[CreeperSleeper]

That sucks, Mike... Keep us posted on the tranny!

[boots4]

The rig turned out pretty level. I know I want to rework the front pack since I have some new ideas for it but I will be leaving the rear overload on. Here are some pic of how it turned out.









stepvan muffler



Dash in for the trip but I'll be taking it out to do some more wiring on the other gauges.



I cut out the 2nd gate so I have a clean shot from 1st to 4th.



This is where the hub sits with the spacers on.





Had to get rid of the unleaded sticker. I'll clean that up later.

[lulo]

WOW! , hey mate congratulation for your Fj-60 project, excellent job, well done,

[Beaver State Bogger]

That's amazing! Keep it up. It's an inspiration.

[boots4]

Thanks guys, I'll be heading to California for christmas vacation so I won't have much to update during the next two weeks. I'll be near a computer if anyone's got questions.

Regarding the tranny issue:

It was suggested that I call up transgo and question about line pressure modulation. Right now I don't have any modulation going on since it was controlled electronically with the force motor. The manual shift kit would suggest that their boost valve and the relief valve would make it unnecessary but that's not what a tranny shop is saying. There is finally someone else that is/has done what I'm doing to his tranny and he has modulation so I'm waiting to see how he did it. If I pull it, which I'm pretty sure I'll be doing, I'll be rebuilding it. At least I'll have something to think about while on vacation just hope it doesn't drive me s

[CaliCruiser]

Originally Posted by boots4

My bearing washers were toast so I ordered some previously. No wonder why the cruiser's handling was a little loose.

How does this happen, just wear? Why does it cause poor handling?
Build is looking awesome!!!

Dylan

[boots4]

I'm pretty sure those were the original ones with 227K on them. Probably at one time the preload on the wheel bearings was too much and that caused some wear. Over time it got worse and it probably made setting the proper preload on the wheel bearings difficult. The other culprit would be the wheel nuts. When I dug into the front axle the wheel nuts were only hand tight and the outer one should have a fair amount of torque on it so the proper preload is maintained. Since it was loose that allowed some slop accelerating wear on the washer and allowing the whole wheel to wiggle. With low to zero preload I got loose handling because it would give when hitting bumps and trying to steering. This isn't the only reason my handling was loose but it was one of the factors. TRE's, suspension bushings, the steering system, these all play a factor in handling.

[redcorn]

Right on !
Safe travels and Happy Holidays

john

[GreasedPiggy]

Congratulations Boots!!!!

You did it! And quickly, by my standards, and quite deliberate.

Thank you for documenting the build and repower. The videos
really add another great element to your experience.

I would be very appreciative if you would share the process of
shaking down the vehicle. (any precautions for other builders
or any other notable things).

Can't wait for your impressions like handling, power, dB, MPG etc.
as your FJ 60 becomes fully on/off road-worthy...

[brokenparts]

so, glad that a guy like boots is around....

[marting]

Nice build! but why do you want the wheels to stick out that far? seems it would look nicer without the spacers?!

[boots4]

marting
I needed the spacers to clear the brake calipers on the rear. When determining the actual width I didn't want to cut the wheel studs so I went with spacers long enough to cover them. Looking at how they, fit I probably would go with 1.5" instead of the 1.25" for the extra width for the same price. That is of course with running 3.5" backspacing on my rims. Whenever you go up with a lift it is always a good idea to also go out. That will help compensate for the the higher center of gravity. Besides the functionality I like the look of a wide stance. To some it's too wide but for me I really like it.


Thanks Zack, glad to hear that you'll be sticking with a full body.


GreasedPiggy, I'll try to get more detailed about the shake down as it happens. I certainly don't feel like this thread is coming to an end anytime soon. There are still lots of things I want to do and that will mean things to show. You guys keep coming up with great ideas on this forum that I want to incorporate into my rig.

[cruiseroutfit]

Just read the thread start to finsih... Excellent work

I've got a 4BT waiting for a home right now, I'm really leaning towards my SOA FJ62... your thread has answered alot of questions and provided alot of great ideas

[Slomo]

Wow, just found this thread and I must add yet again, nice work. Very cool of you to take the time to document this process in such detail. Well done.

[boots4]

It was good to have time off even from the project. The holiday visit was nice and I didn't get sick until the day I got home. Figures... we come back with a few days to spare before I have to go to work and I don't get much done. At least I'm feeling better now and have decided my plan. The tranny will be getting a rebuild. After talking to a few people it really does need it and should have been done the first time I was in to it but I didn't know it's condition thus lesson learned.

I felt ambitious while sick and got the tranny pulled. The nice thing about having that doubler is that I didn't have to touch the splitcase, it can come out as one piece. Lowering a 150 lbs doubler/Tcase combo and a 300+ lbs transmission with backyard tools was interesting but no one got smashed and dripping fluid can be cleaned up. Safety straps are a good idea and those rachet kinds work well. They definitely saved my hide. Since the budget is used up it looks like I will be studying this week out of my 4L80e manual and attempt the rebuild myself. I've found some rebuild threads on the net and will read those a couple of times before I jump into it.



To cement my reason for rebuilding, the new tranny fluid didn't look so new with probably less than 10 miles on it. I'll get a master kit and replace the new filter I just put in.

Without flash



With flash



It doesn't look bad but I won't be reusing that fluid. It's just dirtier than I expected even with me cleaning out the tranny when I was in there last summer.

I decided to wait until I get some more reading in before I purchase a rebuild kit so I moved to an easy project. The rear lip to hold on my weather stripping was rusting. I pried it away from the body previously and found very minimal rust transfer. I got out the angle grinder and cut it off. Changed to a flapper wheel and cleaned up the cuts.





I found some aluminum angle off of the stepvan and cut it to size. It will be in two pieces and I'll fasten it with some metal screws. I figured it was going to be easier to to this with the tailgate off so I took it off to have better access. I went over the surface with a wire wheel and then put two coats of rusbullet on.



The Spectrum coating is not going to stand up to traffic very well so I've been looking for a top coat. I'm trying out rustbullet on the back lip but have been thinking of trying out Plasti Dip. Like this stuff: Specialty Coatings as an Industrial Solution. I don't want something with granuals in it because that would make it harder to wipe clean, so I'm looking for more of a smooth finish. I know duplicolor makes a smooth bedliner but it's also expensive. The HCF stuff is ~$50 for a gallon.



That's as far as I got.

[97grntaco]

I found this thread last month and have read the whole thing and been keeping up with the updates. The project has come along very nicely with lots of attention to detail. Good work and keep it up.

[boots4]

Thanks guys. It's turning into a lot of reading but hopefully it answers some questions.

[chappysfj40]

totaly awesome

[CreeperSleeper]

Hey Mike... Is it done yet?

[boots4]

Depends on what part your asking. I got my tranny rebuild kit yesterday and spent the evening taking out the internals so now I've got a table full of parts and an empty case. It's easy to lift once it's not all together. I didn't use any special tools to take it apart and while the kit is pretty extensive I might want to pick up an extra part or two that wasn't included. I think I should be done with the rebuild by next weekend. So it looks like one more month before I unveil it at a cruiser meeting.

Goal now is to get it on the road and drive it. I can trim the fenders, stick on the 38s, add hydro-assist, redo the rear panels, get a front driveshaft, do the shifter linkage, figure out an e-brake, build sliders and bumpers (I'll put a quick one on the front for registration), and other wiring projects with it on the road.

To get it on the road I'll want to finish the tranny, mount shocks, finish my gauge wiring, fine tune little things like headlight angle and steering alignment, oh yeah deal with legalities. I'll probably come up with other stuff I want to do to it once I do more shake downs.

[boots4]

Finished up the rear lip for the weatherstripping that seals the tailgate. Paint took a little longer to dry in the cold wet air.



I just used some metal screws and put them in existing holes that were in the aluminum pieces.



I had to clean out the inside of the weatherstripping because the old lip left rust chunks in the track. With those clean I put the weatherstripping on the new lip. I'll still need to seal the edge between the lip and the body but I didn't have the right stuff. I have a gutter leak (I think) to fix so I'll just use the same stuff once I address that problem. It'll be nice not to have diesel fumes coming inside since I still need to finish routing my exhaust.



I put the tailgate back on so I could keep it locked.

I studied all last week out of my manual, searched for a fantastic write-up I came across a month ago on a documented rebuild that I couldn't find (nope, didn't save the links), and picked up a tranny kit from a local wherehouse. I did some prep work like getting a bigger table to spread parts on in the work area and cleaning things up. I then wheeled the tranny to my humble backyard mechanic's shop (a shed) and started tearing it down. I'm taking my time and seeing how things work but should have it finished by this coming weekend.

Here are most of the parts out of the case and the manual I'm using. The parts come out in sections and that's how I plan on rebuilding it, one section at a time. I'll disassemble that piece, inspect, clean, and replace what comes in the rebuild kit and then reassemble that section. Once all the sections are done I'll put them into the case.



Last chunk removed. The rear band (on the right) looks pretty good but one edge on the friction material looks kind of chewed so I'm thinking about replacing it.



Case is empty.



I then cleaned up the case with solvent (I bought 5 cans of brake cleaner and used 2 on the case itself)

All of the hard parts look pretty good. No big wear marks or gouges.

Here is the kit I got, it's a transtec kit and I think Ebay has them for a similar price that I got this one (bought at shop cost thanks to some friends).



The master kit includes all the seals, high energy friction plates, gaskets, filter, main support bolts, and the front and rear bushings. It did not come with steels so I bought the steels subset (top left).



Good find. Early 4L80s had a 16 element sprag, I found mine to have the later and better 34 element sprag.



I was getting into the friction disk areas so I started soaking them. They actually bubbled a little from the ATF settling into all the tiny voids (soaking for a 1/2 hr is recommended).



The springs on the right replace the springs on the left. These are from the manual control transgo kit I put in the valve body. These were internal mods that I didn't do at the time because I didn't go deep enough. Well I'm deep enough now so I'm putting them in. They go on the direct drum.



The direct drum in on top and when I pulled the friction plates out of that I found them to be toast. The material was coming off as I rubbed it between my fingers so this must have been what made my tranny fluid dirty in a short amount of time. All the other friction plates and bands looked decent but they will all get replaced. It's funny but I'm glad to find something noticeably wrong with my limited knowledge because that justifies the rebuild. That center piece inside the drum has lip seals on it and I found it difficult to put it back in without the specific tool so I'll be finding one this week and replacing the seal I buggered.



There are seals on this intermediate piece. I followed others' steps in puting those on (without the special tool) by heating up some water and dropping them in to warm up. The kit came with teflon and plastic seals and I choose the teflon because I found others (tranny rebuilders) had suggested it. Once warm I opened them up with my "resizing" tool and slipped them onto their spots. The resizing tool is nothing more than a used spray can lid that has been cut. They then need to be shrunk so I wrapped the seals the the resizing tool and tightened the hose clamp. I did this in steps, not all at once, and the seals resized to the grooves. There are 4 of those seals on that shaft.



I'm about halfway done with the tranny. I will be double checking my valve body job and might be getting a new separater plate because the check ball holes seem to be more worn than I realized the first time I was in it. This time I will be installing a drain in the pan and I also need to trim some more off of the tranny mounts I came up with for just a little more clearance. My experience inside the tranny so far has mostly been straight forward. I did pick up a dial indicator to check on some tolerances once I start putting the parts back inside the case and I'll need to get that lip seal tool. Besides that I think I can do the rest with the tools I already have.

[CreeperSleeper]

You = more gutsy than me! Looking great, my friend...

[boots4]

Originally Posted by CreeperSleeper

You = more gutsy than me! Looking great, my friend...

Thanks, however, your opinion may change when I hesitate on the trail due to body damage and you're on the other side with your 80 egging me to come on through.

[CreeperSleeper]

LOL! That's okay, you can just follow Zach around!

[brokenparts]

Originally Posted by CreeperSleeper

LOL! That's okay, you can just follow Zach around!

Doh!

[boots4]

The following is just meant to show some of the things I did to put the 4L80 back together. I did use a manual and followed its instructions. Please don't attempt to pull an auto apart without a good diagram of how it goes back together. I ran into a couple of hang-ups that the manual helped me out of on the installation. So get a manual is my recommendation if you are doing this yourself.

When I took out the tranny I noticed that the edge of the mounts I'm using were touching so I decided to give them a shave.

In this pic the bottom of the mounts (lip closest the adapter) have not been shaved yet.



After removing a little material. It was a minor thing but since it's out...





After searching for a lip seal installation tool set and finding them to be ~$150 I decided to backyard mechanic this and make my own tool. I found someone online who used transparency sheets so I laminated some paper and used that. Note, if you do this you don't really need to laminate paper, just run an envelope through the machine so that it melts together.





You'll need at least three sheets.

This is the direct drum and this is after I got the piston in using my lip seal tools. I replaced the springs with the ones that came in my transgo manual kit. This is how I compressed the springs to get the snap ring on. In my 4L80 manual it calls for a special tool. Clamps worked fine for me.





Here's my fancy new tools being used on the forward drum.



Once I got the piston down far enough I started slipping the sheets out while keeping pressure on the piston so it wouldn't come out.



Next piston to play with on the forward drum.



I picked up some extra parts that weren't part of the rebuild kit and replaced the lip seal that I buggered. I replaced all the frictions and steels and put those drums together.

Some of the parts were improvements like the rear main bushing. It has a lip on the other side so that the bushing doesn't slide out under heavy use like towing. It's called a "no-walk" design from sonnax. I also installed the seal.



I took a couple of pieces with me to see what they said. One of the pieces was the rear(reverse) band. Most of the material looked good except for one edge. It wasn't expensive to replace so I grabbed a new one. Here it is soaking.



This is the inside of the case. You can see the lip that is on the rear bushing. I also installed the rear band after it was done soaking.



Here is the first chunk that goes in. Starting at the bottom is the main output shaft, rear planetary, front planetary, center/intermediate clutch. It called for a special tool to hold the group while you lower it in. I tried doing it separately but that didn't work so I just protected the shaft and put some vicegrips on it. The center hole on that top piece (center support) is were it bolts to the case.



I put the chunk in the case. It took a couple of times to get it all in. I marked the case and the intermediate support to know how to orientate it in the case as I slid it into the grooves. That way the bolt hole would be where the case hole was.



Next I put in the intermediate clutch pack (fricton and steels).



Next was the direct and forward drums. These went in separately and I had to wiggle them to get them to slip into the grooves from the friction plates. This was a "by feel" thing along with some hope that you get the splined part of the drum engaged with all the friction plates. I'm guessing if you don't the parts would stick up not allowing the next parts to seat. I also installed the fourth clutch and clutch pack that goes on top of the other drums. This fit in its spot so that's another way I figured the friction plates were all engaged. When I was in it the first time this is as far in as I went and while the friction plates were new I replaced them with what was in the rebuild kit anyways. I'll save them for later.



I worked on the overdrive pack replacing the frictions and put it back together. I replaced and resized seals as necessary and dropped it in.

[boots4]

I studied about line pressure and called transgo last week to confirm that the vacuum modulator that was floating around in my manual kit was needed. It is so I need to install it. I'm betting after chatting with some from another board that I had minimal line pressure which is why it felt like it was slipping in 3rd (because it was) and couldn't get 4th. So I'm working on a vacuum source and how to regulate it.

I laid the case on its side and drilled a hole for the vacuum fitting. It takes a 1/8 NP tap.



I put in the fitting to pass through the case.



Here is the modulator in place of the force motor with the hose attached.



I double checked the valve body against the trango instructions and had done everything right. When I bought more parts I took in my separator plate to have them look and see if the wear from the check balls was OK and the guy said it looked good. He did say that I could reseat the balls if I wanted. That involved placing the separator plate on a flat surface, placing one of the balls on its spot on the plate and with a piece of flat stock on top of the ball tap it with a hammer to reseat the ball on the plate. Since he said my plate looked good I decided to forgo the reseating and put it back together. I did find one of the plugs used to fill a passage in the separator plate was missing (it was installed, I double checked my past pic), so I made a new piece and put it in. This was part of the transgo manual kit. You can see how I stood the case vertical to install the internals. Since it's a 4WD tranny the output shaft is shorter so I was able to get away with putting the adapter back on and resting it vertically on some 2x4s.



I replaced the main bushing in the pump that the T. converter rides on. Since it's been pretty much the same temp outside as it is in my freezer, just freezing the bushing wasn't going to work since the casing was that cold too. I separated the pump, placed the part on top of my wood stove to warm up and kept the bushing in the freezer. Later I got them both from the house with a warm case and cold bushing and tapped it into the case. I love the heat/cold trick! I ordered an improved bushing for the stator support on thursday and it was going to be there on friday. I thought the place was open on saturday but it wasn't, so I need to go get that bushing, tap it in and I'll be ready to throw the tranny back under the rig. You can see the bushing in the pic that I'll be replacing, it's in the center of the shaft.



Overall it wasn't bad. I'd just take a breather and walk around outside when I got frustrated with a part so that I'd have a calm head. I have a better understanding of how an auto actually works now and it doesn't carry that mysterious voodoo black magic ora for me that it used too, but don't ask me to explain how it works.

[boots4]

Replaced the stator support bushing with a new wider one. Supposed to help with lock-up in the t.converter. Used a 2x4 to get it flush and then a socket to sink it.



Asked the tranny shop if they had a universal drain plug kit but they didn't. I didn't feel like hunting one down so I hit my local hardware store and got some parts that would work. Welder was out of wire so I wound a new spool (welder uses 1-2 lbs spools and I buy 10 lbs and re-wind the small ones to save $$) and plopped the nut on. This is the inside.



This is the outside where people can see. It's been filled and it doesn't leak.



The pan needed a little massaging where the vacuum modulator is located. Not much just a little.



Put the pump back in.



I decided to re-work the passenger side motor mount and with the tranny out it was a good time. It was pulling it a little more due to the engine tilt than I wanted. I was afraid that in a high torque situation I would be able to rip the rubber mount due to the pull already on the rubber. My solution was to pull the engine side mount, lengthen the hole, and put it back in. I supported the engine with the hoist and unbolted the mount, raised the engine some and found I could wiggle the bracket out. I elongated my hole and put it back in. This let the engine tilt more naturally and took some stress off the rubber mount. I left the nuts on the rubber mounts just a little loose thinking that once I started the engine with everything hooked back up it can self adjust and then I'd tighten the nuts down.



With everything ready to go back in I got to it. I used my safety straps to catch the tranny just in case and started raising it with a jack. I tilted the engine down in the back and aligned the tranny. It was actually easier than I thought it would be. I pushed the tranny onto the aligning pins on the engine and put some bolts in the bell housing. My wife was out there helping me so I had another set of hands. The tranny bolted up fine and next was the doubler/tcase. That was a balancing act as there is no good place to put it on the jack to raise. Once I got it to the shaft it was smooth sailing and I got it bolted up. Got the cross member back on and hooked up the rear drive shaft, shifter linkage, tranny cooler lines, t.converter to flywheel,and all exhaust pieces I've completed so far. I started bending my tranny dipstick. You can see how I tweaked it. Surprisingly the stick still slides in and out of the tube but it sure isn't pretty. Threw a coat of paint on it and put it in.



Here it is in the rig.





With that in I needed more fluid. It was 8pm sat. night and all the shops closed at 8pm. Unfortunately, I resorted to Walmart ATF because I wanted to know if my rebuild works. So I cleaned out their supply and filled up the tranny, checked my other fluids and cranked 'er over. It stumbled for 10 seconds and started idling fine. It was cold out so no big deal. I did let it idle for 20 minutes this time and checked the tranny fluid. Put in 1 more quart and took it for a drive. I mistakingly put the tcase in low and that confused me until I figured it out. 1st and 2nd seemed really slow. With High engaged I shifted through ALL gears and got ALL gears.

Again there is still no modulation happening so I was careful. 1st and 2nd were acting funny, like they are slipping. Thinking about it the next day I may not have gotten the vacuum modulator seated all the way. That won't be a big deal as all I have to do is drop the pan to adjust that. It will give me a chance to test out my drain plug. I still need to work on modulation but I wanted to see if I was getting all gears and I am so that was a good sign. Also with the tailgate seal doing it's job I wasn't getting exhaust from the rear inside the cab.

I think I've got the modulation part figured out with the help of turbos10 on the 4bt site. To get vaccum: The '99 Ford powerstroke used a small electric vacuum pump (~$100) and the GM part turbos10 turned me to is called a vacuum regulator valve (~$100) that will change the vacuum signal depending on throttle position. At idle I'll need more vacuum and at WOT I'll need little to no vacuum for the modulator to react correctly. Then I'll need to fine tune it by checking the pressure using the pressure test port on the tranny.

[CreeperSleeper]

Sweet! Hope to see it at the meeting!

[88chevota]

I just read this all the way through. boots you are an animal!!!! This is an amazing build and right up!

congrats on an absolutely freeggin amazing job!