HD2 shift kit install questions

hey, im in the middle of installing the kit and ran into a few hiccups today. ive never opened a trans other than to change the filter/fluid. this is my first time doing anything to mod one. to be honest, they freak me out do to all the parts. lol but i want to learn and whats better than to dive in??? ha!

anyway, got the pan, tube, harnes and valve body apart. its used and def has some miles on it but im gonna run with it till it breaks. first issue i saw was the harnes "conduit" was all brittle and broken. it may have gotten a bit warm in there.... can i use any kind of the flexible conduit from say the engine compartment to replace it with? i have a bunch left over. obviously ill clean it up first.

second when i squuezed the clips to remove one of the harness connectors, it broke... IT DEF GOT HOT IN THERE.... so now i gotta rig one up or get a replacement from the dealer which is like 20 bucks...

third issue is when i popped the valve body off and pulled all the check balls out, a few of their little "housings" were very well worn. I got out the dremel and shaved off the debris but is this normal due to the steel ball going up and down against aluminum? is this going to cause issues now that the "cup" is somewhat worn? should i upsize the check balls to say 5/16 or is that a no-no?? i accidentally deleted the pic of how it looked before i cleaned the cups.http://i18.photobucket.com/albums/b1...-38-51_812.jpg

in the instructions it says i need to replace the 3rd accum spring with the new white spring and leave the original 4th and pcs (if it has one). well the new white spring is almost an inch shorter the the existing green one. this is normal right? my transmission does not have the pcs acum, is it better to have one or not? and my 4th accum spring was broken on the the last coil, so im picking one up from the dealer tomorrow.
http://i18.photobucket.com/albums/b1...-38-25_633.jpg

and lastly, the one of the check balls was actually jammed into the seperator plate!! wtf. luckily the kit comes with a new one. but its actually 3 peices.... it has 2 rivets holding them all together but it is significantly thicker than the original. im assuming this is the way its supposed to be?? or am i supposed to pick one? just confused as to why they didnt just make one thick one instead of 3 thinner ones... makes no sense....http://i18.photobucket.com/albums/b1...-36-58_716.jpg

anyway. having fun learning this stuff. but i hate to learn the hard way with all these damn problems im having already.... hope you can clear this stuff up for me!! thanks.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by kewljay223

hey, im in the middle of installing the kit and ran into a few hiccups today. ive never opened a trans other than to change the filter/fluid. this is my first time doing anything to mod one. to be honest, they freak me out do to all the parts. lol but i want to learn and whats better than to dive in??? ha!

anyway, got the pan, tube, harnes and valve body apart. its used and def has some miles on it but im gonna run with it till it breaks. first issue i saw was the harnes "conduit" was all brittle and broken. it may have gotten a bit warm in there.... can i use any kind of the flexible conduit from say the engine compartment to replace it with? i have a bunch left over. obviously ill clean it up first.

second when i squuezed the clips to remove one of the harness connectors, it broke... IT DEF GOT HOT IN THERE.... so now i gotta rig one up or get a replacement from the dealer which is like 20 bucks...

third issue is when i popped the valve body off and pulled all the check balls out, a few of their little "housings" were very well worn. I got out the dremel and shaved off the debris but is this normal due to the steel ball going up and down against aluminum? is this going to cause issues now that the "cup" is somewhat worn? should i upsize the check balls to say 5/16 or is that a no-no?? i accidentally deleted the pic of how it looked before i cleaned the cups.http://i18.photobucket.com/albums/b1...-38-51_812.jpg

in the instructions it says i need to replace the 3rd accum spring with the new white spring and leave the original 4th and pcs (if it has one). well the new white spring is almost an inch shorter the the existing green one. this is normal right? my transmission does not have the pcs acum, is it better to have one or not? and my 4th accum spring was broken on the the last coil, so im picking one up from the dealer tomorrow.
http://i18.photobucket.com/albums/b1...-38-25_633.jpg

and lastly, the one of the check balls was actually jammed into the seperator plate!! wtf. luckily the kit comes with a new one. but its actually 3 peices.... it has 2 rivets holding them all together but it is significantly thicker than the original. im assuming this is the way its supposed to be?? or am i supposed to pick one? just confused as to why they didnt just make one thick one instead of 3 thinner ones... makes no sense....http://i18.photobucket.com/albums/b1...-36-58_716.jpg

anyway. having fun learning this stuff. but i hate to learn the hard way with all these damn problems im having already.... hope you can clear this stuff up for me!! thanks.

---

The spring is supposed to be shorter and the seperator plate is supposed to be thicker. The check balls seal against the seperator plate , not the aluminum. So you should be ok there just deburr the alum. Sounds like you pretty much got it under control, aren't you glad you opened it up and found the broke spring and the check ball jammed in the plate!? To be honest I wouldn't be surprised if the trans has more issues deeper inside.

in addition, it's not much more to replace the separator plate if it's in question.

Sounds like it's a good idea to replace the harness as well. If that plastic connector was brittle, so are all the pieces of plastic.
Last thing you want is to button it up and have a faulty solenoid.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by jansen

The spring is supposed to be shorter and the seperator plate is supposed to be thicker. The check balls seal against the seperator plate , not the aluminum. So you should be ok there just deburr the alum. Sounds like you pretty much got it under control, aren't you glad you opened it up and found the broke spring and the check ball jammed in the plate!? To be honest I wouldn't be surprised if the trans has more issues deeper inside.

---

yes i sure am glad i opened it up and the possible problems deeper inside did cross my mind.... but i didnt wanna jinx it by saying anything!!! THANKS A LOT!!! haha jk man. thanks for the help. im about to start drilling the holes right now. i post back later with results or more questions...

be careful drilling that diagonal hole in the vb; use a piece of metal to protect the vb from the drill bit.

Check all of your little rods inside the vb for wear. That way you know your fluid don't bypass when you don't want it to. I have tons of info on the 4L60 rebuild and vb if you need it I can get it to you. You can also change line preasure on 1 of your vb. but you have to be careful doing that. I watched them turn mine up, but I'm not going to mess with it lol. Good luck have fun

well i didnt get to do too much on it today. some other things came up. but i was able to get the diagonal hole drilled. man that is nerveracking for a first timer! thanks allen for the tip on using the metal. i ended up using a spare peice of sheet metal that i clamped into place. i actually had to adjust it once because it dug through. i cant believe the online video says to put some electrical tape around the bit.... WTF!? do they really think that is going to do anything????

i also got the fliter parts replaced and of course it had to be ground down... as far as ive seen, everybody on here has had to do that.... are there some models that dont require it? why dont they just make the plug a bit shorter??? idk. what do i know...

hopefully tomorrow i can get to finish it up. what am i supposed to do about the abc holes. i think im going to go with the "average" setting which is .086 what the heck bit am i supposed to use? the kit doesnt come with those 3 sizes. i assume i will be looking for one at the hardware store. what size is it? its between 5/64 and 3/32... what am i supposed to do here?

ok well after a quick search aparantly these sizes are "numbered" bits or "wire guage bits" .086 is #44 i have a couple tap sets that i will look through to see if i have one otherwise i will be heading to ace or true value to pick one up

this is probably a noon question but whats the purpose of the servo swap? i read something about firmer 1-2 shifts but i thought thats what the shift kit did. i dont understand why billet is better than stock...

the servo is able to apply more pressure on the 2nd apply.
the vette servo is perfect for stock converters.
for very loose converters, imo a shiftkit and servo is needed; maybe even a billet servo 2/4.