To all of you whom are experienced with th400 look at these pics of my tranny pan after draining the fluid yesterday!!
Tell me what the hell are the pieces of ( the only way i can describe them are aluminum foil like ) some are thicker and bigger i took one out and after unfolding it with a pick set i have it looked like it was scratched on a radius ... is this part of my steels gettin worn??? plus this fluid only had 15 passes on it and seems to me to be excessive clutch material in the pan.
Now for those interested it is a th400 race trans done by rossler trans here in youngstown ohio
it has the reverse manual transbrake valve body and all the racing stuff ..ie no modulator or speedo hook up. i do not have the specs on it since i purchased it used from a racer about 16 months ago and i have been down the track a lot last year 100+ passes on and off the bottle so a rebuild is prob in order here i just didn t expect what appears to be carnage in the pan this time however car has been acting funny in my 60ft times and trapping higher on the rpms than normal.
I need some info on what the foreign material in my pan is and hopfully can be fixed by a rebuild kit
I appreciate all the help guys thank you
bryan

http://www.geocities.com/igotta71/trans1.JPG
http://www.geocities.com/igotta71/trans2.JPG
http://www.geocities.com/igotta71/trans3.JPG

Bryan, You might want to look at the torque converter as well as the tranny. I'd be willing to bet the converter is causing some of your downtrack slippage problems. If it's a good race converter it needs to be cut open and checked out.

converter fins coming apart, I am in the same boat as you, just too hot and too lazy to pull it out. 60' gone away, excessive slip going thru the traps?

you shouldn't be able to hurt a TH400 unless you overheat it - especially if it is from Rossler. Mine has almost stock parts and I have hammered it on and off the throttle with about 1500hp and have not hurt any hard parts.

I agree - looks like converter. Don't bandaid the tranny - you gotta clean it all out!

hey guys thank you ... how much does it cost to have the converter cut and cleaned and should i just invest in a new one??? This one has given me no problems and my previous 60ft numbers back up the quality since i run a 10 inch tire on stock suspension out of a sbc! This is a torco brand convertor with 150+ passes on it and i bought it 2-3 years ago when they first came out.., from mickey on ebay for 179$ so it owes me nothin.. however do you all feel i should rebuild the trans while i am at it?? or just clean it out real good including the cooler p.s. trans never runs above 160 deg even after a pass or in the heat usually 125-150
thank you all for the fast help!
bryan graemlins/thumbsup.gif

I would have said just get it rebuilt - then I read the word "TORCO."

Get a new converter, anything but torco. For a laugh go on dragraceresults.com and search "torco."

And if they tranny is out of the car AND you know metal has gone through it you are silly not to rebuild it.

You don't need to send it to Rossler to get rebuilt - anybody can do a TH400. My buddy can flush and reclutch mine in the time I can drink 2 or 3 beers.

hey guys i tore the trans down a bit today and i found the problem however i dont know what may have caused it :eek: i will post the pics after this message but it appears the snap ring on the back of the direct clutch housing holding the intermediate roller clutch broke and then became a target of rotation cause it is expanded and ground on both ends !
like i said i will have the pics up shortly
all input is welcome
bryan

here are the pics !
http://www.geocities.com/igotta71/tran2.JPG
http://www.geocities.com/igotta71/tran3.JPG

Common deal,
That is the intermediate sprag retaining ring.

It will come off from the centrifugal force of high rpm.

Check the sprag, and race. Clean all. Prolly throw some new clutches in while you are there, and install a new 4L80-E retaining ring GM PN 8675558 about $7-8 at your local dealership.

It will cure the problem.

Originally posted by jakeshoe:
Common deal,
That is the intermediate sprag retaining ring.

It will come off from the centrifugal force of high rpm.

Check the sprag, and race. Clean all. Prolly throw some new clutches in while you are there, and install a new 4L80-E retaining ring GM PN 8675558 about $7-8 at your local dealership.

It will cure the problem. hey thank you for chiming in jake now i have talked alittle to steve oldani and he says use a spiroloc or somthing would this be a better solution to my problem ??
thank you
bryan

Originally posted by bryan thomas:
</font><blockquote>quote:</font><hr />Originally posted by jakeshoe:
Common deal,
That is the intermediate sprag retaining ring.

It will come off from the centrifugal force of high rpm.

Check the sprag, and race. Clean all. Prolly throw some new clutches in while you are there, and install a new 4L80-E retaining ring GM PN 8675558 about $7-8 at your local dealership.

It will cure the problem. hey thank you for chiming in jake now i have talked alittle to steve oldani and he says use a spiroloc or somthing would this be a better solution to my problem ??
thank you
bryan </font>[/QUOTE]You can also tack weld the tips of the snap ring to the retainer.

[ [/qb][/QUOTE]You can also tack weld the tips of the snap ring to the retainer. [/QB][/QUOTE]

i think that is what rossler did originally which may infact weaken the metal but obviously it didnt work ;)
i think that i may go with a spiroloc since that is stronger than the factory snap ring ..but i am waiting for jakeshoe to answer my ??? on that issue
thank you ken
bryan

I've never had a problem with snap rings - send it back to rossler and make him fix it for nothing and pay the shipping! graemlins/angry.gif

By buddy builds TH400's in his garage - he has a dozen out there and said he has NEVER had to spot weld $hit!

Of the dozen out there, 5 of them make over 1000hp and 3 of those make more than 1300hp!

He has over 200 passes with a thousand horsepower on his car and hasn't taken it out of the car.

Jake put the spiro-loc on mine. Just as insurance.

The 4L80 part IS a spirolock design.

If you do not install the spirolock, you must tach weld the snap rings on a high rpm application.
If you don't it is just a matter of time before they come apart.

I've done TH400's for up to 1500 hp in a monster truck that turns 12,500 rpm in every gear, every night that it runs. If that snap ring isn't on there, the centrifugal force will expand it and off it comes. EVERY TIME.

I recently did a Th350 for a 240 mph Bonneville car. EVERY outside snap ring inside had come off. And it had previously been done by an "EXPERT".
AND cost a 16K motor...

ok jake so the part number you gave earlier is the spirolock design ?? then i WILL put it on
thank you for your help
bryan graemlins/thumbsup.gif