Okay I'm not exactly a noob. I rebuilt this tranny and it worked awesome until my rear axle broke and seized the driveline and burned my clutches up in the transmission. When i tore the tranny down I inspected everything and replaced the burned, almost gone, 1-2 clutches. Everythings in and I have no drive gears but reverse works great. Thought it was the boost valve so I dropped the pan and it pushes up 1/8" and stops behind the snap ring. Put everything back together and same problem, no drive gears but revese work. Fluid good, converter was filled when installed, filter is up in there right, TV cable adjusted ok and everything I could think of was ok. Please let me know if you have any other things it might be. I will pay you $25 if your advice fixes it. Paypal.

This sounds like the input drum broke the forward snap ring land.

Could there be a "stuck" valve or maybe a clogged galley that would cause this? I was told there is a possible remedy for my situation. Something about idle the engine and take the TV cable off the throttle linkage and pull it in and out. Increasing the pressure might loosen something up. Anyone know anything about that strategy?

did you remove the valve body at all?

No but when I burned up the last clutches the fluid was really dark and the pan had alot of really, really fine dust-like material that may be causing a stuck valve/

Took the transmission out today. Things I found that were If'y.

- the new lockup siliniod I installed "Pre-No drive gears problem", wiring may have not been spliced together well. Just controls lockup right?

-No broken parts that I can see but I just took the pump/input housing and all the stuff that comes with it. removed all clutches/steels everything is good.

- I haven't disassemble the pump but I know it pumps because I unhooked the front line to see while the engine was idling. Just a quick check tho.

Would the 1-2-3-4 accumulator play a role in my problem? I didn't mess with anything else when I disassembled the trans except for the clutches and lockup-siliniod (do to Noob mistake removing pump).

You didn't say what trans you were running. Probably 700r4. It's not going to be the valve body. The manual valve should supply pressure to at least move the car. If it were valve body it would be shifting problems. Sounds like your forward clutches are not applying. You are loosing pressure somewhere. Did you try shifting in in all other gears? Anything different? When you had it apart did you air check the cluthes to see if they apply? Could be your input/turbine shaft seals.

Ya 700r4. Looks like the tapered input shaft seal may have been shifted to one side. Maybe thats my leak. My 700r4 rebuild video broke so I don't remember how to air test the shaft. Wasn't it 15psi and to test one you have to plug one?

I second the diagnosis foward clutches not applying. According to the chart below youll see why. As you can see all the parts of the trans that must be applied for a certain action to take place. As you can see the foward clutch is common everything except reverse.

http://sethirdgen.org/tranny.htm

For the air test you put a rubber tip blow gun in each of the holes between the teflon seals. 15 psi will work but 40 is better. You will listen for a "thud" when each clutch applies and you don't want to hear air leaks. There is 3 clutches in the input housing. Forward, overruning, and 3-4 clutch packs. You can also check your teflon seals for leakes by inserting the input assembly into the pump and putting air into to pressure passages that are on the outer area of the pump. Or should just replace the seals anyway. You will need the special tools to install them and then resize them back down.

Haha great.... Went to air test and I heard a slight hissing, but not much inside. The middle hole just blew out the top hole and when I looked inside the piston looked like it was getting hung up on one side, then boom. blew the seal out on one side. great... can someone please provide a step by step on the installation of the seals. I broke that damn video I bought off ebay for like 40 bucks. the lip goes down on the seals. I'm starting to remember the fun of the little thin piece of plastic I used to seat the seals. god that sucked. Thanks for all your help, I know I'll probable find the problem somewhere in there.

Good, glad you figured it out! You should really have someone with the correct tools install the input/turbine shaft seals. But if you can get them on there without ruining them you could wrap a thin piece of plastic around them and put a hose clamp over them the size them back down. This is a crude method but can work.

If you're talking about the piston seals there are special tools for them, but not necessary. I've put plenty together without the seal protectors and never have had one not work. Just be careful. A piece of brake line tube with a piece of piano wire squished in a loop at the end works the guide the seals where they need to go.

I'll post when I get a chance to get in there. Are these pistons known to get hung up? The hardest part of my rebuild was getting those springs compressed to put the snap rings on.

There are special tools used in a press to compress the return springs. But its pretty easy to make your own from common steel. The pistons are not known to get hung up. It was probably installed wrong or because the clutch plates were burned down so far the piston travel was too much and the piston and seals were allowed to be pushed out of the bore.