4l60e death

[wrencher1]

Well, i haven't posted since my check-in,but, have enjoyed reading about all your adventures. Now it's my turn. Yesterday afternoon I'm going to work and pull out on a main arterial here (45mph) and half way though second gear I get a huge BANG and my transmission is dead. No reverse- no drive in any gears. My Avalanche has 9000 miles with a Radix. I call a tow and when they try to unload my truck off the flat bed it won't roll backwards! Any ideas on what might have let go and what kind of hastle should I expect from the dealer? Thanks!

[blownchevy]

sounds like some hard parts broke.....Planetary gears or output shaft?

[Hit Man X]

If it won't roll in Neutral it's prolly a planetary that's toast.

Oh and don't expect coverage from warranty with that blower under your hood...you caused the problem. If I was the writer at the dealer I'd tell you to take your truck home and off my lot...

[blownchevy]

well, what happened?

[Flyer]

Was the tranny stock ... usually with a stock tranny and power, it will start slipping. Mine did ........ both of them. It takes raised line pressure and/or shift kit to make them break parts like that. Anyways ... I hope you you get something worked out. I'm with HitMan, I wouldn't expect the dealership to warranty it, it isn't really GM's fault. THey didn't design it to be used with that much hp/torque. Believe me ... if I thought they should cover it though, I would be the 1st to tell you!

Sorry about your troubles.

[blownchevy]

any news?

[wrencher1]

The dealer towed the truck in and removed the transmission. They told me the output shaft broke. They then told me they have never seen a transmission break that part. Then told me that the installation of aftermarket parts (RADIX) voids your warranty. So I asked if they could prove it was the supercharger that caused the failure and they said "aftermarket parts void your waranty". This went on for three days from the dealer. GM customer service and the area zone rep.

I had the truck towed to an independent repair facility for repairs. They are going to have a metalurgist examine the failed output shaft and determine if the failure was stress related or flawed. This repair facility will warranty the repair for 12/12 and are encouraging me to pound on it at the race track. GM would sell me a new one for $3384 and by the way-no warranty because of aftermarket parts.

Anyway, if the parts are proven to be flawed/defective, I will persue it at that time. I even argued the point that this vehicle has never been raced, never done a burnout or even had a full throttle start, but, got the same response-aftermarket parts blah blah blah.

Should have a better trans after the fact anyway. Anyone else broken the output shaft in trasmission failures?

[Hit Man X]

Look man, I'm not trying to be a total prick here but...SUCK IT UP. You broke the tranny and the dealer is NOT going to warrant it.

I'm truly suprised you didn't kill the 3-4 pack, sun gear reaction shell, input drum, or input shaft first. I've seen lots of broken parts as well as output shafts. They come from too high of a kickdown into 1st gear. The 4L60E is designed from the ol' 80's 700R4. If you think about that, the design is nearly 20 years old. NEVER intended for HO/HP useage in stock form. Why do you think GM puts soooo much Torque Managment in their PCM tunings?

The internals were not designed for power levels that the aftermarket can provide. All you can do is get hardened shafts, reinforced drum, reinforced reaction shell, heat-treated/stress relieved planets, etc. etc.

Your "metalurgist" will tell you the piece was flawed...as it was weak. Which IT IS. It broke due to overstress from the Radix. No other reason. Again, the parts are not designed for that power level, ESPICALLY from the OE world.

If you still think I'm full of hot air...go check out LS1tech.com's truck section and tranny area. They will tell you the same things...

[wrencher1]

I do know what you are saying. Although, the popular opinion with many rebuilders in this area is the '03-'04 4l60e is probably the strongest version of the overdrives built. This unit in my truck failed during half throttle acceleration-half way through second gear at about 40-45 mph-if thats worth anything. The repair bill will probably die a slow death in my checkbook register.

So, back to my question-what has everyone else broke and any suggestions for upgraded hard parts?

[Chingon]

Hit Man X is THE transmission guy. I think he knows what he's talking about.
Regardless, whenever I see the word "Radix" and "tranny" together, I know the word "broken" or a derivative will be somewhere in there too.