Two weekends ago I went to hook up up my 12' utility trailer and after doing so TRIED to take off. The truck slipped a little, but started to move. After a little more throttle, it was underway. As I moved out onto the road in front of my house, my trans started slipping worse and would barely go. I backed back into the driveway, as reverse worked great. I unhooked my truck, found another I could borrow, pulled mine away from the trailer, and went about my business since I was already running late. The next day I pulled my truck back over to the garage driveway and backed it into my garage. I did my research into why this could have happened, hoping for a simple solution. That Monday night, I pulled the trans pan, valve bodies, and separator plate to discover my suspicions were correct in that the forward clutch feed bolt had backed loose and bled off forward pressure. I am going to try and document my current rebuild and upgrades that should eliminate any further problems and explain why this happened in the first place.
Here is an album 4R100 Rebuild and Upgrades pictures by mueckster - Photobucket , I started on Photobucket, to show my upgrades and explain some things I learned about the rebuild process and hopefully help others along the way. Any questions, comments, or pics (more on the way) you'd like to see, let me know. I am in the process of doing this right now. I had to gather up all the parts over the last two weeks and work has kept me from getting to it until now. Thank God for friends. I have a truck that I can use for as long as needed. I called in a few markers.

 

That stinks Roland. Was there any major damage or are you just doing upgrades since you are in there? Either way, I hope all goes well for you.

 

No major damage, Pete. I could have basically put in new bolts, retorqued them, and been on my way. The only thing was not knowing the condition of the forward clutches due to the slipping. I figured "better safe than sorry" and tore it down. I'm glad I did, as that would have only been a temporary fix due to the finding of the "walking" center support and not wanting to take chances of failure on a long trip from home.

 

Roland,

Great stuff on Photobucket. Keep it coming. I'm like a sponge.

Reps sent.

Edit : A "walking" center support could leave You walking.

 

That's good to hear, at least now you will be all set.

 

I want to point out the trouble spots to look for when rebuilding one of these yourself. Wear on the center support was not that severe when I had it it apart before. Seems to have progressed nicely with the help of a few "power adders".
"Hindsight is 20/20." I wish I would have learned of some of these upgrades when I was doing the first rebuild about 37k miles ago. Would have saved me some grief now. I just want to pass on what I've learned to the Brotherhood. I will be doing a few other small mods to the valve bodies, too.

 

I would be interested in your list of reccomended upgrade parts.

It can wait till you're all done. You may add some things you may not even be thinking about now.

 

nice job on the write up and pic's.. keeping tabs...couldnt rep ya but this thread will be well worth the 5 starts.......

 

Those bolts working them self loose kind of concerns me. I know you torqued them down properly on your rebuild. Now I'm starting to wonder about all those valve body bolts I played with on my wife's truck.

 

Hah, and I thought I was mechanical. That's impressive, Roland. I hope I can learn to tear down a transmission someday.

 

I'm really impressed of your knowedge of these tranny's Roland, looks like surgery for the 4R100, subscribing..

 

Roland, this is awesome stuff. Your documentation is great and so are the explanations. I am sure the entire Brotherhood would be very interested in a detailed write up of your thoughts and experiences with this. I consider myself very mechanical and would be willing to do a transmission tear down if mine were to go.

That is the one thing on my truck that I cannot afford to have break until I get on my feet here in Alaska.

 

Damn, man. Sorry to hear this. Looks like you're doing it up right though. Maybe you could move to the north east someplace and be the "Brian" up there...

 

Sorry to hear the bad news Roland but Nice job on the repair.

 

Great Job Roland! there is also nice article in this months Diesel Power that shows John Wood going through a tear down and rebuild. Guess What? The feed bolts were loose in the tranny he was working on too.