues anywhere in that area.

Sasquatch · April 16, 2018, 09:13 PM

Well, nothing is needed. It was quickly seen what the problem is as far as OD pressure. Hunks of the lip seal for the OD piston were in the bottom of the pan. Also a good slime of clutch material from the OD clutch.

I called Kermit who's shop built it and discussed it with him. He told me that for some reason the VB was not dumping the pressure when the switch was turned off leaving the OD clutches trying to hang on. He said that he can gaurantee the OD clutch plates are smoked again and when they smoked the OD piston over extended allowing the lip seal to flip out and tear into pieces.

He is building me a completely new VB assembly and will be shipping it to me. He told me to go ahead and pull the OD section and replace the frictions and steels (at his cost).

I pulled the VB and found a couple of the OD pistons hanging up in the bore. This may have been the ultimate cause of the pressure build up. Hopefully the new VB will take care of the issues.

Rickf1985 · April 16, 2018, 07:54 PM

You are going to have to make up some round adapters to plug into square holes for those pressure tests. A buddy of mine had a whole pegboard covered with homemade adapters that would bolt to the trans and seal up all the ports and provide test fittings for all of those test. He had them for every transmission ever made. He probably still has them but they would be in boxes somewhere. He just does rebuilds in his garage anymore. You take it there and you pick it up.

Sasquatch · April 16, 2018, 05:24 PM

Spoke with Transgo and he gave me my marching orders for the tear down. First, pull the valve body but leave it intact. Pressure check the OD piston from the VB port. If that is ok, back pressure test the VB's OD circuit from the OD port backwards looking for leaks. If that is all good, pull the VB down and look for stuck pistons.

Sasquatch · April 14, 2018, 11:57 PM

On my list for Monday morning Rick. I am also going to check main line pressure. Since 1-3 feel fantastic, I do not anticipate any pump issues, but I am going to do it any way just to put a check on that question.

I am betting that I have a shift valve hanging up in the bore. We will see if I am right.

I still feel that nothing is wrong with the core of the transmission. There is a ghost somewhere in the valve body that I need to find.

Rickf1985 · April 14, 2018, 08:54 PM

Before you do that you ought to call the Trans-Go guys and see what they suggest. They may want you to test a couple other things first.

Sasquatch · April 14, 2018, 07:12 PM

Just got back from a drive. In 3rd, zero pressure on OD piston. Throw the switch and I get 10 psi to the OD piston. Switch off, it goes back to zero.

So it seems like the solenoid is working, but I am not getting pressure build up in the OD piston. Time to pull the valve body and figure out what is seized up.