Restoring Rusty

[Schroedum]

Originally Posted by Gregski

You mean Oooh! Oooh! Oooh!

[LT7A]

"you go ahead and set your driver side wheel to -1° and your passenger side to +1° and I'll meet you at the telephone pole"

Hahaha, good call. I like the tool you made and your process. Is Rusty getting some new shoes? I couldn't help but notice some white raised letters - well, blue at the moment.

[Gregski]

Originally Posted by LT7A

"you go ahead and set your driver side wheel to -1° and your passenger side to +1° and I'll meet you at the telephone pole"

Hahaha, good call. I like the tool you made and your process. Is Rusty getting some new shoes? I couldn't help but notice some white raised letters - well, blue at the moment.

Rusty recently got sum, so I'm adjusting the camber to see if I can get more than 10,000 miles out of these, ha ha jk

the blue high heels in the pic were from my '54 they came off the front cause they were to wide at 245 micronmeters so I went with 215s

[texxxan]

Someone has been quite busy lately.

[Gregski]

Finally it was time to replace them shift solenoids

[texxxan]

Originally Posted by Gregski

Finally it was time to replace them shift solenoids

Don't forget the obligatory stare and compare.

[hatzie]

Make sure the internal harness isn't leaking fluid around the pins through the connector.

[Gregski]

Originally Posted by hatzie

Make sure the internal harness isn't leaking fluid around the pins through the connector.

you talking about the big round shower head style one?

[hatzie]

Originally Posted by Gregski

you talking about the big round shower head style one?

Yep, That's the one. They leak around the pins, not around the outside of the connector body, and the signals to the goodies inside get dodgy.
The 4L80E, 4L60E, 4L65E, ... all do it.

The other fun fact is the refrigerator magnet that GM installed in the transmission pans of a lot of their 1980's to 2009ish transmissions were not rated for the operating temps of the fluid. When you run magnets beyond their operational temp range they loose magnetic field strength and a part of the field strength goes away permanently. The field damage is cumulative. The fix is to use the round filter magnets from the Saturn and Allison 1,000 transmissions that were rated for 350°F or some high temp rare earth magnets in place of that fridge magnet in the pan.

[Gregski]

Originally Posted by hatzie

Yep, That's the one. They leak around the pins, not around the outside of the connector body, and the signals to the goodies inside get dodgy.
The 4L80E, 4L60E, 4L65E, ... all do it.

The other fun fact is the refrigerator magnet that GM installed in the transmission pans of a lot of their 1980's to 2009ish transmissions were not rated for the operating temps of the fluid. When you run magnets beyond their operational temp range they loose magnetic field strength and a part of the field strength goes away permanently. The field damage is cumulative. The fix is to use the round filter magnets from the Saturn and Allison 1,000 transmissions that were rated for 350°F or some high temp rare earth magnets in place of that fridge magnet in the pan.

Hatzie you know too much, fortunately I know nothing so we cancel each other out. My fridge magnet seemed to be clicking on to shavings still so that's a good sign, LOL !

[hatzie]

Originally Posted by Gregski

Hatzie you know too much, fortunately I know nothing so we cancel each other out. My fridge magnet seemed to be clicking on to shavings still so that's a good sign, LOL !

The only reason I know about the frige magnets is GM quietly released a service bulletin for the fragile 4T65E-HD in my LS4 Impala.
Among the transmissions listed besides my 4T65E is the 4L80E, 4L60E, & 4L65E.
I read some about what happens to magnets when they are run at temps just slightly beyond their happy zone. I knew about completely demagnetizing a magnet by heating to straw color but I was unaware of how bad it was to repeatedly run them at slightly elevated temps.

They'll still gather iron filings but eventually they weaken to the point where the pan magnet field strength is eclipsed by the field strength of the electromagnet coils in the control solenoids.
As the field strength of the pan magnet decreases the loose iron filings will gather on the control solenoids.
When you add iron filings to an electromagnet the field strength increases in an uncontrolled and unpredictable manner. Similar to modifying the iron winding core of a transformer with an angle grinder. Basic High School Physics.
The TCM or PCM is programmed to vary the current flow to the solenoid coils, and thus the magnetic field of the solenoid coils, based on a solenoid that hasn't been modified (poisoned) by additional iron. When you poison the solenoids in this manner you get erratic operation because the additional iron keeps the field from pushing the iron plungers at the same rate as a fresh solenoid.
Eventually the TCM or PCM will get upset about it. Well before the controller notices and gets upset you get accelerated clutch wear, additional heat from the loosey goosey clutch engagements, and sometimes shock damage to things like the sun shell and the sprags from the erratic clutch engagement.

This all is one of the reasons I run an inline Magnefine filter in my transmission cooler return line. The magnet is properly specced for the operating temps and the additional 25 micron paper filter element doesn't hurt anything. They have a bypass function to make up for a plugged paper filter element. I can change the filter when I change my engine oil and filter. With the drain plug in the transmission pan there's no reason to drop the pan since the inline filter is 25 microns. The pickup strainer screen that filters at 100+ microns will never see enough crud to plug up.

[Gregski]

so this is where the solenoids live, I know it's upside down, but better than nothing

the one on the left (driver side) is the 1-2 and the one on the right (passenger side) is the 2-3

but they are both identical same part number

[Gregski]

yes this transmission has a drain plug and yes the P.O. (pronounced: "guy who had it before me") tightened it as hard as she could plus a quarter turn, and stripped the head of the bolt so that I had no chance of getting it out

but since this was my first gear box with a drain plug I was determined to have one that works, even if it took me 3.5 hours to get it out

[Gregski]

so the first test I did (right or wrong) was the Click Test, basically you hook up a solenoid to a car battery and listen to see if it clicks

the 1-2 solenoid had a loud(er) click than the 2-3 one so I think that's the one we are trying to replace

[Gregski]

the second test and the more official one was the Horse Shoe Test

this is where we put our Multimeter on the horse shoe icon and check for The Reistance

the 1-2 solenoid measured at 23.1 ohms

the 2-3 solenoid measured at 23.3 ohms

both seemed within range, remember if you know nothing but have two of something, compare them

then here's how the new ones tested

the new 1-2 solenoid measured 25.6 ohms

the new 2-3 solenoid measured 27.7 ohms

[Gregski]

Fun Level = 0

[Gregski]

so before I went to NAPA I did my homework, I literally ran my vehicle identification number through the GM VIN Decoder and I pranced in there saying I have a

2001 GMC Sierra 1500 2WD Regular Cab, Two Door, Standard Bed, Rear Wheel Drive, 4.8L V8 4L60e automatic transmission... and I need a shift solenoid for it

The woman across the counter clicked and double clicked for a few seconds then looked up at me and I kid you not with a straight face asked me: "16 or 17 bolt oil pan?"

WHAT ??? You have got to be kidding me

well I took a pic of my oil pan, but I left my phone at home, can you believe that, so I tucked my tail between my legs and bolted home to count the holes, and get my phone, and I still managed to get the wrong filter from them, it was half as thin as mine

[Gregski]

so off I went to Oh Reallys, where I picked up a thicker filter and a rubber gasket kit instead of the cork one

[LT7A]

"Horseshoe icon" and "prancing" gave me the laughs I needed today. Thanks.

[truckin 79]

I feel bad you have these problems with the truck but really enjoy learning a lot from this thread.

[Gregski]

Originally Posted by truckin 79

I feel bad you have these problems with the truck but really enjoy learning a lot from this thread.

Thanks Mate, don't get me wrong it is a solid truck but yeah there were some unnecessary hick ups along the way, like going through a bunch of junk brand new plastic radiators, and now these brand new steel braided hoses causing me grief, but we will get it fingered out. Basically the after market sucks!!!

[Gregski]

so a couple months back I took this bench seat to an upholsterer, and they had it for six weeks and did not do a darn thing all because they could not get one bolt out to separate the back rest from the bottom

[TKCR]

Originally Posted by Gregski

so a couple months back I took this bench seat to an upholsterer, and they had it for six weeks and did not do a darn thing all because they could not get one bolt out to separate the back rest from the bottom

Thought I’d jump in here and check out the situation with your seat, since you sent me a PM. I can do you up a fully restored seat, and it would be a tilting seat. I see that seat is a non tilt. I’m going to go back further to see what color your interior is, or are wanting to got to. But you asked about Black. But here are some pictures of all the 73-80 seats I have done.

[Gregski]

Originally Posted by TKCR

Thought I’d jump in here and check out the situation with your seat, since you sent me a PM. I can do you up a fully restored seat, and it would be a tilting seat. I see that seat is a non tilt. I’m going to go back further to see what color your interior is, or are wanting to got to. But you asked about Black. But here are some pictures of all the 73-80 seats I have done.

thank you for the get back, I am not sure what a tilting seat is, but when I had my original bench seat in the truck before i took it out it did lean or fold forward so that you could put junk behind it

my interior is all black, and I am looking for an all black vinyl cover I do not want any velour or cloth

the dilema is such that I am in Kalifornia and you are in Ohio so the shipping cost would ruin everything if you were to do my seat

[TKCR]

Originally Posted by Gregski

thank you for the get back, I am not sure what a tilting seat is, but when I had my original bench seat in the truck before i took it out it did lean or fold forward so that you could put junk behind it

my interior is all black, and I am looking for an all black vinyl cover I do not want any velour or cloth

the dilema is such that I am in Kalifornia and you are in Ohio so the shipping cost would ruin everything if you were to do my seat

The seat that you showed, the one you took to the shop and they could not get the screws out. That is a non tilt seat, it’s a fixed seat. There’s no way of it tilting forward. All the seats I showed in the post above, are tilting seats. The seat back tilts forward. Shipping/handling is $350 to ship anywhere in the US.
I can do an all Black Vinyl. They are fully restored. That’s the frame, tracks and all the hardware. I would highly doubt that upholstery shop would have touched your frame or tracks. They would have charged you $600-$650 to install a cover, and that’s it. I also replace any broken springs. I don’t just stick a block of foam in there, like I have seen done so many times.