My 700R4 is starting to make a funny sound and with 165K I am sure it's on its way out. I was thinking about rebuilding it myself using a good core and a kit from Probuilt. I would love to buy a rebuilt transmsiison from Probuilt but I am in the process of restoring this car and I don't quite have the money for it. I am a helicopter mechanic by trade so I have access to a lot of tools and equipment. I am used to working on very complicated components and have a great attention for detail. However, after reviewing the ATSG book and video, a transmission rebuild is kind of scary!

I guess I am looking for advice, encouragement, or someone to tell me to go to hell; it's not worth it.

 

Off topic, but what type of helicopters do you work on? Is the company that you work for a large, well known one? I just got my A&P a few months ago and was a mechanic in the Air Force before I got my license. I'm currently doing some other military business, but haven't decided what job I'm going to take in civil aviation. I was definately leaning towards helicopters because the money is a little better and seemed to better fit my lifestyle.

On topic, I have a 700R4 that needs a rebuild too. I bought it for $75, figured what the hell, took the filter apart and found clutch material. It's also an '83 model (the weaker ones) and when I get a chance I'm going to rebuild it. I'd say go for it man, the mentality I've always had when repairing stuff is, "If I can fix an airplane, I can fix a car". Just keep your stuff organized and take lots of pictures so that you know where everything goes.

 

My father and I rebuilt my 700R4 about 3 or 4 summers ago in my garage.... he did most of the memory work, but we used a TCI rebuild kit. the only thing i remember being a pain in the *** were the clutch packs, and the springs.... compressing them is a pain when putting it back together

 

I rebuilt mine a couple of years ago. Go ahead and buy a clutch spring compressor and some good quality snap ring pliers like the ones made by snap-on.
Take your time and triple check everything. If their is any doubt when doing something, check it.

 

LOL

honestly, if you have the time, patience and space to work, it'd be fun to learn how
but if you are just wanting to drive the car, then getting a pro to rebuild it is really way easier

besides, your own work wont come with a return warranty LOL

 

I am seriously thinking about doing it, I just fear putting a seal in backwards or check ball in the wrong place and have the whole thing take a dump. Even though the rebuild kit is cheaper than a rebuilt transmission, it's still a lot of money. Not to mention the hassle of droping it out and putting it back in. If I do it, I will probably get the kit from Probuilt, that way I won't feel too bad about asking Dana for help.


As far as helicopters, I work for Air Methods a civilian air medical transport company. There is a lot of need for helicopter mechanics. It's a good job and the schedule is really good. There are a lot of helicopter operators out ther besides us- PHI, Omni, Metro, to name a few. Just go online and look them up, you can submit a resume too. Just don't be supprised if they want helicopter experience. PM me if ever need advice or some help.

 

You can do it. Just take your time.

 

well, choppers have a transmission too, just these have the whole gear case thing going on too
there is no doubt you can do it, it just depends on what you want most; the chance to try doing it yourself, or getting the car up & running
personally, when i have more time & space, i'd like to try tackling a rebuild myself
for now, i'm just going to install the shift kit & lock-up myself, on an already rebuilt trans

 

I've rebuilt mine. yours is a '89, so that's a good core to start with. I bought a bunch of the specialized tools to compress the clutch packs, install the seals, etc. made the job pretty straight-forward, but requires meticulous attention to detail. the ATSG manuals are very good.

I went out and spent some change on the specialized tranny tools, some of them from Kent-Moore. I also got some upgraded high-perf hard parts from GM back then, but I see TCI and others sell some good hard parts that weren't avail back then.

It was worth doing, at least I knew what kind of quality parts really did go into the rebuild. the trans I rebuilt was originally for a mechanical roller cammed 350 SBC, and is currently serving duty behind a 540 BBC (and still surviving).

 

RPOL89, did you change out any of the bushings? None of the books or video go into any detail about changing the bushings.

 

some of the new parts I used had new bushings in them, the rest looked fine, so I didn't change them. I did change the tailshaft housing, so I had a trans shop put a new bushing in there.

If necessary, you could take the new bushings and the hard parts to a trans shop and have them do the bushing replacement for you, shouldn't be too expensive since the trans is all disassembled already.