E4od feed bolts?

[Christian9112]

I have recently torn down and in the process of rebuilding my transmission. I lost all gears in the middle of the freeway. Come to find out, that my feed bolts are loose. Lots of metal shavings inside the pan too after 50k miles trans fluid. I have updated all of the hard parts to 4r100 specs but i cant seem to find a fix for the feed bolts getting loose. I think it became loose because the center support had worn from case. it was deeply gauged and started vibrating out the bolts. i have the sonnax fix for it. my question is how do i keep the dang feed bolts tight in there? Jamb nut to the case? Im thinking of putting in teflon tape with red loctite to keep it in there.

 

[david85]

The sonnax kit should resolve the problem, since the center support is actually rocking sideways as it wears into the case. I've seen examples of spacers between the inside of the case and the center support but never tried it.

The feed bolts are supposed to come new with sealant that doubles as thread locker. Are you reusing the old ones? They're not supposed to be reused but if you do, I'd use red loctite. I wouldn't use teflon because if even a small strand of the stuff comes loose, it could get pumped through the valve body passages and cause some kind of malfunction. Don't over torque them either because it will distort the case.

 

[Christian9112]

the bolts are coming with the new rebuild kit. you're right about that teflon. It could clog some passages. Are the spacers home made or something? I havent seen those. Torquing that bolt to 10foot pounds doesnt seem much to hold it. i might just put a drop of jb weld on the bearing surface of the bolt.

 

[david85]

Here's the Sonnax spacer: https://www.sonnax.com/parts/2079-center-support-shim

I've never these spacers but you can see how they're supposed to work. When I tore my transmission 13 years after the first build, the feed bolts were all still secure. I torqued them to spec on the second build (roughly a year ago).

JB Weld could work, but I never tried that either. Just make sure to remove any excess that squishes out from under the flange of the bolt head or you'll have the same problem of junk getting circulated through the system. Anything that squishes out inside the case (between the case and center support) shouldn't be a problem, since that area just drains back to the pan sump where it would get caught by the filter.

 

[trackspeeder]

Use the Sonnax support shims. They will eliminate the center support issue.

 

[Christian9112]

Here's the Sonnax spacer: https://www.sonnax.com/parts/2079-center-support-shim

I've never these spacers but you can see how they're supposed to work. When I tore my transmission 13 years after the first build, the feed bolts were all still secure. I torqued them to spec on the second build (roughly a year ago).

JB Weld could work, but I never tried that either. Just make sure to remove any excess that squishes out from under the flange of the bolt head or you'll have the same problem of junk getting circulated through the system. Anything that squishes out inside the case (between the case and center support) shouldn't be a problem, since that area just drains back to the pan sump where it would get caught by the filter.

I was actually reading up on your rebuild. How do you feel about the rear planet 6 pinion? You had to use the stamped hub with it? I feel like the 4 planet aluminum with the cast steel hub works better.

 

[david85]

I heard bad things about the stamped drum but we'll see how it turns out. I'm trying to remember if I tack welded it or not because I've seen some do that. My hope was to get a steel planetary carrier that could fit the original cast iron drum but none were available. I wasn't too impressed with the reverse carrier because there was some impact damage on the fingers that engage the cast iron drum. It was probably still functional but I figured on bringing everything up to the latest spec.

 

[Christian9112]

I have the same impact damage on mine. I don't see any aluminum stress marking tho. The ones you see when you bend aluminum and it starts yielding. Just dents. There are some 12 lug steel planetary but they're 700 bucks. My truck only has 140 ponies haha. I don't plan on racing anyone in reverse. Just maybe the occasional reverse to unload concrete off a steep driveway.

 

[david85]

Yup, that's the same telltale that mine had as well. It would have probably been fine.

Those 12 lug steel reverse planetaries were $1500 when I saw them! And they were still out of stock.