Builds Family haulin' (10 Viewers)

[boots4]

weekly update

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 separator 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]

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]

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

Doh!

 

[boots4]

weekly update

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.

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 (friction 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]

update cont.

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]

weekly update

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 vacuum: 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!

 

[boots4]

Thanks, I appreciate the support.

 

[beav]

Great thread.
I just read it while watching the superbowl.
How much did you end up spending on the project?

 

[boots4]

The project is not over yet but I planned for ~$10K. That included the cost of the FJ60. One of these days I'll get a closer estimate but since I still need to buy a few things I don't want to scare myself away.

 

[boots4]

Just wondering if you thought your rear spring pack setup it's enought heavy to support the weight of all family stuff on it and your family with enough shackle clearance from the frame to the spring eye ..

Well Tapage you called me on that one. Once the rear springs settled I found that the leaf was hitting the frame.

This is with some weight on the back. It doesn't contact at ride height but when the springs start to compress they hit the frame.

You can see that the springs still have more compression to go through so a lengthening of the rear shackles was in order.

So I pulled them off and decided to add an inch which now makes the holes 7" apart. Instead of cutting new ones (my 9/16" bit has had it) I'm just going to do a little surgery.

New section in the middle. I also cut out some more plate for support.

Welded and grinded ready for paint.

Painted up. I had some wire feeding issues when welding but got that resolved.

Still have the engine hoist so I used that to lift up the rear end enough to slip the bolts in and out of the shackles.

Shackles are in and droop is being limited by the retaining bolts in the leaf pack. I'm sure on a trail it will be forced more than this and if it doesn't satisfy I can remove those retainer bolts and get a little more. I'd rather test it as is and decide later.

I've been thinking about the shifter linkage for the doubler and t.case for a little while and have passed by a certain isle at the local hardware store that looked like I could find some parts to work. This is what I brought home: One 1/2" NF grade 8 by 3 1/2", Four thick 1/2" washers, Three 1/2" set collars, Two 1/2" jam nuts, One 1/2" nut, and three zerk fittings. Only cost me $13.50.

I had some round stock waiting to become shifters so I grabbed some measurements and did some cutting. The silver piece goes over the tranny, bolting to existing holes and is the base for the shifters. I picked a spot to put the bolt through the base and welded it on the backside. I then choose a spot on the shifters to mount the set collars and welded those on. I heated the shifters up with a torch and bent them to clear each other and test fit them.

The shifters were still hitting each other so I grabbed the grinder and took of a little more material. You get the idea in the following pic.

Once they all moved without rubbing I welded on some tabs for the linkage. I spent some time grinding and sanding and painting. I coated the top with clear and hit the bottom with beige (cummins theme). After they dried I put in the zerks. The thread size was close but the pitch was wrong. I just cranked them in and don't plan on taking them out; they won't be holding any pressure. This gives me an easy way to grease 'em up. I used the wheel bearing idea to hold the shifters to the shaft and that is to use one jam nut to set some preload, lock the other jam nut to it and hopefully the shfiters won't loosen up and wiggle. That other plate you see is to support the end of the bolt.

Close up.

Looking down through the access cover this is how it fits. I needed to cut a little room out of the hump for the outer shifter.

Side shot

Had to enlarge the hole on the access cover too. I tried to make it fit close to where the original hole was. I got out my paint to touch up the base where I welded on the bolt and I broke the jar so I ended up using the rest of it on various parts which is why the access cover got painted.

Slipped on the boot with the metal piece inside and shaped it to the curve.

Then I pulled the metal piece out to see what it looks like on top and I think I like it on top better. I'll just need to get some nice screws or bolts to hold it down.

 

[boots4]

update cont.

Thought about placement of my rear shocks and decided on a location. Here are the axle mounts. The pins are what I cut off the upper mount. I'll need to do something different up there anyways.

I'll try and shoot for the 1/3 uptravel 2/3 down travel general rule. Here is the passenger side. I wanted them as low as possible but didn't want them to be rock anchors so I chose this spot. There is enough room to slide the ubolt behind the mount.

Driver side. I don't think I enjoy welding under the rig laying down. It's hard to get a good angle on the path I wanted to take. Next time I'd raise the axle some for a better position.

Since I was down there with the welder I grabbed a piece of exhaust and did some bootyfab to route it passed the axle. I couldn't get that flex piece off so I just used it to my advantage. I do have intentions of replacing at least the muffler out to the back in the future, but for now it'll do.

Little Shake Down:

Later that day I went and picked up my trailer with some wood on it. I was interested to see how it towed. To get around the line pressure on the tranny I hooked a hand-helded vacuum pump to the modulator and put on 8-10" of vacuum. 1st and 2nd were more responsive so I was excited to go try it out. Since I still don't have shocks on I didn't goose it and was careful. I had my wife tail me. My trailer was only 2 miles away so it would be a quick test. I hooked up and started back home. I have the boost gauge hooked up but never really saw it move so I was starting to wonder if I got it in right. With a little load (I estimate 1500-2000lbs) I was able to see the gauge register around 5-6 psi when taking off. There is a small hill on the way back with a stop light before the steep part. I took off normally from the light and gave it more gas and was able to see the boost gauge register 15-16psi. I love hearing that turbo spool up and make some boost. When we got home I asked my wife about that part and she said she couldn't keep up without stepping into it. I still had throttle left so I know it will pull harder. I am really going to like the power of this 4bt

As for noise, I think I will be looking into more sound insulation and I'll probably start in the engine bay. That tranny access cover isn't insulated yet and I could tell sound was getting in from there.

I took better pics of the entire rig so I'll just post those up.

Close but no rubbing when the trailer was on. I'll be trimming to put on the 38s, just waiting for it to warm up a little before I do some body work.

Front axle forward

I plan to paint the lettering on the "TOYOTA" either silver or original white.

Getting closer...

 

[Project60]

Nice work as usual!

 

[Kavik]

Damn Boots! This thread covers just about every cool mod that can be done to a 60.

I really like the t-case shifter set up. I did not catch where you got the crossmember that goes over the tranny. Built or bought?

Another question you probably answered before...Rear springs 63" chevy 1/2 ton or 3/4T?

Again, great work. This thread is a monster for info!

 

[boots4]

I really like the t-case shifter set up. I did not catch where you got the crossmember that goes over the tranny. Built or bought?

Another question you probably answered before...Rear springs 63" chevy 1/2 ton or 3/4T?

Again, great work. This thread is a monster for info!

I'm just waiting for you to start on your drivetrain swap!

I built the base myself. I just got a piece and started bending until that thing came out. I put some braces on it to give it a little more rigidity since it's just a flat strip cut out of a crossmember on my stepvan frame.

As for the leafs they are 3/4T. The 1/2s will have 3 leaves plus overload and the 3/4s will have 4 leaves plus overload. They did well towing my trailer that was tongue heavy (load was all forward of the axle line).

You know, once I'm done it might be a good idea to make a table of contents and post that at the front of this thread. That way it will be easier to reference. Maybe I'll start that soon and just keep it updated as I keep adding on.

 

[GLTHFJ60]

I'm sorry for the dumb question, but why do you have three shifters for your transfercase? I can only think of one shifter for high-low and one for 2wd-4wd. What is the third one for?

Excellent project by the way!

 

[boots4]

The third one is to engage my nightrider turbo boost mod...


Seriously, I have one for H/L on the doubler, one for H/L on the tcase, and one for 2wd/4wd on the tcase. Thanks for looking.