dbreese Posted July 22, 2009 Share Posted July 22, 2009 The old girl has been out of commission for almost a month because of a transmission issue. Long story short I had the tranny gone through and freshend up last year and installed a new converter. My tranny guy said that I should upgrade the sprag/race assembly to a hd 36 element unit. I balked cause it was another 300.00 including a new direct drum 5 clutch conversion. You can guess what happend. I rolled oem sprag (weak point in the th350) and busted the hardened race(I'll post photos later). This in turn burned up the direct drum frictions/steels and the intermediate band. Thank goodness no metal was found in the tranny or converter. Purchased an ATI direct drum and 36 element sprag assembly and my tranny guy got the frictions/steels and band. Cool thing was he let me come to his shop and do the build up (under his guidance) so labor was almost nothing. Got it back in the car and all is good. I know better and I should not have not skimp on parts. Oh well it's only money right!!! David Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
72MC Posted July 22, 2009 Share Posted July 22, 2009 Hey David, as we discussed, big bummer, but at least it is fixed for a good price. Hopefully no problems for a long time. - Dave Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
savvarock Posted July 22, 2009 Share Posted July 22, 2009 We learn from our mistakes. At least it's up and running. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Heckeng Posted July 22, 2009 Share Posted July 22, 2009 Sounds familiar David! I think I am not really sure how I blew mine up though. I still have the weaker sprag assy in mine but the next time I rebuild it will get the upgraded unit I think. You got lucky on the converter not having trash in it, that would have stunk! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Crow Posted July 22, 2009 Share Posted July 22, 2009 Dave, no recourse for warranty work? Long story? I'm currently waiting for mine to be rebuilt, what should I insist on from my tranny guy? My engine is similar to yours I think. I trust him to be very knowledgable (his name's Hutch, well known around here), but can't hurt to inform him of known weaknesses from your experiences. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
502ci Posted July 22, 2009 Share Posted July 22, 2009 Bummer...but it sounds like it's done right this time... I found out the hard way that a trustworthy shop is very important...when I had to have my basically new tranny rebuilt it was good to find a shop that had a wall full of customers photos of their muscle cars and hotrods that they had worked on there. And when they insisted I come in while they had my tranny tore apart on the bench so I could see how the work was done was too cool. Bill Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dbreese Posted July 22, 2009 Author Share Posted July 22, 2009 Dave, no recourse for warranty work? Long story? I'm currently waiting for mine to be rebuilt, what should I insist on from my tranny guy? My engine is similar to yours I think. I trust him to be very knowledgable (his name's Hutch, well known around here), but can't hurt to inform him of known weaknesses from your experiences. Is this the Hutch guy that is the tranny Mod guy on Yellow Bullet? If so, from what I have read he is a great tranny guy and knows his stuff no worries. Bottom line is if a guy has a good rep (like my guy ) and he makes the suggestion on upgrading on parts even if it seems expensive at the time...... listen. LOL!! I was real lucky that I didn't trash the tranny cause I caught it early and I'm real lucky I didn't hurt the converter. David Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Crow Posted July 22, 2009 Share Posted July 22, 2009 Originally Posted By: Crow Dave, no recourse for warranty work? Long story? I'm currently waiting for mine to be rebuilt, what should I insist on from my tranny guy? My engine is similar to yours I think. I trust him to be very knowledgable (his name's Hutch, well known around here), but can't hurt to inform him of known weaknesses from your experiences. Is this the Hutch guy that is the tranny Mod guy on Yellow Bullet? If so, from what I have read he is a great tranny guy and knows his stuff no worries. Bottom line is if a guy has a good rep (like my guy ) and he makes the suggestion on upgrading on parts even if it seems expensive at the time...... listen. LOL!! I was real lucky that I didn't trash the tranny cause I caught it early and I'm real lucky I didn't hurt the converter. David Yep thats him, old high school buddy. I'll let him do the talking, use my ears. Thanks Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest 72yellowmc Posted July 24, 2009 Share Posted July 24, 2009 Dave did you have him put in some steeper first gear in the tranny while he was at it .... but if you drive it on the street that might not be a good idea. anyway glad to here she's back for some more strip duty .. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dbreese Posted July 24, 2009 Author Share Posted July 24, 2009 Dave did you have him put in some steeper first gear in the tranny while he was at it .... but if you drive it on the street that might not be a good idea. anyway glad to here she's back for some more strip duty .. Oooooh trust me I thought about putting in a 2.75 first gear but decided against it. I'm sure it would have dropped my 60' some and I would expect it would ET better because of the reduced 60'. I don't think it would really hurt driveability on the street. I need to get to the track and make some passes before Drag Week. I'm pretty much ready to go though. David Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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