Need transmission advice please

[bigfeet]

Hello everyone. I have a 99 tahoe w/180k on it. My engine light went on and the code says trans slippage. It has been slipping very slightly once in a while. Fluid is clean and full. What tranny do I have and what is my next move. Can a shop fix it or should I go to the junkyard. Any advice at all will be a great help. I have no experience with tranny's. Thank you all in advance.

 

[Phone Man]

You have a 4L60e. I personally never had a good experience with local rebuilds. I ended up getting one from transmissioncenter.net and it wasn't cheap. Your signature says 383e. I have the same engine and had to get a beefed up tranny because the rebuilds blew. This one is holding up just fine.

 

[willxfs]

I'll second what phone man says. For some reason I just dont trust the local shops in my area. I'm sure they do a ton of trannys that work out just fine but all anyone talks about is the horror stories. So I ended up ponying up 2500 for a transmission from transmissioncenter.net (Makes no sense really, dont know why the internet shop seamed more trustworthy, at least they were semi local for me) That was 6 months ago. Working great so far!

 

[ChvyGirl]

Hello everyone. I have a 99 tahoe w/180k on it. My engine light went on and the code says trans slippage. It has been slipping very slightly once in a while. Fluid is clean and full. What tranny do I have and what is my next move. Can a shop fix it or should I go to the junkyard. Any advice at all will be a great help. I have no experience with tranny's. Thank you all in advance.

I would personally do some searching for tranny shops in your area. You never know, there may be some great shops that trucks use regularly...

If your search comes up empty, there's always the internet!!

Also, if you tend to beat the heck out of your tranny...I would beef it up versus just rebuilding your 4L60E!!

 

[KPOD]

There is a guy near me that mainly just does work on off-roading vehicles, he says he can rebuild my 4L60E and get it installed for about $2500. He offers a 3-year/36,000 on it as well. As far as I can tell, he rebuilds it specifically to handle the demands of off-roading. If I were you OP, I would call around to any local shops and see if anyone offers anything better than the crappy 1 year/12 month warranty.

 

[bigfeet]

Thank you all. My sig says "soon, 383, shortys" I have not got aroung to that swap yet, lol. Currently running the stock motor. Is getting a tranny from the junkyard a bad idea? If so I should probably go for the $2500.

 

[KPOD]

If it's in a junkyard, you have no idea of it's current condition unless you can still drive the vehicle.

 

[Gzes]

My junkyards trans blew fast.... My local guy is the best n got it for 1200

 

[WalterMitty]

I'll chime in with my experience. I had 4L60e rebuilt at a dealership at about 74,000 miles. The rebuild almost lasted that long and it wasn't cheap. Replacing it was not an option for me because it was an oddball revision. When it came time to do again, I shopped my state for a rebuilder that serviced the high performance market, offered serious upgrades, and had a very good warranty. That rebuild solved my problems and it's new owner has a great truck.

This will not be the cheapest path to go, but unless your goal is to just get it going so you can sell it, your best path will be a high quality upgraded rebuild.

If your choice is to find a salvage transmission to fit a 14 year old truck, well, a transmission isn't like a bumper or a skid plate that if it looks ok it'll be ok. The only use for a salvage transmission in my view is to provide a core for a rebuilder to work with because your original has a hole in the case or some other serious problem.

 

[purple 'hoe]

Either rebuild it yourself, find yourself a good builder (who offers a warranty also) or buy a new transmission from a vendor.

Or, find yourself a 4L80E and swap it in. That swap will take some modifications, but it can be done. A built 4L60E has about the strength of a stock 80E IMO

 

[bigfeet]

Well, I think I will shop my state for a builder, or buy one online. Awsome advice thank you all.

 

[bigfeet]

Monster Transmission has heavy duty trannys for $1599. 3yr warranty if you buy thier converter. Any thoughts?

 

[992dr]

Internet wins over local shops because they pride themselves on there products. Not only that most of them have been featured in several magazines and that alone brings there sales numbers up dramatically. FLT, RPM and ACE are just a few.
Monster is ok, I'd be a little weary though. Why, because they seem to get several bad reviews and complaints.
I have had my FLT installed for almost 5 years. I have had zero issues. If I have a question, they respond almost immediately. When I lowered my Hoe, the seal on the tail housing started to leak because of wear from the yoke, they sent me a new one for free. THATS what makes a company, customer service and reliabilty.
I'm not trying to sell you on FLT, I'm just making you aware of the other companies that make quality trannies. RPM has the first 4L60E in the 8s, they build one stout ass tranny. ACE is another one who builds some amazing trannies. ALL of which have been fetaured in quite a few magazines
You should cruise some different GM forums and search around before settling for the least expensive (mind you I didnt say "cheapest") route. Mine was $2400 shipped not including my stall.

Hope this helps

 

[bigfeet]

Huge help thank you

 

[the big blue bus]

im in same boat... gm reman is 1575 and monster is about same. mines a 95 so i got the weird year too

 

[retorq]

I got my own parts and am in the middle of a rebuild. 95 is a "weird" year but the only difference you gotta worry about is the separator plate, everything else inside is the same.

 

[WalterMitty]

im in same boat... gm reman is 1575 and monster is about same. mines a 95 so i got the weird year too

My local rebuilder convinced me that it wasn't possible to get good results without rebuilding the 95 I had. He said not even GM could untangle when changes and revisions started and stopped during the year.

All the worn/broken parts were interchangeable, but the electronics and programming changed at least 3 times that year and getting a rebuilt or even new transmission to match what was mated up in the rest of the truck would be highly improbable.

YMMV

 

[retorq]

My local rebuilder convinced me that it wasn't possible to get good results without rebuilding the 95 I had. He said not even GM could untangle when changes and revisions started and stopped during the year.

All the worn/broken parts were interchangeable, but the electronics and programming changed at least 3 times that year and getting a rebuilt or even new transmission to match what was mated up in the rest of the truck would be highly improbable.

YMMV

I think you need a new local trans guy.

 

[bigfeet]

Well my local tranny shop, in business 30 years offered me this. The owner said he would re-build tranny as if it were his own truck. He said he would do all recommended upgrades and Corvette servo. 1yr warranty. $1200. Now, this sounds good to me, but, what questions should I ask to ensure that he is doing everything that he is supposed to do. I have no experience with trannys. Any help is appreciated thank you all.

 

[retorq]

Ask him for a list of parts he's gonna use and post it here and we will tell you. Honestly unless something major is broken inside a quick tear down and rebuild with a quality shift kit, quality rebuild kit, sun shell, servo and new convertor will be all anyone needs.

If you have that 383 and you drive it hard I would start looking at doing 5 pinion planetaries, input shell reinforcement kits, etc.