DIY E40D Build (writeup/pics)

Hey everybody! I lost my password and username so had to make a new account :fustrate: Some of the OBS guys on here should know me. So here comes story time!

The tranny from my truck was rebuilt right before I bought it (stock rebuild, nothing special at all, lol) and that was 45k miles ago. 20k miles ago I pulled it and put a dual disk Hughes converter in it (couldn't pass up the deal!) Ive been running a TS for 2 years and AD code injectors for a year now. I started to get a vibration after shifts and slipping started. Then in the last 2 months Id after driving awhile and I would stop Id have to rev it up and then itd take off. After doing some talking we came to the conclusion is was a bad lip seal not holding anough line pressure when warm to keep it in gear at idle.

Last week I was driving And I stopped, when I went to back up I had to rev the piss out of it to get it moving and it spun and moved (thinkin to myself uh-oh) I drove a mile up the road and started to smell burnt tranny fluid, stop, get out and it was pissing tranny fluid out of the inspection plate...then it wouldn't move. Got it towed back to campus to figure out what Im going to do.

After a few phone calls and talking to some people I decided to do it myself. I have space out here to pull the tranny and rebuild it, along with some resources. I go to college at Penn College of Tech for diesel tech and talking to some my instructors and other people I decided to take the plunge (am I nervous, hell ya..haha)

I got some parts and stuff in mind and looked at prices and talked to some people, I decided since Im doing it myself Id have alittle extra to throw some goodies in it. This is a budget build no doubt but think itll be sturdy.

Parts:
-ATS clutch kit (got it today! Has a Transtar gasket kit, filter and Reaybosto clutches) I wasn't sure on the whole ATS thing (as their customer service and everything has an iffy past) but was talked into it.
-Transgo Tugger shift kit.
-Triple disk TC from Valair (supposedly DPC makes the converters for them)
-Billet input shaft from Racer X

I also ordered an ATSG E40D manual.

I figured Id make a post here and add pictures and whatnot for others to use, as it seems hard as hell to find this kind of stuff. Im really looking forward to this and be back and on the road soon!

-Sean

Transgo Tugger kit



Clutches and band



Transtar gasket kit

sub'n

Good idea for a thread. Do you have something better to take your photos with?

My phone takes good photos but lighting in my dorm room is piss poor.

Heres a few more. The tear down should start Tuesday as the trans is bout out of the truck.

For reference....these are the 2 different types of VB gaskets, mine will be the one on the right.



Air pressure check points.



Check ball locations, mine will be the bottom as its a 97 model.



Just a valve body diagram.

Few things to do machine the center support to accept a sonnax snap ring, get a .427 (ax4n) line mod valve, one piece case bushing. I would also look into a bushing kit. What does the ats kit consist of as far as clutch count for forward, direct, intermediate and od?


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Id get it machined but on a very tight schedule to get this done. The ATS kit has a 5th clutch in the forward clutch pack. Pretty sure the rest are stock amount. Like I said they have Raybusto clutches in the kit, and the pressure plates are machined custom I believe also.

Machining the center support is one of the most important steps in a build. The center support deflects from wear and causes the center support bolts to loosen. If the center support has a ball bearing in it that can also be wiped out from deflection. If you want to do it more than once that's fine just letting you know a very common weak link.


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Thanks for the info!

I live like 40 minutes from Williamsport


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All I have to say is that town blows LOL.

Thanks for the input! Haha...is there anything to do round here truck wise EVER? Big change for me living out here for the most part. Need to get out once in awhile.

mf2775guy said:

Thanks for the input! Haha...is there anything to do round here truck wise EVER? Big change for me living out here for the most part. Need to get out once in awhile.

Click to expand...

Party. That is all I ever did there, then went home most weekends.

I would party bud drugs are kinda a problem down here...I stay outta that ****. Any pics of the blue SD in your profile pic? Looks sharp.

Transmission is torn apart. I have alittle over 20 pictures but they didn't upload right so I will re-upload them tonight.

I found the forward clutches are f*cked. The frictions had friction on only one side and one had none at all, I need to get a new drum as its grooved and burned. Pictures to come. The case was steams cleaned and ready to start to put it back together next week.

Finally getting pictures re-uploaded. Didn't get as many as I would have liked to.

I pulled the TC off and found it was leaking out of the front pump seal.



Dirt roads and old leaks suck...



Pulled the pan off (updated pan) and chunks of burnt plastic/clutch material fell out of the filter and the magnet was covered with a never seize looking material, witch was metal shavings and atf.



Then the VB, wich is where I have to be careful with the check balls. Manual says to take accumaltor off first, then main vb off 2nd, and solenoid pack off last.





Then you end up with this:



Then remove the 3 feed bolts (the bolts in the middle). Then discard. Their one use bolts so you have to get new ones, my kit came with new ones so good deal!

Next, remove the front pump, this is supposed to be done with 2 slide hammers on each side, we only had one so was careful and hit on one side, moved it to the other, hit once and after 4 times it came out. Was a pita for sure but it worked.



Pull the coast clutch drum out, I didn't get a picture, but it should just pop right out.

After that your left with this, this is your first set of clutch plates, pull them out after pulling the snap ring out.



These weren't bad, just burnt frictions, still no real bad carnage.



Then pull the center shaft and ring gear assembly, there is a needle bearing on the back side, don't forget that.



Next step is alittle tricky, you need a spring compressor to compress the pack down to take out the snap ring. I have to make a compressor to put it back together. Taking it apart we had no issues just pulling the snap ring.



This is where we started to find carnage.



The bottom is a friction, all the frictions were like this, they had friction on one side and bare on the other. There was only one friction that was worse than this.



This is the friction form this pack that was the worst, nothing left of it.



Here we found more plastic clutch material chunked up.....this is the same stuff that fell out of the filter. The band also had nothing left on it.